America’s Debt Just Hit a Record.
Treasury Secretary Bessent Is Still Bailing Out the World’s Most Indebted Economy
Quick Read – U.S. debt hit $39.84 trillion and now costs over $1 trillion in annual interest, a figure that is nearly triple 2020 levels and has surpassed defense spending. – Bessent’s yen intervention is strategic self-defense: a collapsing yen forces Japan to sell U.S. Treasuries, directly driving up Washington’s borrowing costs. – Japan’s government debt tops 237% of GDP, and the Fed-BOJ rate gap of 2.75 points keeps the yen structurally weak and intervention-dependent. – The U.S. Treasury’s own accounting says the country owed $39.84 trillion as of July 30, 2026, a figure climbing by roughly $12.6 billion a day and almost certain to breach $40 trillion before the fiscal year closes on September 30.
That same week, a Reuters photographer captured Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s notepad at a Camp David cabinet meeting. Under “To Do,” one line read: “Buy Japanese Yen (JPY) $5-10 bil.” On July 31 and August 1, the United States joined Tokyo in the first coordinated dollar-yen intervention in more than a decade. The Home Balance Sheet The debt has roughly doubled since Trump’s first term began at $19.9 trillion in January 2017.