The U.S. national debt reached a record 35 trillion dollars at the end of last week, as reported by the Treasury Department on Monday. The Daily Treasury Statement provides updated data at the close of each business day, reflecting the previous day’s figures.
“The borrowing just keeps marching along, reckless and unyielding,” said Maya MacGuineas, president of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, in a statement. “Yet despite all the risks and warning signs, these alarm bells seem to be falling on deaf ears.”
“We are going to have to get serious about the debt, and soon. Election years cannot be an exception for trying to prevent completely foreseeable dangers — and the debt is one of the major dangers we are facing,” said MacGuineas.
According to the Peter G. Peterson Foundation, a nonpartisan organization focused on addressing U.S. long-term fiscal challenges, the national debt of 35.001 trillion dollars translates to 103,945 dollars of debt per person in the United States.
“Our deficits are caused mainly by predictable structural factors: our aging baby-boom generation, rising healthcare costs, and a tax system that does not bring in enough money to pay for what the government has promised its citizens,” the foundation said.