The $40 Trillion Debt: A Homegrown Problem The US national debt has surpassed the $40 trillion milestone, but this staggering sum obscures a more nuanced truth: Uncle Sam owes most of it to itself.
At $40 trillion, America's debt would take over 1. 2 million years to spend at a rate of one dollar per second or stretch nearly around the Earth if stacked in $100 bills.
The myth that America is deeply indebted to foreign nations, particularly China, has been perpetuated by popular imagination and simplistic headlines.