America's national debt: $36.2 trillion as of this week

Added: 2026-06-02

[00:00:00]As of this week, America's national debt stands at 36.2 trillion dollars. That number is so large it has lost all meaning. So here is what it means in real terms. The United States now pays approximately 1.1 trillion dollars per year in interest on that debt. The entire Department of Defense budget for 2025 [music] was 886 billion dollars. America now spends more money every year just paying interest on what it borrowed than it spends on every aircraft carrier, every nuclear weapon, every soldier, every intelligence agency, [music] and every military base on Earth combined. 10 days ago, Moody's downgraded America's credit rating, the last of the three major agencies to do so. It was the first time in history that all three have simultaneously rated US debt below their top tier. Here is what that means going forward. A lower credit rating means higher borrowing costs. Higher borrowing costs on 36 trillion dollars [music] means the interest bill grows faster. A faster growing interest bill means less money for everything else, defense, Medicare, [music] social security, and infrastructure. The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office projects the national debt [music] will reach 134% of GDP by 2035. In 2000, it was 55%. In 2008, it was 67%. In 2020, it was 100%.

[00:01:29]The trajectory has not changed under [music] any administration, Democrat or Republican, for 25 years. At what point [music] does the bill come due for all of it?