The United States national debt has reached extraordinary levels amid the intense days of the coronavirus outbreak. The national debt in the US has reached $26 trillion, a scale never witnessed before.
Back in April, the United States national debt stood at $24 trillion, rising to $25 trillion the next month. Currently, the debt stands at $26 trillion, meaning that the national debt is growing at the rate of $1 trillion every month amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
A Closer look into the United States national debt
With national debt now at $26 trillion, according to the USDebtClock, every taxpayer has a deficit of $209,415 each, or $78,863 per US citizen. The national debt stood at $22 billion a year ago, suggesting that it rose by $4 trillion within that timeframe. To put this in context, the national debt of the United States has increased by $8 trillion over the last five years.
The growing national debt has been catalyzed by the COVID-19 pandemic. This has resulted in a massive economic downturn and an enormous rate of unemployment in the United States and around the world. The United States economy plummeted by 4.8 per cent in Q1 2020, its largest decline in the single quarter since the market crash of 2008.
On the other hand, stocks are trading at record prices. However, some market experts warn that it is a purple patch that may soon end.
The high unemployment rate in America
Back in April, the unemployment rate in the US stood at 14.7 percent, which slightly dropped to 13.3 percent in the next month. Before the coronavirus spread across the world from Wuhan, China, to hit the Americans in February, the unemployment rate was 3.5 percent.
When the unemployment rate is too high, the government has to increase its spending to sign the unemployment checks. On top of spending massive amounts, the government of the United States also issued COVID-19 stimulus checks worth 2.2 trillion back in March.
On the other hand, Bitcoin has already made a full recovery after falling below $4,000 alongside global markets. By comparison, Bitcoin has no central authority and is not issued by any central bank, which means that there is no national debt. The flagship cryptocurrency has slightly crossed the $10,000 level a couple of times; the highest price Bitcoin has seen since February.
