According to the Financial Times, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) predicts that the US government's debt burden could surpass that of Italy and Greece for the first time this century, highlighting the dire state of its public finances. The IMF's projections indicate that total US government debt will rise by more than 20 percentage points from its current level, reaching 143.4% of GDP by the end of the decade, surpassing the post-pandemic record. The IMF also estimates that the US budget deficit will hover above 7% of GDP annually until 2030—the highest deficit level of any wealthy country tracked by the IMF this year and for the rest of the decade. Italy and Greece have long been a concern for economists due to their fragile public finances. However, as both countries continue to strictly control their budget deficits, their government debt burdens are projected to decline by the end of the decade. In contrast, data indicates that the US debt-to-GDP ratio will continue to climb through 2030, and the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) projects that it will continue to rise for decades thereafter.