War, Debt, and the Fragile American Economy

The Collision Course: War Meets a Debt Bomb The United States is drifting into a familiar but far more dangerous pattern: financing global conflict with borrowed money while pretending the bill will never come due. In just four months, the national debt has surged $543 billion, pushing the total to roughly $38.88 trillion. That number is so large it has almost lost meaning in public debate. But the trajectory matters more than the total. The government is now borrowing at a pace that would have been considered unthinkable just a decade ago. And now comes the latest accelerant: war in the Middle East. Military operations are among the fastest ways governments expand borrowing. Wars are rarely paid for upfront; they…