The national debt crossed a historic milestone of $40 trillion this week.
It has been about three months since the federal government’s debt hit $39 trillion, according to the Treasury Department’s debt-to-the-penny dashboard.
Debt held by the public is around $32.2 trillion, and intragovernmental holdings are close to $7.8 trillion.
Hitting this milestone comes firmly ahead of the Congressional Budget Office’s baseline estimate of 2027.
Looking ahead, using the nonpartisan budget watchdog’s 7 percent growth rate scenario, the national debt could barrel toward the $50 trillion mark by 2030.
While the U.S. government is collecting a record $5 trillion in revenue (nominally), it is spending approximately $7 trillion, resulting in annual budget deficits of $2 trillion. …