The gross federal debt of the United States has surpassed $33,000,000,000,000, according to the US Treasury Department on Monday. $33.04 trillion to be more precise.
A roughly 50% increase in federal spending between fiscal 2019 and fiscal 2021 contributed to the debt topping $33 trillion, the department said.
US debt spiked after President Joe Biden approved a bill in early June that removed the $31.4 trillion debt ceiling for two years, effectively allowing the government to keep borrowing without limits through 2024. The ceiling was suspended following repeated warnings from the Treasury that unless the step was taken, the country would default on its obligations.
As a result, debt spiked to $32 trillion less than two weeks after the bill was approved, and has grown ever since. By comparison, four decades ago, national debt stood at around $907 billion. According to projections from the Congressional Budget Office, at its current pace, US national debt is on track to nearly double in size within the next three decades.
Maya MacGuineas, the president of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget (CRFB), says the latest milestone is worrisome.
Her disquiet is echoed by Sean Snaith, an economist at the University of Central Florida. It is “a warning shot across the US government’s bow that it needs to right its fiscal ship. You can’t just spend trillions of dollars more than you have in revenue every year and expect no ill consequences”, he warns.
On September 12, top aide to Ukrainian President [V]ladimir [Z]elensky, Mikhail Podolyak invited angry reactions for his remarks about China and India having “low intellectual potential”. To put it bluntly, he was actually labeling Xi Jinping and Narendra Modi “stupid”, if you really think about it!
After widespread condemnation, he not only refused to apologize – but he pinned the blame on Russian propaganda for taking his words out of context!
Who's the one with zilch intellect, I wonder?!
Podolyak’s controversial statement came after the conclusion of the G20 Summit (September 09–10, 2023) with the adoption of the New Delhi Declaration. The joint communique took a Global South-centric approach in its language pertaining to the war in Ukraine.
Issuing a statement during the Summit, Dmytro Kuleba, Ukraine's Foreign Minister mocked the declaration because it did not condemn Russia. He pointed out, “In terms of Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, G20 has nothing to be proud of”.
India, on the other hand, maintained that the aim of its G20 Presidency did not revolve around the Ukraine war. And rightly so.
Of course, we know that China and India were singled out by Podolyak because both countries declined to condemn Russia, favoring to maintain a neutral stance.
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