US

National Debt Balloons To $30 Trillion

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Jacob Yusufov Contributor
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The U.S. national debt surpassed $30 trillion for the first time ever in the nation’s history Tuesday.

The data was published Tuesday by the Treasury Department’s FiscalData website. The national debt is divided between public debt and intragovernmental debt, respectively representing approximately $23.5 trillion and approximately $6.5 trillion, according to the data.

Public debt is the amount the U.S. Treasury “borrowed from outside lenders via financial markets to support government activities,” according to the Peter G. Peterson Foundation. Individuals, corporations and foreign entities, as well as state and local governments and pension and mutual funds, hold this kind of debt. Intragovernmental debt comprises of federal “trust funds and other governmental accounts,” according to the foundation.

Republican Pennsylvania Rep. Mike Kelly wrote on Twitter, “$30 trillion is equal to nearly $90,000 per citizen. The U.S. also has more than $160 trillion in unfunded liabilities (programs like Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid). This is unsustainable.” (RELATED: Republican Leaders Slam Biden As ‘Inflation Contagion’ Plagues The Nation)

Republican Nebraska Sen. Ben Sasse said in a statement that “$30 trillion in debt is an obscene number, but what’s even more depressing is the fact that most politicians in both parties don’t really care,” according to Fox News. “Someone is going to have to pay that money when these politicians are long gone, and — spoiler alert — it won’t be paid by them but instead by our kids,” he added.

News of the national debt comes after the Personal Consumption Expenditures price index, a key inflation gauge, recently reached its highest level since 1983. A Gallop poll released in December found that nearly half of Americans reported experiencing financial hardship due to the surge in inflation.