The interest alone on the US federal debt is a staggering $1.2 trillion.

Approximately 14 cents of every dollar the US federal government spends is allocated to paying interest on borrowed money.

Professor Jiang states that America currently has $39 trillion in national debt, with an interest rate of approximately 5%, requiring an annual payment of about $2 trillion to the Federal Reserve.

The biggest budget item in the US government budget is the cost of interest for the $40 trillion national debt.

The US national debt reached $39 trillion as of fiscal year 2025.