U.S.'s debt is almost as big as its entire economy—and there's no plan to fix it

Uncle Sam is racking up an extra $1 trillion in federal debt roughly every 100 days, putting the country on an irreversible path to financial ruin, experts say.

The worst part? There’s no plan to fix it.

According to the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), federal lawmakers have been at odds about budget reforms that could help tame excessive borrowing.

In the meantime, the federal deficit has reached a jaw-dropping $34.6 trillion, which is far more than what the U.S. economy has produced in any given year.

Even excluding intergovernmental debt—or what the government “owes to itself,” federal deficit is nearly as big as the current U.S. GDP.

More important, Washington's debt binging is starting to bite now that interest rates are way off the zero mark.

In fact, interest payments on federal debt reached a record $1.1 trillion last year, exceeding national defense spending for the first time.

According to the CFR, “Some experts say that servicing the debt could divert investment from vital areas, such as infrastructure, education, and the fight against climate change.”

The clock is ticking

If lawmakers can’t get their act together, experts say a default is within the realm of possibility over a longer timeframe.

According to The Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania, the U.S. economy can only sustain 20 more years of accumulated deficits without drastic changes.

“We estimate that the U.S. debt held by the public cannot exceed about 200% of GDP even under today’s generally favorable market conditions,” Wharton said in its Budget Model.

While 200% may seem like a long way off from Wharton’s doomsday clock, experts say Washington’s debt accumulation is accelerating.

Part of the reason is that major healthcare programs, social security, and net interest payments are expected to cost more in the coming decades.

Meanwhile, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) warns that campaign promises during this election will only push fiscal responsibility further aside.

“What makes this year different is not only the confluence of elections but the fact that they will happen amid higher demand for public spending,” the IMF said.

“The bias toward higher spending is shared across the political spectrum, indicating substantial challenges in gathering support for consolidation in the years ahead, and particularly in a key election year like 2024,” the IMF concluded.

Ever-expanding deficits are bad for the economy

Although gratifying in the short term, Washington’s addiction to deficit spending will eventually make Americans worse off, the CBO wrote in a March report.

An ever-expanding national debt “would slow economic growth, push up interest payments to foreign holders of U.S. debt, and pose significant risks to the fiscal and economic outlook,” the report said.

The CBO warned that the combination of rising debt and higher inflation “could erode confidence in the U.S. dollar as the dominant international reverse currency.”

Economists generally agree that deficit spending can have many useful purposes, but only when it’s applied correctly.

“There are good uses of debt [and] there are bad uses of debt,” William Gale, economist and senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, told CNBC.

“The concern we have [...] is not whether the national debt should ever be used. It should be how it is used and how much it is used," said Michael Peterson, chairman and CEO of the nonpartisan Peter G. Peterson Foundation.

"Unfortunately, we’re using it for rainy days and sunny days right now.”

Currently, expanding deficits are being accompanied by a slowing economy, adding to fears of stagflation.

According to the Bureau of Economic Analysis, U.S. GDP growth slowed from 3.4% in the fourth quarter to 1.6% in the first three months of the year.

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