US debt hits record $40 trillion as 30-year bond tops 5.3%

US debt breaks through $40 trillion with the 30-year bond at 5.3%

US public debt has crossed the $40 trillion mark for the first time. Gross borrowing now stands at 124% of GDP, with the 30-year Treasury bond near 5.3%, a level not seen since 2007. The numbers point to an economy that is funding itself at an ever-higher cost, just as Donald Trump's administration promised to rein in the deficit.

Markets are not convinced, and the yield demanded on long-term securities keeps climbing. The cause is not only the momentum of public debt: the artificial intelligence frenzy has pushed big tech firms into aggressive borrowing, and that extra supply of corporate bonds is pushing rates up. The first attempt to curb spending, a commission created by Trump, fell apart in less than a month.

Not every analysis is doom-laden. Some recall that American debt has been a worry since the Vietnam War and that the system has held up. But there is an uncomfortable detail: countries are starting to swallow less of this paper and are unloading US debt. The comparison with Europe also comes free of charge: some point out that France and the EU are in worse shape, with thirty percentage points more average debt and no serious plan.

The concrete figures are circulating: some $4 trillion added to the liabilities since Trump returned to the Oval Office, and the 10-year bond hovering near 5%. Alternative funding proposals are not in short supply, including one that involves asking Elon Musk for money, though it sounds more like a joke than a plan.