America’s budget, the bond market and the national debt at 250: Gradually, then suddenly
Source: Fortune ·
America’s debt is rising by the trillion. Congress is still refusing to face the bill.
From the source
Last week the bond market sent Washington a message. The 10-year Treasury yield hit 5.04%, its highest since 2007 and the Fed raised rates for the first time since 2023. Oil prices and inflation lit that match, but mounting government debt sits on every analyst’s list of why yields keep climbing. Here’s what they’re climbing against. The gross national debt crossed $40 trillion in August — after hitting $38 trillion in October and $39 trillion in March. A trillion dollars every five months. The deficit hit $2 trillion with a month still left in the fiscal year. In 2025, Moody’s became the last of the three major credit rating agencies to strip the United States of its AAA rating, joining S&P (2011) and Fitch (2023). In The Sun Also Rises, Ernest Hemingway’s Bill Gorton asks his drinking buddy Mike Campbell how he went bankrupt. “Two ways,” Mike replies. “Gradually and then suddenly.” We’re deep into “gradually.” The stakes are bigger than the debt. Reserve currency status is why the…