{"type":"rich","version":"1.0","provider_name":"Transistor","provider_url":"https://transistor.fm","author_name":"The Paul Truesdell Podcast","title":"The Bill Is Coming Due — And Nobody Wants to Hear It","html":"","width":"100%","height":180,"duration":614,"description":"The Bill Is Coming Due — And Nobody Wants to Hear ItGovernor DeSantis said it plainly this week in Kentucky: Interest payments on the national debt now eclipse defense spending. Our national debt is projected to reach a record $64 trillion by 2036 — triple the pre-COVID figure. Twenty-eight states have already passed resolutions supporting a federal balanced budget amendment. Every state except Vermont has a balanced budget requirement in its constitution. It's time Congress lived by the same rules the rest of us do.I've been watching this slow-motion train wreck for a long time.Back during the Obama years, I stood before a room of about 50 retired men and women — clients and prospective clients — and walked them through the numbers. The national deficit. The debt. Then the unfunded mandates at the federal and state level. Then municipalities — pensions especially — Chicago, Baltimore, Detroit. When I added it all up, my estimate of total unfunded obligations was somewhere around $34 trillion.The room went quiet. Not the good kind of quiet.It didn't go over well. Denial is a powerful thing, even among smart people.That was then. Today, the federal debt alone is approaching double that figure — and we haven't even started counting the unfunded mandates, state obligations, and municipal pension disasters still sitting off the books. My best estimate now? We are approaching — or will soon reach — **$100 trillion in total obligations** when you fold it all in.History is not kind to nations that reach a certain ratio of debt to gross domestic product. Revolutions happen. I don't want that. It's bad for business. It's bad for everything. But you can feel it in the tone and temperament of the country right now. People are not happy. And I'm watching more and more younger Americans channeling Howard Beale — the fictional television anchor at the center of the 1976 film *Network*, brought to life by the brilliant Peter Finch. In one of the most memorable scenes in...","thumbnail_url":"https://img.transistorcdn.com/115-XsjkdwCpJ99xv-8oZ76t6jr8ScWEC5MYSKzL0ig/rs:fill:0:0:1/w:400/h:400/q:60/mb:500000/aHR0cHM6Ly9pbWct/dXBsb2FkLXByb2R1/Y3Rpb24udHJhbnNp/c3Rvci5mbS82MTUx/OWRiNTc0NTk0Y2Nk/M2VjYTliMGVhN2Zm/YTZkZi5wbmc.webp","thumbnail_width":300,"thumbnail_height":300}