The United States is a debtor nation and the world’s largest debtor country. The Congressional Budget Office projected the debt-to-GDP ratio for the federal government would exceed 100% in the current fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30, 2025. The CBO also predicted the debt would rise to 118% of GDP within a decade. This means debt is rising faster than GDP is growing.
The debt-to-GDP ratio is a key metric of the federal government’s ability to pay its bills. High debt ratios raise borrowing costs. As a debtor nation with a large annual fiscal deficit, which currently runs at about 6% to 7% of GDP each year, the U.S. is not in a position to establish new liabilities or to invest in high-risk assets. So why did President Donald Trump just sign an executive order to establish a strategic bitcoin reserve and a digital asset stockpile?
