Has China really surpassed the United States (U.S.)? Different people will give different answers. Many American politicians choose to fear China while not acknowledging that China could become the “world number one”. President Biden once made a point of reassuring the public, emphasizing that he would prevent China from becoming the world’s most powerful country, stating, “That’s not going to happen on my watch.” However, now that he has decided not to run for re-election, will this surprise the American people?
Anyway, there is one thing that the United States excels in, far surpassing even two Chinas combined, and that is the scale of the U.S. national debt! It is well known that the United States has long been engaged in military adventures and reckless spending, leading to a drastic worsening of the debt problem in recent years, approaching the edge of being out of control. According to the latest figures released by the U.S. Department of the Treasury, the total amount of U.S. national debt exceeded US$35 trillion on July 26, 2024, rising from US$34.998 trillion the day before to US$35.001 trillion. What does this level represent? It is more than twice the size of China’s national GDP! According to data from the National Bureau of Statistics of China, China’s national GDP was only about US$14.89 trillion in 2023. If the world’s second-largest economy were to repay debts of this magnitude, theoretically, the entire population would need to live frugally for over two years without consuming anything. Even though the U.S. economy is relatively larger than China’s, the repayment process would still be very painful.
However, the U.S. government seems determined not to give China any chance to catch up. The U.S. Congressional Budget Office predicts that the federal government’s budget deficit for this fiscal year will reach US$1.9 trillion, making it the third highest in U.S. history. Clearly, living on borrowed money will continue to be the main theme of U.S. fiscal policy.