$40 Trillion Debt Milestone Triggers Yield Spike, Market Selloff, and a Washington Scramble

The U.S. national debt crossed $40 trillion this week — doubling in under a decade from $19.95 trillion when Trump first took office in 2017 — and the bond market reacted with alarm. On Thursday, the 10-year Treasury yield climbed to 4.704% and the 30-year hit 5.248%, a 19-year high, before Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent's emergency bond buyback announcement briefly steadied nerves. Stocks didn't recover: the Dow dropped 703 points to 52,759, the S&P 500 fell...