US Debt Interest Payments Now Bigger Than Defense (21% of Revenue)

Step by step

1. The U.S. now spends more on interest than on defense
   The U.S. now spends more on interest than on its military.
2. Treasury: interest $1,017B · defense $876B (FY2026 to date)
   These are the Treasury's own numbers. Interest so far this fiscal year: one trillion seventeen billion dollars. Defense: eight hundred seventy-six billion.
3. 10-year yield: 5.31%, the highest since 2002
   Why now? The ten-year Treasury yield just hit five point three one percent. The highest since two thousand two.
4. What share of revenue goes to interest?
   So what share of all federal revenue goes to interest? Take a guess.
5. $1,017B ÷ $4,845B = …
   Revenue so far: four trillion, eight hundred forty-five billion. Interest: one trillion, seventeen billion. Divide...
6. ≈ 21%
   twenty-one percent.
7. FY2021: 8.7%
   Back in twenty twenty-one, it was eight point seven percent.
8. Interest +175% · revenue +29%
   Here's why it keeps climbing. Since twenty twenty-one, interest grew a hundred seventy-five percent. Revenue grew twenty-nine.
9. Top grows faster than bottom → the share goes up
   When the top grows faster than the bottom, the share goes up.
10. On a test: ratio → percent change → compare
    On a test: the share is one thousand seventeen over four thousand eight hundred forty-five, about twenty-one percent. Interest's percent change is a hundred seventy-five percent. Revenue's is twenty-nine. Faster top, bigger share.
11. In theory: +9% vs +3.3% a year → 50% in ~17 years, 100% in ~30
    Now, just in theory. If interest keeps growing nine percent a year, and revenue three point three percent, the share grows about five and a half percent a year. Half of all revenue: in about seventeen years. All of it: in about thirty. Not a forecast. Just what those two growth rates add up to.