# Why America’s debt binge is starting to matter > Source: > Published: 2026-09-07 08:58:54+00:00 THE BOTTOM LINE # Why America’s debt binge is starting to matter If long-term interest rates decisively breach the 5% threshold, the impact can derail the AI boom [WASHINGTON] Doomsday warnings about America’s rising debt date back to the 1970s, when the US government began running persistent budgetary deficits. Late in the next decade, a worried New York real estate developer placed the “national debt clock” in Times Square. None of the warnings materialised, so like the boy who cried wolf, they became background noise, easy to ignore. Now, as in the fable, the wolf is approaching the door.