Musk says US going bankrupt ‘extremely quickly’

WASHINGTON: US billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk believes that the United States is going bankrupt 'extremely quickly', reported Sputnik.

"America is going bankrupt extremely quickly," Musk said during a discussion on the All-In Podcast on Monday.

The interest payments on the US national debt have exceeded the US defence budget, Musk said, noting that the US owes over a trillion dollars a year just in interest.

The US national debt currently stands at about US$35 trillion, according to the US Treasury Department.

The US has been in a state of chronic excess of expenditures over income for almost a century; the last time there was a long period of surplus was from 1920 to 1930. The only US leader after World War II with a budget surplus was Harry Truman (1946-1950), and the largest government spending surplus was under Ronald Reagan at US$1.34 trillion.

The US finances such a gigantic budget deficit from the national debt, which in July for the first time exceeded the US$35 trillion mark, and just two weeks later grew by another US$160 billion.

-- BERNAMA