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The Economics of War
🔴 LIVE — an active warInterest on US national debt alone now costs $1 trillion a year — already more than the entire $947B defense budget. Who actually pays for war, who profits, and who's left holding the bill? This page uses the Iran war, still unfolding as of July 2026, as a live case study of the structure.
🇰🇷 한국어로 보기 →$39.24T
US National Debt (Jun 9, 2026)
All-time high — 101% of GDP, the highest ratio since WWII
$1.0T
FY2026 Net Interest Payments
3.3% of GDP, 19% of all federal revenue — bigger than the $947B defense budget
$155B/month
Monthly Treasury Borrowing
$24B in interest, every single week
The structure: war spending → Treasury bonds → debt that compounds on itself
War spending isn't financed by taxes — it's financed by the Treasury issuing bonds. Who buys those bonds is literally who the country owes money to. The interest becomes a new fixed annual cost, and paying that interest often means issuing even more debt — a compounding loop. For a deeper look at the Fed and dollar mechanics behind this, see /fed-anatomy and /dollar-hegemony.
Federal Reserve
$4.5T
Largest single holder — down from a $5.7T QE peak
Japan
$1.2T
#1 foreign holder
United Kingdom
$0.9T
#2 foreign holder
China
$0.7T
Shrinking share, part of de-dollarization
Domestic institutions
70%+
Pension funds, banks, insurers — the real largest bloc
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