The national debt has passed $40 trillion — that is $40,000,000,000,000, a number with more zeroes than most of us can comfortably count. The Congressional Budget Office projects a federal deficit of $1.9 trillion this year. We will spend more than $1 trillion simply paying interest on the debt.
The numbers are sobering. But whenever politicians start hyperventilating about debt, Black folks had better hold on to our wallets.
The CBO estimates that the 2025 reconciliation law and related debt-service costs will add about $4.1 trillion to projected deficits over a decade. Yet some of the lawmakers who supported it now say “tough choices” must be made. Their tough choices almost always require sacrifice from somebody else.
The government borrows by selling Treasury bills, notes and bonds to individuals, banks, pension funds, the Federal Reserve and domestic and foreign investors. The danger is not that somebody suddenly presents America with a $40 trillion bill, but that refinancing the debt becomes increasingly expensive and interest payments crowd out other priorities.
Borrowing is not automatically bad.
But borrowing to finance tax giveaways is another matter. Borrowing while refusing to collect taxes already owed is another matter. Borrowing because politically connected corporations treat the Treasury like their private ATM is another matter. Borrowing for this President’s vanity projects is something else again.
Last week’s Freedom 250 Indy Car race did not create our $40 trillion debt, but it illustrates the hypocrisy of people who preach austerity while spending public money on spectacle.
Corporate sponsors reportedly covered most of the racing bill, but taxpayers will absorb undisclosed costs for policing, emergency services and traffic control. Downtown workers and commuters also endured weeks of construction, street closures and transportation changes. President Donald Trump rode around the track in the presidential limousine and waved the green flag; the public will get part of the bill.
When Washington embraces austerity, Black people feel the sharp edge first. We are more likely to work in the public sector, where cuts mean layoffs and frozen wages. We are more likely to depend on public schools, public hospitals, public transportation and Medicaid. We are less likely to have inherited wealth to cushion a job loss, medical emergency, or rent increase.
According to the Federal Reserve, only 38% of Black adults had enough emergency savings to cover three months of expenses in 2025. The comparable figure for White adults was 61%. That gap is not the result of Black people being less disciplined with money. It reflects enslavement, exclusion, discrimination, redlining, unequal pay and the systematic denial of opportunities to accumulate and transfer wealth.
When government withdraws, households fill the hole. A cut in college assistance becomes a student loan. Reduced health coverage becomes a credit-card balance. A shortage of affordable housing becomes punishing rent or an unaffordable mortgage.
Public austerity becomes private debt.
And private debt does not land evenly. Black borrowers are more likely to pay higher interest rates, face higher fees and have fewer favorable credit options.
The national debt is measured in trillions, but Black families experience its consequences in smaller, more brutal numbers: the minimum credit-card payment, student-loan balance, late fee, overdraft charge, rent increase and prescription that must wait until payday.
America should not balance the budget on the backs of people who received the fewest benefits.
Julianne Malveaux is a Washington, DC-based economist and author.