Any idea how much interest the govt will have to pay this year? Way more than they thought

The graphic below is totally misleading--and that's deliberate.  The low-info voter looks at these numbers and thinks "Those aren't actually that bad!  Fed spending on defense is WAY down, just $267 Billion!  And here I thought I'd heard $750 billion or so!  Wow, nice!"

"And LOOK, Marge, interest on the debt is WAY down, just $270 billion!  I thought last year we heard it was $750 Billion or so.  Nice!" 

 

Then you realize this can't possibly be for the whole year, since 2026 just started.  And sure enough, it's just from the start of each FY to the current date in each of the years. 

So multiply everything by four and you're getting close.

Now I wanna call you attention to a couple of things:  First is that thanks to the massive federal debt ($39 TRILLION or so) "your" government will be forced to pay over $1.2 TRILLION this FY just in the interest on that debt.  Second, as you see, the interest is more than our TOTAL defense spending.  And since the Left has always screamed bloody murder that military spending is always WAY too high, you might think the sons of bitches would be screaming just as loudly about interest payments too, eh?

Not a chance.  Not a word of concern.  Reason is, Democrats WANT to spend way more than we take in, but only on welfare and related "free shit" for their base.  Defense spending doesn't help that, so..."defense spending bad, welfare guuuud!"

Third, I want you to note how stunningly fast interest costs are rising:  In August of 2024 the Congressional Budget Office estimated interest costs in the next year would be $870 billion, rising to one TRILLION in FY 2026.  By August of 2025 the current estimate had risen to $970 billion, and the CBO is now estimating $1.2 TRILLION this FY.  

So the "experts" were a staggering 20 percent BELOW the current estimate just months later.  This is either incompetence or intentional, and I'll go either way you want.

So what does this mean to you, eh?

If you're a typical American, the answer is "No idea."  Or "Nothing."  It's too huge, too distant, too...arcane.  Most people don't see the relevance.  I get it.  And that's intentional, because if you knew what these numbers mean, most of your lives would change radically.  

Here's how it works:  If you invest money in an interest-bearing account, there a thing called the "rule of 72" that lets you estimate the time it'll take for your investment to double in value.  You divide 72 by the interest rate in percent.  So at 4%, the amount in the account should double in around 18 years.

This is a quick way to estimate a VERY well known math formula called "exponential growth."  And if you're investing, it's great.  Problem is, the same growth rate works against you if you borrow money and don't pay down the debt.  That's where we are, because the morons in congress keep passing laws requiring the federal gruberment to ALWAYS spend more than it takes in, every year.  As a result the government always borrows more money every year, and never pays the debt down by a single dollar, so the debt keeps growing..."exponentially."

Now: the current rate on ten-year "Treasury bills" (T-bills) is 4.18%.  Shorter-terms are around 3.56%.  So if we wag 4%, it means that if congress only makes the government spend $500 billion a year more than it takes in, by 2040 the national debt will be $80 TRILLION.  And we'll be having to pay about $2.5 TRILLION per year in interest.  

https://www.pgpf.org/programs-and-projects/fiscal-policy/current-debt-deficit/#cumulative-federal-deficit