Growing Perception: US Is a Bankrupt Country

The United States projects itself as the unshakable center of global power — militarily unmatched, technologically advanced, and economically dominant. Yet beneath this grand image lies a fundamental contradiction: America is increasingly living on borrowed time, borrowed money, and borrowed global credibility. Its bankruptcy, though not yet declared on financial ledgers, is visible in the erosion of fiscal discipline, social priorities, and political purpose.

The US economy, long admired for innovation and dynamism, now moves more on hype than on hard production. Wall Street rises and falls on corporate storytelling rather than real growth. Speculation, not substance, drives asset prices, and the financial sector has grown far more influential than the industrial base that once defined American prosperity. The gap between finance and reality has become a structural weakness — a fragility disguised as success.

At the heart of this illusion lies a debt crisis that Washington refuses to confront. The national debt has surpassed US$35 trillion, over 120 percent of GDP. The US government borrows incessantly, financing deficits through Treasury Bills and an endless stream of freshly printed dollars. For now, this is sustainable because the dollar remains the world’s reserve currency — the unit of global trade and finance. But this privilege, often taken for granted, is not eternal. As emerging economies diversify their reserves and experiment with alternative payment systems, confidence in the dollar-centric order will inevitably weaken.

Equally troubling is the American addiction to war and global dominance. With more than 700 military bases in over 80 countries, the US spends more on defense than the next ten nations combined. Yet back home, its infrastructure crumbles, its healthcare system remains unaffordable, and its citizens face widening income inequality. The contrast between its external ambition and internal neglect reflects a deeper moral and strategic exhaustion.

The recent government shutdown again exposed this contradiction. The political elite could not agree on basic governance but remained united in approving billions for military aid abroad. This is not patriotism — it is paralysis. It reveals a political class more committed to confrontation than correction.

America’s bankruptcy is therefore multidimensional. Financially, it depends on debt; politically, it depends on division; and morally, it depends on militarism. The United States can print dollars, but it cannot print trust, social cohesion, or global respect. Unless it redirects its resources from war-making to nation-building, its decline will not be a distant forecast — it will be a lived reality.

The world still looks to Washington for leadership, but leadership built on debt and deception is unsustainable. True strength lies not in weapons or markets but in the welfare of citizens and the integrity of governance. On both counts, America today stands dangerously overdrawn