Latest / The 47 Morning Update with Ben Ferguson / Heads in the Sand—The Unsustainable Numbers behind America’s $40 Trill Debt

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Heads in the Sand—The Unsustainable Numbers behind America’s $40 Trill Debt · The 47 Morning Update with Ben Ferguson

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: The national debt is now larger than the US economy.
• 0:03
  Speaker 2: It's one exceeds one hundred percent of GDP going towards
• 0:07
  Speaker 2: a record here. What risk does that.
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: Pose, Well, no one knows.
• 0:12
  Speaker 2: You know, how big is the danger zone and when
• 0:13
  Speaker 2: it's going to actually trigger some kind of a crisis.
• 0:16
  Speaker 2: If you look, I know you know this. If you
• 0:17
  Speaker 2: look at the CBO's forecast for where the debt is going,
• 0:20
  Speaker 2: it's absolutely headed to an unsustainable level. Ultimately, this is
• 0:24
  Speaker 2: the job of our fiscal policy makers, Congress and the
• 0:27
  Speaker 2: executive branch to come together and put us on a
• 0:30
  Speaker 2: on a sound fiscal trajectory, which we're not on right now.
• 0:33
  Speaker 2: I don't see an immediate crisis brewing, but at some
• 0:36
  Speaker 2: point it's going to be a problem, and ultimately our
• 0:38
  Speaker 2: political system needs to address it.
• 0:40
  Speaker 3: If you're listening to the forty seven Morning Update with
• 0:43
  Speaker 3: Ben ferguson.
• 0:44
  Speaker 4: Good Thursday morning, nice to have you with us in
• 0:46
  Speaker 4: the forty seven Morning Update, and we've got one well.
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: Scary story for you.
• 0:51
  Speaker 4: The US national debt has officially topped forty trillion dollars,
• 0:58
  Speaker 4: roughly one hundred percent of the growth domestic product, and
• 1:01
  Speaker 4: a level that was last seen during World War Two.
• 1:05
  Speaker 4: The nation's outstanding public that not only surpassed the forty trillion,
• 1:10
  Speaker 4: but it will reach even higher by the end of
• 1:13
  Speaker 4: the year. So is there anyone trying to stop this?
• 1:17
  Speaker 4: We're going to break it down for you. But before
• 1:19
  Speaker 4: we get to that, it feels like our country finally
• 1:22
  Speaker 4: has momentum again with our leaders fighting to restore commons
• 1:26
  Speaker 4: since and America first. Now we've seen this before, Conservatives
• 1:30
  Speaker 4: get comfortable and the left starts taking back ground inch
• 1:33
  Speaker 4: by inch, and we're seeing it now with the Democratic
• 1:36
  Speaker 4: Socialists of America. We cannot let this happen in the midterms.
• 1:40
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  Speaker 4: seven to Patriot and make that switch today. It's forty
• 2:55
  Speaker 4: seven Morning Update and it starts right now.
• 2:57
  Speaker 3: Story number one.
• 2:59
  Speaker 4: We're going to start with a story that should make
• 3:01
  Speaker 4: every American really angry, a story of the federal government
• 3:06
  Speaker 4: not and this includes Republicans living within our means. This
• 3:12
  Speaker 4: is the government destroying the future of this country for
• 3:17
  Speaker 4: our children and our grandchildren. The United States of America
• 3:22
  Speaker 4: has just crossed a number that almost doesn't sound real,
• 3:25
  Speaker 4: and most Americans cannot comprehend it. It's a number that
• 3:31
  Speaker 4: doesn't even make sense because our minds can understand the
• 3:35
  Speaker 4: amount of debt. We're talking about forty trillion dollars now,
• 3:41
  Speaker 4: that is roughly the size of America's gross national debt.
• 3:46
  Speaker 4: According to the Treasury Department, the total public debt outstanding
• 3:50
  Speaker 4: has officially surpassed the forty trillion for the first time
• 3:53
  Speaker 4: in history.
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: The Wall Street Journal reported.
• 3:55
  Speaker 4: Today that the milestone has now been not only crossed,
• 3:58
  Speaker 4: but it's going to continue to go up. And the
• 4:02
  Speaker 4: portion economists generally compare with the economy is around the
• 4:05
  Speaker 4: size of the entire US gross domestic product. Now, if
• 4:10
  Speaker 4: you think about what that means, America is now carrying
• 4:14
  Speaker 4: a debt burden relative to the economy that we haven't
• 4:18
  Speaker 4: experienced since the aftermath of World War Two, except this
• 4:23
  Speaker 4: one is enormously different. In nineteen forty six, to put
• 4:27
  Speaker 4: this in perspective, America had just finished fighting a global war,
• 4:32
  Speaker 4: not on one front, but two fronts. We had mobilized millions
• 4:37
  Speaker 4: and millions of Americans, We had built an enormous military,
• 4:41
  Speaker 4: We'd manufactured thousands of ships and aircraft, and then we
• 4:46
  Speaker 4: did what no other country could do we defeated the
• 4:49
  Speaker 4: Nazis and the Japanese and saved well the free world.
• 4:54
  Speaker 4: So today you put that in comparison, well, we haven't
• 4:59
  Speaker 4: come out of emerging from a World War three. The
• 5:02
  Speaker 4: Congressional Budget Office, however, is saying our spending is even
• 5:06
  Speaker 4: worse than then. The Budget Office projects that debt held
• 5:10
  Speaker 4: by the public will equal one hundred and one percent
• 5:14
  Speaker 4: of GDP in twenty twenty six, meaning more in debt
• 5:18
  Speaker 4: than we actually did in our economy.
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: That is insane.
• 5:21
  Speaker 4: Now, the previous record was about one hundred and six
• 5:24
  Speaker 4: percent immediately after World War II, and the Congressional Budget
• 5:27
  Speaker 4: Office says we're on track to blow straight through that
• 5:30
  Speaker 4: record and reach one hundred and twenty percent of GDP
• 5:34
  Speaker 4: by twenty thirty five, in just nine years. And here's
• 5:38
  Speaker 4: the part that should terrify you as a taxpayer. I
• 5:42
  Speaker 4: don't care if you're a Republican or a Democrat or
• 5:44
  Speaker 4: an independent. We aren't borrowing the money because America doesn't
• 5:48
  Speaker 4: collect enough money to operate a massive government of historical size.
• 5:54
  Speaker 4: We're spending extraordinary amounts of money because apparently that's just
• 5:58
  Speaker 4: what Washington thought would be fun for them, and kicking
• 6:02
  Speaker 4: the can down the road. The Coressional Budget Office expects
• 6:05
  Speaker 4: that Washington will spend approximately seven point four trillion dollars
• 6:11
  Speaker 4: this year while collecting five point six trillion in revenue.
• 6:16
  Speaker 4: Let's just be clear, five point six trillion is more
• 6:18
  Speaker 4: than enough to run a government. So that means that
• 6:22
  Speaker 4: we have a deficit of one point nine trillion in
• 6:25
  Speaker 4: one year alone, almost two trillion dollars. Now, the Republicans
• 6:29
  Speaker 4: will be clear, are in charge right now, and many
• 6:31
  Speaker 4: Republicans don't seem to care about what's happening now.
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: To put it another way, the Wall Street.
• 6:37
  Speaker 4: Journal calculated earlier this year that for every dollar Washington
• 6:42
  Speaker 4: collects in taxes and tariffs, it is spending a dollar
• 6:46
  Speaker 4: and thirty three cents. So let's make this more palatable
• 6:51
  Speaker 4: for all of us in our minds. Imagine you're running
• 6:55
  Speaker 4: your household like this. You're making one hundred thousand dollars
• 6:58
  Speaker 4: a year. Then every year you spend one hundred and
• 7:01
  Speaker 4: thirty three thousand. What do you do to come up
• 7:03
  Speaker 4: with the extra thirty three? You borrow the difference. Then
• 7:07
  Speaker 4: next year you do it again, and the next year again,
• 7:10
  Speaker 4: and the next year again, and then eventually your problem
• 7:14
  Speaker 4: isn't simply what you're buying. Your problem then becomes the
• 7:18
  Speaker 4: interest on everything you already bought, and that is where
• 7:22
  Speaker 4: America is right now. The interest bill may be the
• 7:25
  Speaker 4: most shocking number in this entire story. The Congressional Budget
• 7:30
  Speaker 4: Office is now projecting that the federal government will spend
• 7:34
  Speaker 4: one trillion on net interest in twenty twenty six alone
• 7:40
  Speaker 4: to cover what we have borrowed so far. Again, a
• 7:42
  Speaker 4: trillion dollars a year our US government needs just to
• 7:46
  Speaker 4: cover the interest payments on the money we borrowed now,
• 7:51
  Speaker 4: not paying down the debt, not fixing the highways, not
• 7:54
  Speaker 4: securing the border, not buying fighter jets, not funding schools,
• 7:57
  Speaker 4: not sending Social Security checks out, just on interest, something
• 8:02
  Speaker 4: that doesn't actually help anybody in this country at all
• 8:06
  Speaker 4: unless you're one of the institutions. It's buying up the
• 8:08
  Speaker 4: government's debt now one trillion dollars essentially for the privilege
• 8:12
  Speaker 4: of servicing money Washington is borrowed. Not twenty hell of
• 8:16
  Speaker 4: a deal for those that are lending out the money,
• 8:20
  Speaker 4: and the CBO also projects annual net interest costs could
• 8:23
  Speaker 4: climb to more than two point one trillion by twenty
• 8:27
  Speaker 4: thirty six. Meaning every year they need two point one
• 8:31
  Speaker 4: trillion dollars just to cover the debt. Now, let's break
• 8:36
  Speaker 4: one trillion and annual interest down. What does that mean?
• 8:40
  Speaker 4: It means that every day our government is having to
• 8:43
  Speaker 4: write a check for two point seven four billion.
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: Dollars every day.
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  Speaker 4: That means every hour, twenty four hours a day, the
• 8:52
  Speaker 4: US government is having to come up with one hundred
• 8:54
  Speaker 4: and fourteen million dollars just to cover the interest. Yeah,
• 8:58
  Speaker 4: you heard me right, America twenty four to seven is
• 9:03
  Speaker 4: spending one hundred and fourteen million every hour just to
• 9:07
  Speaker 4: cover our debt. If you want to put it into
• 9:10
  Speaker 4: even a more understandable way for our minds, how about this.
• 9:15
  Speaker 4: Do you know every thirty seconds, every minute, how much
• 9:19
  Speaker 4: money we have to come up with to cover our
• 9:21
  Speaker 4: debt in the United States of America and our government
• 9:23
  Speaker 4: right now? One point nine million every thirty seconds is
• 9:29
  Speaker 4: how much it costs us, the taxpayers, not to run
• 9:32
  Speaker 4: our government just to fund the interest on borrowing the money. Now,
• 9:38
  Speaker 4: if you want to break it down even more to
• 9:40
  Speaker 4: make you even more angry, and again, I don't care
• 9:42
  Speaker 4: if you're a Democrat Republican, you should be livid right
• 9:44
  Speaker 4: now that means roughly every second, the federal government is
• 9:49
  Speaker 4: having to borrow thirty one thousand, seven hundred dollars every second,
• 9:53
  Speaker 4: one point nine million every minute, one hundred and fourteen
• 9:56
  Speaker 4: million every hour, and two point seven and four billion
• 10:01
  Speaker 4: every day just to cover our interest. Now, every second
• 10:06
  Speaker 4: you're listening to the story, imagine another thirty one thousand
• 10:09
  Speaker 4: dollars going out the door just to service the federal debt.
• 10:12
  Speaker 4: Count five seconds, one two three four five. You know
• 10:18
  Speaker 4: what that cost us in debt, just the interest one
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  Speaker 4: hundred and fifty eight thousand in ten seconds. That's more
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  Speaker 4: than three hundred and seventeen thousand, and we haven't paid
• 10:29
  Speaker 4: off one penny of the principle the amount of money
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  Speaker 4: we borrowed with any of the money that I just mentioned. Now,
• 10:37
  Speaker 4: that is what makes all this so dangerous. Another way
• 10:40
  Speaker 4: to understand forty trillion dollars in debt is this way.
• 10:44
  Speaker 4: Just take America's roughly three hundred and forty million residents
• 10:48
  Speaker 4: a right, that's where we are with our population, all right,
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  Speaker 4: And then if you want to take just the interest
• 10:54
  Speaker 4: that we owe, that's forty trillion dollars.
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  Speaker 1: What would that mean for every American? If they got
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: a check.
• 11:02
  Speaker 4: The national debt works out too roughly one hundred and
• 11:05
  Speaker 4: seventeen thousand for every man, woman, and child in America.
• 11:09
  Speaker 4: So right now the national debt is at one hundred
• 11:13
  Speaker 4: and seventeen thousand for every man, woman, and child. If
• 11:16
  Speaker 4: we just didn't have that debt, we could write a
• 11:18
  Speaker 4: check to every single person in this country that is
• 11:23
  Speaker 4: a citizen for that amount of money. Now, if you
• 11:27
  Speaker 4: want to know how much money we're talking about here,
• 11:29
  Speaker 4: for a family of four, the national debt works out
• 11:32
  Speaker 4: too roughly four hundred and seventy thousand dollars that you
• 11:37
  Speaker 4: could write a check to a family of four to
• 11:39
  Speaker 4: four if we just didn't have to pay the debt
• 11:42
  Speaker 4: on the forty trillion dollars that.
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: We are in debt right now. Now.
• 11:47
  Speaker 4: Obviously, the government isn't going to mail your family a
• 11:49
  Speaker 4: four hundred and seventy thousand dollars invoice tomorrow morning. But
• 11:53
  Speaker 4: that's the scale of the liability that is being carried
• 11:56
  Speaker 4: by this country. Now, if you look at taxpayers, because
• 11:59
  Speaker 4: now every person pays taxes, then it's a lot worse
• 12:04
  Speaker 4: than what I just described. The IRS processed more than
• 12:07
  Speaker 4: one hundred and sixty five million individual income tax returns
• 12:11
  Speaker 4: in twenty twenty five. Now, if you simply divide forty
• 12:14
  Speaker 4: trillion by those one hundred and sixty five million returns
• 12:18
  Speaker 4: as illustrated on the.
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: Burden of well where you would be.
• 12:22
  Speaker 4: That means that every taxpayer in America would have to
• 12:26
  Speaker 4: write a check to get our debt to zero. For
• 12:28
  Speaker 4: one one thousandth of a second, you would have to
• 12:31
  Speaker 4: write a check for two hundred and forty two thousand
• 12:33
  Speaker 4: dollars right now. But immediately you would still owe more
• 12:36
  Speaker 4: money because why government is spending about thirty three cents
• 12:41
  Speaker 4: more per dollar than we're bringing in. Every dollar they get,
• 12:44
  Speaker 4: they spend a dollar thirty three And again that's not
• 12:47
  Speaker 4: a literal bill that goes out to you. Married comples,
• 12:52
  Speaker 4: by the way, can file jointly. Some federal tax payers,
• 12:56
  Speaker 4: well they file individual returns, and federal debt isn't alec
• 13:00
  Speaker 4: that way. But it gives you an idea of the
• 13:03
  Speaker 4: magnitude of the problem. One hundred and seventeen thousand is
• 13:06
  Speaker 4: what every breathing American would have to write check for
• 13:09
  Speaker 4: to get our debt to zero. And a lot of
• 13:12
  Speaker 4: people don't pay taxes. That's why skyrockets two hundred and
• 13:16
  Speaker 4: forty two thousand per individual income tax return, and Washington,
• 13:21
  Speaker 4: by the way, is still adding to the tab. By
• 13:23
  Speaker 4: the end of the fiscal year two thousand, for example,
• 13:26
  Speaker 4: America's gross federal debt was six point five trillion. You
• 13:31
  Speaker 4: fast forward ten years later, it was at thirteen point
• 13:35
  Speaker 4: five trillion. In ten years after that, in twenty twenty,
• 13:40
  Speaker 4: the number skyrocketed a twenty six point nine trillion, and
• 13:43
  Speaker 4: by the end of the fiscal year twenty twenty five
• 13:46
  Speaker 4: it was thirty seven point four trillion dollars. Well, now
• 13:50
  Speaker 4: we're in August and the number is hit forty trillion.
• 13:54
  Speaker 4: That means America's debt has increased by more than sevenfold
• 14:00
  Speaker 4: since two thousand and according to reporting on the latest numbers,
• 14:04
  Speaker 4: the debt increased by roughly three trillion over the past
• 14:07
  Speaker 4: year alone, about seven point nine billion each and every day.
• 14:12
  Speaker 4: So let that number sink in. We're adding debt at
• 14:15
  Speaker 4: a pace of roughly three hundred and twenty nine million
• 14:18
  Speaker 4: an hour, five point five million a minute, more than
• 14:22
  Speaker 4: ninety one thousand every second. So just to go back
• 14:25
  Speaker 4: and put it in perspective in a different way, just
• 14:29
  Speaker 4: during this story alone, that you've been listening to. The
• 14:32
  Speaker 4: national debt has increased by thirty eight million dollars. And
• 14:36
  Speaker 4: there's an important distinction here about this. The forty trillion
• 14:41
  Speaker 4: figure is gross federal debt. It includes debt held by
• 14:44
  Speaker 4: the public plus money the government owes to its own accounts,
• 14:48
  Speaker 4: and according to the current figures reported by Reuters, there's
• 14:52
  Speaker 4: approximately thirty two point three trillion in public health treasury
• 14:56
  Speaker 4: debt and another roughly seven point eight trillion intro governmental holdings.
• 15:01
  Speaker 4: The economists generally focused on the publicly held debt when
• 15:05
  Speaker 4: comparing the debt to the GDP, and even by the
• 15:08
  Speaker 4: narrow measurement, we're around one hundred percent of the entire
• 15:12
  Speaker 4: US economy. This is why I bring up this issue.
• 15:16
  Speaker 4: You can blame COVID. You can say it was the
• 15:19
  Speaker 4: trunk tax CODs that were the best we've ever seen
• 15:22
  Speaker 4: that somehow puts in this situation. I actually think it's
• 15:25
  Speaker 4: none of those things. What I do think it is
• 15:28
  Speaker 4: is clearly this our government has figured it out that
• 15:32
  Speaker 4: they can spend as much money as they want to
• 15:34
  Speaker 4: and no one is going to stop them. And that
• 15:36
  Speaker 4: includes both sides of the aisle and what they're doing
• 15:40
  Speaker 4: is destroying this country with debt at a level that
• 15:43
  Speaker 4: no one could ever imagine, and they're doing it because
• 15:47
  Speaker 4: so many Americans are asleep at the will. So many
• 15:51
  Speaker 4: Americans are sitting here and have no clue about what
• 15:55
  Speaker 4: I just told you, So I hope you'll share it
• 15:58
  Speaker 4: wherever you can on social media.
• 16:00
  Speaker 3: Thank you for listening to the forty seven Morning Update
• 16:02
  Speaker 3: with Ben Ferguson. Please make sure you hit subscribe wherever
• 16:06
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• 16:10
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• 16:14
  Speaker 3: and we will see you back here tomorrow