The US national debt problem is only getting worse

It's not, actually, the sort of thing that deserves an exclamation point. Better put: Our national debt is now over $22 trillion :(

We've carried some debt for almost the entirety of our republic, sure. (The one notable exception was in 1835, when President Andrew Jackson paid it off.) But since 2001, the United States has spent MUCH more than it has taken in -- and the national debt has soared.

At the end of 2000, for example, the national debt was $5.6 trillion. Eight years later, it had roughly doubled, to just over $10 trillion. Now? $22 trillion. That makes us the most indebted country in the world. We did it, guys!

There are lots -- and lots -- of reasons for that, including the massive costs associated with the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, then-President Barack Obama's economic stimulus plan and the 2017 tax cut under President Donald Trump. And, of course, the massive entitlement programs of Medicare and Social Security for the huge -- and aging -- baby boomer population.

Of late, some politicians have argued that the burgeoning national debt is no big deal -- because the United States can always just print more currency and isn't required to pay it back. In fact, some liberals have dismissed concerns over the potentially multitrillion-dollar cost of the Green New Deal under this very logic.  The government's job is to spend money on programs that benefit the populace -- and debt is no big deal.

That's not the majority view, however. The issue with carrying massive national debt is that, in the event of an economic downturn, things can go very badly very quickly. Hyperinflation could kick in. And currency devaluation. Down the road lies nothing good.

For decades, every Republican from Jack Kemp to John McCain to Paul Ryan warned of the dangers of our massive national debt. No one listened -- or at least no one did anything. And now, no one seems to care.

The Point: It's not sexy. It's not easily solved. But a $22 trillion national debt isn't something we can afford -- ahem -- to ignore.