The national debt passed $40 trillion in August, roughly $117,000 for every U.S. resident. The Congressional Budget Office now projects a $2.1 trillion deficit for the fiscal year ending September 30, about 6% of GDP. With the midterm elections just over a month away, few candidates in either party are talking about it.

The scale is easy to state. In fiscal 2026, the government is spending about $7.4 trillion against $5.6 trillion in revenue, which means about $1.32 spent for every dollar collected. The debt stood at $5.7 trillion in January 2001, and it now equals about 125% of GDP, above the World War II peak of 106%. That gap between the scale of the problem and the volume of the debate is the story.