"Solomon said people he talks to are worried about not just the debt, but how it's "accelerated" over the last five years, "and it doesn't seem like we have the ability to pull it back." He argued that aggressive fiscal stimulus has become "kind of embedded" in how democratic economies operate. The debt has ballooned significantly since the financial crisis, he noted, and federal figures do show it increasing from roughly $10 trillion in 2008 to its current level, over three times as large."
"The debt has accelerated at an even faster rate throughout 2025, with the Peter G. Peterson Foundation calculating that the growth from $37 trillion to $38 trillion was the fastest rate of growth outside the pandemic. "Adding trillion after trillion to the debt and budgeting-by-crisis is no way for a great nation like America to run its finances," the nonpartisan watchdog's CEO Michael Petersen said in a statement provided to Fortune on October 22, minutes after the Treasury confirmed the breach of the new benchmark."
The U.S. federal debt stands at about $38 trillion and has accelerated sharply over the past five years. Debt rose from roughly $10 trillion in 2008 to over three times that level today. Growth from $37 trillion to $38 trillion in 2025 was the fastest increase outside the pandemic. Adding trillions and budgeting-by-crisis undermines sustainable finances for the nation. If current refinancing rates persist, total federal debt is projected to expand into the low $40 trillions. The primary path to averting a fiscal crisis is higher economic growth rather than relying mainly on tax increases.
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