The gross national debt has surpassed $40 trillion for the first time in the nation’s history. It’s seen as an ominous benchmark as the country continues to borrow funds to finance various military operations and social programs, among other expenses.
Dale Rogers, Professor at W. P. Carey School of Business at ASU, joined “Arizona Horizon” to discuss this economic milestone and how it will impact the nation’s economy.
“The big, beautiful bill, the tax cuts and decreasing revenues, and you know, to be fair, there’s a whole bunch of the federal budget that there’s nothing you can do about it,” Rogers said about the reasons why Trump hasn’t followed through on his promise of a reduction in the debt burden.
Rogers said this new record in national debt is due to continuous spending in the federal government, the most recent being the funding for the war in Iran, increasing tariffs and tensions with Canada over Lake Ontario.
“It’s whacky to alienate our friends, and the stuff we’re going to try to do with Iran, the economic D-day, unlikely that’s going to work and that’s going to continue to move people away from it,” Rogers said.
Rogers said he believes a lot of what is happening in the government right now will have negative long-term effects on the economy. He also said he cannot see the spending slowing down soon.
“I would have thought a cliff was $20 trillion in debt, so I don’t know,” Rogers said. “It seems like Uncle Sam has a really good credit card.”
