US Debt Hits $30 Trillion For The First Time

Congratulations, America: it took just over 245 years but as of the last day of January, the country's debt just crossed above $30 trillion for the first time ever, hitting $30,012,386,059,238.29.

While it was always guaranteed that this historic milestone of civilizational greatness would fall at some point, we can safely say that thanks to the global financial crisis, thanks to covid and thanks to MMT, the golden age of US debt came about twice as fast as it would have otherwise.

And just to put this stunning achievement in context, here is a recent take from Visual Capitalist which put America's world-leading success in context.

Visualizing the State of Global Debt, by Country

Since COVID-19 started its spread around the world in 2020, the global economy has been put to the test with supply chain disruptions, price volatility for commodities, challenges in the job market, and declining income from tourism. The World Bank has estimated that almost 97 million people have been pushed into extreme poverty as a result of the pandemic.