National Debt Tops $39.8 Trillion as Interest Payments Exceed the Defense Budget

The U.S. national debt crossed $39.8 trillion on July 29th as the Federal Reserve held interest rates steady. The more consequential embedded figure: annual interest payments on that debt have now exceeded $1 trillion for the first time — surpassing the entire defense budget and Medicaid, making debt service the largest single line item in the federal budget, one that grows automatically with every month of elevated rates. Senators Elizabeth Warren and Donald Trump found themselves on the same side this week, with Warren agreeing with Trump that the debt ceiling should be abolished entirely, arguing it creates periodic default-risk crises without actually disciplining spending.

HSBC's decision to sell its entire $25 billion Australian retail loan book to Blackstone signals a significant restructuring of global banking strategy. CEO Georges Elhedery has been reshaping the bank since taking over, and the Australian exit is not a retreat from a troubled market — Australia's banking sector is profitable — but a strategic concentration decision. HSBC is signaling it wants to be a global transaction bank, wealth manager, and trade finance specialist rather than a retail mortgage lender in markets dominated by entrenched local institutions. For Blackstone, the acquisition extends its aggressive private credit strategy into the Asia-Pacific, adding yield and scale from a discounted loan portfolio.

SoftBank shares fell nearly 50 percent from their June high after weak forward guidance from Arm Holdings rattled the investment thesis. SoftBank's recent resurgence was built around a massive stake in Arm, and when more than 70 percent of a portfolio's strategic value is tied to a single chipmaker's ability to grow into its valuation, an earnings stumble becomes a portfolio crisis — a pattern the company experienced previously during the WeWork era of the Vision Fund.

A Bloomberg investigation found that a small blockchain firm channeled more than $550 million to the Trump family through World Liberty Financial token transactions, while investors in those same tokens reportedly lost approximately 90 percent of their value. The structure — insiders capturing economic upside while retail token buyers absorb losses — mirrors patterns securities regulators have flagged in other cryptocurrency contexts. Employers are pulling back on coverage of GLP-1 drugs such as Ozempic and Wegovy, which cost roughly twelve to fifteen thousand dollars per patient annually according to Cigna; patients losing coverage mid-treatment face rapid weight regain, creating what critics described as a two-tier access dynamic tied to insurance quality.