Ibid.

cartoons about power — sources cited

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Paid in full, in absentia.

Regrets Only

August 19, 2026 · Ibid.

A crowded White House cabinet meeting: Trump gestures from the head of the table saying everyone must cut five percent, secretaries lean in waving thin folders, and one chair on the far side sits empty with an untouched place setting behind a brass nameplate reading INTEREST, $1.1 TRILLION, which nobody looks at.

The U.S. federal debt topped $40 trillion on Wednesday, the Treasury Department reported, five months after it passed $39 trillion. Spending exceeds revenue by more than $2 trillion a year, and interest payments now cost over $1 trillion annually, the government's second-largest expense behind Social Security. The Supreme Court struck down many of President Trump's tariffs, forcing Treasury to refund more than $100 billion, while the 30-year Treasury yield hit a 19-year high.