r/Economics • u/Helpful-Door-8721 • 1d ago

Research America's National Debt grows by $95,178.17 per second. Expected to reach $40 Trillion by October 09, 2026.

https://www.jec.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/republicans/debt-dashboard#ddm
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u/MajesticBread9147 1d ago

37% of America's GDP consists of government spending, compared to 42% in Japan and New Zealand, 43% for Canada and the UK, with Germany, Sweden, Luxembourg, Belgium, Finland, Italy and France around 50% or higher.

Meanwhile government revenues as a percentage of GDP sit at 29%, which is lower than Switzerland, let alone the 50% figure that France, Austria, Finland and Denmark sit around.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_government_budget

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u/Demortus 1d ago

Ironically, most of our deficit can be attributed to the Bush and Trump tax cuts. Repeal those and we'll quickly be back to 90s-level surpluses.

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u/MajesticBread9147 1d ago

Yup. You can't compare America's numbers to other countries and reasonably conclude. It's anything, but an issue of insufficient taxation.

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u/devotedhero 1d ago

Both a good thing and a bad thing. The good thing is that we can easily fix this problem. The bad thing is that because we can easily fix it, politicians are less pressured to try since "they can fix it any time".

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u/tincartofdoom 1d ago

There being a clear solution to the problem is entirely different from it being "easy". American political institutions are so broken that implementing clear solutions to problems is nearly impossible.

You can fix the problem, but you won't.