WASHINGTON’S SPENDING ADDICTION is pushing America toward a fiscal reckoning.

No surprise there; it's been going on almost my entire lifetime. Here it is, in a single chart, from 1945 until 1Q 2026.

It leveled off a bit during the Clinton presidency, mostly due to the influence of the Republican House under Newt Gingrich's Speakership, then started accelerating again under the Bush administration, faster under Obama, and then maintained the pace under Trump I, Biden, and now under the first half of Trump II.

Of more interest to me is the ratio of debt to Gross National Product (GNP) pictured above. The initial spike is the post-WWII debt. The minimum was about 25% in 1975, then climbing steadily, but more or less in sync with the Gross National Product until 2013 when it crossed the line and became the larger of the two.

So now what? Here are two scenarios.

We're screwed. No, not really; it's our children and grandchildren and ... that are screwed.