Just two weeks after he was sworn into office, former President Ronald Reagan went on national television to address the American people about what he perceived to be a dire problem. It was the national debt.
"The federal budget is out of control, and we face runaway deficits of almost $80 billion for this budget year that ends September 30th," he said. "The deficit is larger than the entire federal budget in 1957, and so is the almost $80 billion we will pay in interest this year on the national debt."
By 1960, our national debt stood at $284 billion," said Reagan. "Congress in 1971 decided to put a ceiling of $400 billion on our ability to borrow. Today, the debt is $934 billion. So-called temporary increases or extensions in the debt ceiling have been allowed 21 times in these 10 years, and now I've been forced to ask for another increase in the debt ceiling or the government will be unable to function past the middle of February -- and I've only been here 16 days. Before we reach the day when we can reduce the debt ceiling, we may, in spite of our best efforts, see a national debt in excess of a trillion dollars.
"Now, this is a figure that's literally beyond our comprehension," said Reagan.
Eight months after Reagan issued this warning, the federal debt did top $1 trillion on Oct. 23, 1981.
Less than five years later -- on April 5, 1986 -- The New York Times ran a story with this headline: "U.S. Debt Tops $2 Trillion."
"The national debt, which has doubled in the last five years, passed the $2 trillion milestone this week for the first time in history," the paper reported.
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It took more than two centuries -- from 1776 to 1986 -- for this nation's federal debt to hit $2 trillion.
But this year, it took less than 11 months for the federal government to add another $2 trillion to a federal debt that now exceeds $38 trillion.
On Dec. 31, 2024, the last business day of last year, the federal debt closed at $36,218,605,311,689.91, according to the Treasury Department's "Debt to the Penny" webpage. On Nov. 18, 2025, it hit $38,265,355,580,035.02. Thus, in just 10 months and 18 days, the federal debt increased by $2,046,750,268,345.11.
That makes 2025 the third straight calendar year that the federal debt has increased by more than $2 trillion, according to the data published by the Treasury Department.
As of Dec. 15, the total federal debt was $38,419,380,255,240.59.
That is more than 40 times larger than the $934 billion in federal debt that existed when Reagan addressed the nation to warn that "a national debt in excess of a trillion dollars" was "literally beyond our comprehension."
On Dec. 5, the Republicans on the Joint Economic Committee of the U.S. Congress published an analysis of this rapidly growing federal debt. "Relative to one year ago, total gross national debt is $2.23 trillion higher; relative to five years ago, it is $11.00 trillion higher," it concluded.
"Over the past year," it said, "the rate of increase averaged $6.12 billion per day, $255.04 million per hour, $4.25 million per minute, or $70,843.42 per second.
"The increase in gross national debt over the past year," said this analysis, "amounts to $6,566.84 per person or $16,574.81 per household while total gross national debt amounts to $112,881 per person or $284,914 per household."
Who is lending our federal government all this money? Almost a quarter of it comes from foreign sources, according to Treasury Department data. As of September, $9.249 trillion in federal government debt was held by foreign entities. This included $1.1893 trillion held by entities in Japan; $865.0 billion held by entities in the United Kingdom; and $700.5 billion held by entities in the People's Republic of China.
The Government Accountability Office issued a report in February warning that the government must act to slow the growth in the federal debt.
"The federal government is on an unsustainable fiscal path," warned the GAO. "We project that debt held by the public will grow faster than the economy each year if the current revenue and spending policies are not changed."
"The unsustainable fiscal outlook poses serious economic, security, and social challenges if not addressed," it said. "Many of the negative effects of growing debt are projected to intensify over time and create additional challenges for fiscal management. The sooner actions are taken to change the fiscal path, the less drastic they will need to be. Congress and the administration will need to make difficult budgetary and policy decisions to address the key drivers of the debt and improve the government's fiscal trajectory.
"We continue to recommend that Congress and the administration develop a strategy to address the government's unsustainable fiscal outlook," said the GAO.
Reagan, who had to deal with a Democrat-controlled House of Representatives throughout both his terms, would have agreed.
While Republicans control the House, the Senate, and the White House, they need to work together to bring down the debt.
To find out more about Terence P. Jeffrey and read features by other Creators writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators webpage at www.creators.com.
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