Amerikansk statsgjeld har passert 40.000 milliarder dollar

The total outstanding U.S. national debt stands at $40.047 trillion as of Tuesday, surpassing the 40,000 billion dollar mark for the first time in history. This figure equates to over $373 trillion in Norwegian kroner. The oil fund currently stands at $21.7 trillion, which is less than 342.8 million people in the United States, according to official statistics.

The debt burden per person amounts to $116,832, or 1.1 million Norwegian kroner. According to the Peter G. Peterson Foundation, the U.S. has the highest debt since World War II, measured against the size of the economy. The foundation's executive director stated that they are genuinely jeopardizing the nation's future.

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) previously estimated that the debt would reach $39.4 trillion in the current fiscal year. The Supreme Court had undervalued President Donald Trump's so-called "Liberation Day" toll taxes in February, resulting in a lost revenue of $250 billion. This week, the interest rate on 30-year U.S. Treasury bonds reached its highest level in nearly 20 years.

Annual interest payments on the national debt are expected to exceed $1 trillion this year, roughly equal to the entire Pentagon budget, according to the CBO.

The U.S. government spends significantly more on servicing old debt than on investing in its future. Marc Goldwein of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget told CNN that we are trapped in a vicious cycle: more debt leads to more interest payments, which in turn demand even more debt. Long-term U.S. Treasury interest rates have surged to historically high levels this week.

Higher Treasury rates are typically a headwind for equity markets, but Wednesday saw a reversal as the U.S. Treasury intervened to stem the prolonged rise in long-term Treasury rates. The department announced its commitment to at least double its purchases of Treasury bonds, ranging from $2 to at least $4 billion, targeting 10- to 30-year bonds.

Nordea investment director Robert Næss pointed to two reasons why interest rates have risen so sharply: the expected real interest rate over the next 20 to 30 years is higher, and the risk premium for buying bonds that mature in 30 years. Neither factor has changed since the government bought back long-dated bonds, according to Næss. In 2025, Moody's downgraded U.S. national debt, stripping it of its last AAA credit rating.