US Government Approaches $40T in Total Debt Outstanding
Exploring Finance | SchiffGold | 12 May, 2026
Current Trends
The US government has borrowed nearly $450B in the last three months. While this is a gargantuan sum of money, it annualizes to ~$1.9T which would be the smallest year of borrowing since 2022. Unfortunately, the trend more likely to hold is the borrowing seen in Feb and March which clocked in at nearly $550B in just 2 months. Why?
- April is tax collection month so usually sees a surplus
- Interest continues to chew up more spending, which further fans the flames of a debt spiral
- Tariff Refunds
- US Iran War costs
And that is just to name a few of the reasons!
debt spiral
federal deficit
fiscal crisis
government spending
inflation
interest rates
national debt
Treasury
US economy
yield curve