The U.S. debt now exceeds the country's GDP. Should we worry?

MoneyWatch The U.S. debt now exceeds the country's GDP. Should we worry? .chip { background-image: url('/fly/bundles/cbsnewscore/images/chip-bgd/chip-bgd-moneywatch.jpg'); } By Aimee Picchi Aimee Picchi Associate Managing Editor, MoneyWatch Aimee Picchi is the associate managing editor for CBS MoneyWatch, where she covers business and personal finance. She previously worked at Bloomberg News and has written for national news outlets including USA Today and Consumer Reports. Read Full Bio Aimee Picchi May 5, 2026 / 5:00 AM EDT / CBS News Add CBS News on Google America's national debt has surpassed the country's gross domestic product for the first time since World War II, marking a stark increase in the government's fiscal burden.Debt held by the public stood at $31.27 trillion at the end of April, edging above the U.S. GDP of $31.22 trillion between April 2025 and March 2026, according to a recent analysis by the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget."Outside of a brief period early in the COVID-19 pandemic – when GDP temporarily crashed – debt only exceeded GDP for two years at the end of World War II," found the nonpartisan think tank, which focuses on fiscal issues and which favors lower deficits. Federal spending soared during World War II. By contrast, the recent debt surge has been fueled by a combination of tax cuts, increased government spending on interest payments and the challenge of serving an aging population, which is making programs such as Medicare and Social Security more costly, according to the Peter G. Peterson Foundation.Interest payments top Medicare spendingThe nation's ballooning debt is translating into higher federal interest payments, with the U.S. now spending more to service that debt than to fund national defense or Medicare."Among other implications, at our current debt levels, overspending and the national debt threaten our future national defense and military readiness," Jonathan Williams, the pre...