Think of the deficit as your annual overspending—it's the gap between what the government spends and what it collects in taxes in a single year. The national debt is the grand total of all those accumulated annual deficits over the entire history of the country.
Ownership is split into three main categories:
As of late 2025, three primary drivers are accelerating the debt: an aging population requiring more Social Security and Medicare benefits, rising healthcare costs, and significantly higher interest rates. Every time interest rates rise, the cost of "servicing" our existing debt increases by billions of dollars.
The debt ceiling is a legal limit set by Congress on the total amount of money the U.S. Treasury can borrow to pay for bills the government has already incurred. It does not authorize new spending; it simply allows the government to pay for spending that has already been approved.
While you don't get a bill for the debt in your mailbox, it affects you daily. High national debt can lead to upward pressure on interest rates, making your mortgage, car loan, or credit card debt more expensive. It can also contribute to inflation, reducing the purchasing power of every dollar you earn.
In 1835, President Andrew Jackson actually paid the debt down to zero. However, in the modern global economy, U.S. Treasuries are considered the "gold standard" of safe assets. Most economists believe the goal isn't to reach $0, but to ensure the debt grows at a slower rate than our economy (GDP) to keep it sustainable.