The U.S. faces a growing national debt crisis, with interest payments projected to skyrocket to $2 trillion annually by 2036, according to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO). This financial strain comes as the CBO warns of an unsustainable fiscal trajectory, even as the job market showed unexpected gains in January.
The CBO's latest projections indicate the U.S. government will continue to run a sizable and growing deficit over the next decade. The shortfall is expected to reach $1.8 trillion in 2026, or 5.8% of GDP, ballooning to $3.1 trillion, or roughly 7% of the American economy, by 2036, according to Fortune. This increased borrowing, regardless of the party in power, will drive up interest payments. The national debt currently stands at $38.59 trillion.
The CBO revised its cumulative deficit projection for the 2026-2035 period upward by $1.4 trillion compared to its forecast from a year prior, according to Fortune. CBO Director Phillip Swagel stated, "Our budget projections continue to indicate that the fiscal trajectory is not sustainable."
Amid these financial concerns, the job market showed some resilience. U.S. employers added a better-than-expected 130,000 jobs in January, and the unemployment rate dipped to 4.3%, according to NPR News. However, the Labor Department's annual update revealed that hiring in 2025 was weaker than initially reported, with employment gains for November and December revised down by a total of 17,000 jobs.
In other news, a decade-long study revealed that rising atmospheric CO₂ and warming are jointly reducing the availability of phosphorus in rice-upland crop rotation systems, potentially threatening future food security, according to Phys.org.
Meanwhile, AMC Networks reported a 10% drop in U.S. ad sales in the fourth quarter of 2025, while streaming subscribers remained flat at just over 10 million, according to Variety.
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