U.S. Treasury Bills, Notes, & Bonds

The United States government has a total debt of $175 trillion, including unfunded Medicaid and Social Security liabilities. Some know our government debt is only $36.6 trillion on the U.S. Debt Clock.

However, unfunded future ‘promises to pay’ (Medicaid and Social Security) total over 140 trillion dollars, which the U.S. government doesn’t have. That’s like you buying a retirement home in Florida with the promise to pay after you move in. However, when the first payment comes due, you have no money.

The promise to pay but with an inability to do so is called an unfunded liability. So the total U.S. government debt is $175 trillion.

Before your eyes glaze over and you ignore this post, I have two penetrating questions.

1. Do you realize that we are the government, and this is OUR debt?
2. How will we pay back our debt and stop it from increasing?

Suppose you have a college-age son who goes off to the university with one of your credit cards in his pocket for ‘emergency expenses.’ One day, you discover that your credit card is maxed out. Without your permission, your son has taken out more credit cards and maxed those out. The creditors have just informed you of your debt and asked, “How do you plan to pay it off?” You have to have a plan.

So, what is our plan to pay off the government debt of $175 trillion?

 

THE INCOMPREHENSIBLE TRILLION

 

I’ll help you wrap your mind around 175 trillion using outer space.

 

A dollar bill is 6.14 inches long. Pretend you laid dollar bills end-to-end.

• A million dollars: 96.9 miles—a short trip on Earth.
• A billion dollars: 96,906 miles—well into space, past satellite orbits.
• A trillion dollars: 96,906,000 miles—a vast distance beyond Mars.
• 175 trillion dollars: 16,958,550,000 miles (16.96 billion miles), stretching beyond Voyager 1’s 15.1 billion miles traveled since 1977—past the solar system’s outer edges into interstellar space.

Our Government Is Pretending It Isn’t Bankrupt

But as long as ‘We the People’ can continue pretending we are not bankrupt, ignoring the obvious, we can postpone the truth and the painful reality as long as possible.

The Emperor’s New Clothes, written nearly 200 years ago by Hans Christian Andersen, applies to the United States and our debt predicament.

As a United States citizen, you must comprehend what I’m about to tell you.

The United States government is not ‘paying off any debt.’ The U.S. is only paying off ‘interest’ on old debts by rolling over those old debts into new debts.

Let me help you understand ‘rolling over debt.’

Imagine you took out a loan to buy a car, and now the bank says:

But instead of having all the cash to pay, you ask for a new loan to cover the old one.

That’s what ‘rolling’ government debt means. The U.S. governmnet borrows more money to pay back old loans. To pay the interest and princpal on these old laons, the U.S. issues notes, bills, and bonds.

In 2025, $7 trillion of the U.S. government’s debt—think old IOUs—is coming due.

Money the government borrowed in the past by selling government bills (less than a year), notes (one to three years), or bonds (over three years), is now due to pay back those who lent to the U.S. (other governments, large banks, hedge funds, and individual investors, etc.) the principal and interest by a specific date.

However, to pay off these old bonds, the United States must issue new bonds. The U.S. has no money to pay off its debts, so we borrow $7 trillion more from new lenders to pay back the old lenders. Our government debt keeps growing bigge. It’s like juggling credit cards in family finances to pay off principle and interest on old debts via new credit cards.

This Week’s (March 10-14, 2025) Bond Auctions

As I conclude this little lesson on government debt, I want to help you comprehend the U.S. Treasury Bill, Note, and Bond Market as a United States citizen.

There are three websites that you need to ‘save’ on your computer.

1. Trading Economics – I use this website every day. I know what’s happening economically worldwide, including all government reports and bond sales.
2. Treasury Direct – This is the schedule for U.S. Treasury government auctions of bills, notes, and bonds. I do not participate in the auctions; I only observe them.
3. Trading View—This is my favorite app for tracking stocks and bonds, crypto, precious metals, and anything else traded in the United States.

Others Aren’t Showing Up for Treasury Auctions

Last week, the U.S. Treasury held auctions for bills, notes, and bonds (30-year).

For the sake of space, I’ll tell you what happened at this week’s 30-year bond auction.

Fewer Buyers Showed Up

Fewer buyers attended last Thursday’s 30-year bond auction. When fewer buyers show up to buy U.S. debt, interest rates must increase to entice buyers.

• The Interest Rate (Yield)The government sold these 30-year bonds with an interest rate of 4.623%. That’s the amount they’ll pay to those who bought the bonds yearly. For example, if you spent $100 on a bond, you’d get $4.62 yearly as interest.
• What People Expected vs. What They GotBefore the auction, people guessed the interest rate would be around 4.612%. This guess is called the “When Issued” (or WI) yield—it’s like a prediction of the rate. But the actual rate was 4.623%, just slightly higher (0.011%, or 1.1 “basis points” in fancy terms). This slight difference is called “tailing”. Fewer people are eager to buy the bonds when the rate is higher than expected. If tons of people wanted them, the rate would’ve been lower.
• Was the Auction a Success?Overall, the auction was weak. Here’s why:

1. Fewer foreign and big investors wanted to join compared to last time.
2. Local buyers stepped up, which helped.
3. The U.S. banks had to take a more significant share than usual, which suggests that everyone else wasn’t as excited.

The slightly higher interest rate also shows that demand wasn’t super strong. If everyone were rushing to buy, the rate would’ve been lower.

What Does This Mean for Regular People?

 

For most people, this auction doesn’t change their daily lives. But it does provide a glimpse into how the government borrows money.

Nobody showed up on September 17, 2019, at the United States bond auction.

Then Covid-19 happened.

Black Swan events are often beneficial for governments on the verge of collapse. It distracts people from the truth.

CONCLUSIONS

CAVEAT: I am neither a financial advisor nor a finance expert. I am a Christian with a biblical worldview who seeks to help fellow Christians understand current events.

1. Be careful if you own any paper sovereign government bonds (including the U.S.).
2. Debtor nations who can’t repay their debts are nations that have forsaken God.
3. Bankruptcy (a financial reset) is the only way the U.S. exits its indebtedness.
4. Digital stablecoins may one day replace paper currency (the dollar) in the reset.
5. The United States could become a ‘cashless’ or ‘dollarless’ society.
6. The new digital coins may be backed by gold brought into the Federal Reserve.
7. Gold and silver are called God’s money because He created them, not man.

Donald Trump is not averse to bankruptcy.

Are you prepared for the U.S. Treasury to offer 50-year bonds tied to gold?

1. Treasury bonds tied to gold bring down inflation.
2. Treasury bonds tied to gold limit government expenditures.
3. Treasury bonds tied to gold remove old fiat debts immediately.
4. When it becomes a Basil III reserve asset, will you own any gold on July 1, 2025?
5. Some leaders plan to retire your ‘old debts’ by creating a new currency tied to precious metals.

If you were my children, I would say, “Gather gold and stack silver.” But since you only read what I write, I encourage you to research and decide what is best.

Remember the little boy with the guts to cry, ‘The King is naked!’?

I may be that little boy. The question is, ‘Will you see the truth?’