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Boing Boing

US debt hits $31.26 trillion, exceeds annual GDP

Ellsworth Toohey
May 07, 2026
∙ Paid

Frame Stock Footage/shutterstock.com

The last two times the United States owed more than its annual economic output, the country was either fighting a world war or shutting down due to a pandemic. As of March, it’s happened again — this time without an emergency to point to.

Treasury debt held by the public reached roughly $31.26 trillion, narrowly outpac…

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