America’s national debt is a ticking time bomb set to destroy it within a generation. Interest payments on the national debt are rising faster than the federal government’s ability to pay them, yet no major politician has presented a plan to deal with this crisis. The topic of the national debt did not even come up on September 10 during the televised debate between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris.

Despite the silence from politicians, however, the world’s richest man is warning that the United States is going bankrupt. At a sit-down at the All-In Summit 2024 on September 9, tech entrepreneur Elon Musk said: “If Trump wins—and obviously, I suspect there are people with mixed feelings about whether that should happen—we do have an opportunity to do kind of a once-in-a-lifetime deregulation and reduction in the size of government. Because the other thing besides the regulations, America is also going bankrupt extremely quickly, and … everyone seems to be sort of whistling past the graveyard on this one.”

Musk pointed out that interest payments on the national debt have topped $1 trillion this year, meaning that America already spends more on interest payments than it spends on its military. This means America will not be able to defend itself much longer unless it dramatically slashes its spending.

And it’s not just Elon Musk warning about America’s upcoming bankruptcy. The chief executive officers of America’s two biggest banks are also sounding the alarm. Chase Bank ceo Jamie Dimon told the Bipartisan Policy Center in January that the U.S. is speeding toward a cliff as the nation’s runaway debt continues to mount and that the nation would likely go over the cliff’s edge within 10 years unless changes are made.

Bank of America ceo Brian Moynihan said America needs to take action while “we’re in relatively good times.” He noted: “We’ve got to balance the budget like anybody, any company, any person, any household.”

That is some simple, yet astute analysis. You can compare the government to a household by slashing seven zeros from the official figures. This household is a well-to-do family that earns $493,500 a year—yet spends $651,700 a year. This family is set to put a staggering $158,200 on its credit card this year, even though it already had $3,536,800 in credit card debt. It pays roughly $100,000 a year in interest, and it no longer pretends to have a plan to pay off its debts. No well-managed bank would lend this family more money.

Since America is spending 20 percent of its tax revenue on interest payments, it needs to either increase its tax revenue by 20 percent or slash its spending by 20 percent just to balance its budget. The first option would involve squeezing an extra $9,588 out of every taxpayer, so Donald Trump has tapped Elon Musk to head up a government efficiency commission if he is elected this autumn. It is likely that Musk will have many good suggestions, but it will be up to the American people to put these into action.

“We’re adding a trillion dollars to our debt, which our kids and grandkids are going to have to pay somehow,” Musk said before warning about rising interest payments. “It’s just like a person at scale that has racked up too much credit card debt. This does not have a good ending, and so we have to reduce the spending.”

The Bible says, “The wicked borrows, and cannot pay back” (Psalm 37:21; Revised Standard Version). It also says, “A good man leaveth an inheritance to his children’s children” (Proverbs 13:22). This means America’s national debt is not just unsustainable. It is sinful. American leaders are enriching themselves and their constituents by saddling the next generation with debt and robbing them of their inheritance.

To learn more about the dangers of out-of-control government spending, read “The Biggest Threat to America’s National Security.”