WASHINGTON, DC – JULY 05: Pedestrians walk past a poster displayed at 11th and E St’s NW that … [+]
There’s plenty of talk about the U.S.’ $34 trillion in public debt. Not the deficit — the amount of red ink every year spilled on the country’s accounts — but the cumulative total public debt. But a second number hasn’t received as much attention, although it should. That is the debt service, or the amount of money spent every quarter to satisfy the interest payments on the debt.
In the last quarter of 2023, the amount crossed a monumental threshold of $1 trillion every three months. It is only getting higher.
The national debt is important and a massive amount that, as the Peter G. Peterson…
