RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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TEHRAN- The United States has just crossed a grotesque milestone: its national debt has ballooned to a record-shattering $40 trillion. This is not merely a number; it is a confession of systemic rot.
In 1941, the debt hit $1 trillion. By 2017, it was $20 trillion. Today, in just nine years, it has doubled again—and is expected to swell by another $2.1 trillion in this fiscal year alone. This is not fiscal policy; it is fiscal intoxication.
Yet, incredibly, this same indebted giant dares to wag its finger at the Iranian economy. Washington presumes to lecture Tehran on prudence while its own Treasury burns. The hypocrisy is staggering. The United States cannot balance its own checkbook—its mandatory spending on Social Security and Medicare consumes two-thirds of its budget, and its annual interest payments on the debt now exceed $1.2 trillion, eclipsing even the Pentagon’s defense budget. Servicing this debt is the second-largest item in the federal budget. By mid-2027, Congress’s arbitrary debt ceiling of $41.1 trillion will be breached, setting the stage for another embarrassing political circus over default.
And what is Washington’s response? To hide behind the dollar’s global reserve status—a privilege it abuses to borrow cheaply. But that privilege is fading. The dollar’s share of global reserves has dropped from 70% in 2001 to 57% today. Central banks are dumping Treasuries for gold, yuan, and other alternatives. The US is actively engineering its own decline.
So, let us ask the obvious question: How dare a country that cannot control its own deficit, that is squeezing its own infrastructure and innovation budgets to pay interest, and that risks exporting inflation and higher rates to the entire world—how dare it impose sanctions and pressure on Iran? The American model is not a beacon; it is a beacon of bankruptcy. Its "structural fiscal adjustment" requires tax hikes to the OECD average and a bipartisan consensus it cannot achieve. Until Washington cleans its own house, its economic lectures are not just arrogant—they are a global joke. A debtor in a glass house should not throw stones, especially when that glass is cracking under $40 trillion of weight.
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