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As the U.S. national debt mounts to $38 trillion, President Donald Trump and Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) CEO Elon Musk have offered different visions for managing the nation’s fiscal crisis.
Musk endorsed a strategy of technology-fueled growth as the “only way” forward, while Trump expressed confidence in a plan to use “massive Tariff Income” to pay down the debt.
Musk’s position was clarified in a post on X on Monday. A user proposed the “U.S. game plan” should be to “Inflate and grow our way out of $38T in debt via an explosive generational bull market powered by AI and robotics.”
Musk offered a succinct reply: “Seems to be the only way.” His comment signals a belief that a transformative boom in productivity, led by artificial intelligence, can generate the economic growth necessary to overcome the deficit.
A day earlier, President Trump outlined a different, trade-based approach on his Truth Social platform. He stated that “massive Tariff Income pouring into our Country from foreign countries” would be a primary tool.
He pledged that “all money left over” from $2,000 payments to citizens would be used to “SUBSTANTIALLY PAY DOWN NATIONAL DEBT.” This approach centers on revenue collection from foreign countries as the key to balancing the budget.
The dueling proposals come as financial experts continue to warn about the dangers of excessive national debt.
Ray Dalio has described a “classic, self-reinforcing cycle” where high-debt nations face an economic downturn and are forced to print money, devaluing the currency and raising inflation.
Dalio warns this can lead to declining living standards and rising political extremism as groups “conflict about how to divide the shrinking resources.”
The futures of the S&P 500, Nasdaq 100, and Dow Jones indices were mixed on Tuesday after settling higher on Monday.
The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (NYSE:SPY) and Invesco QQQ Trust ETF (NASDAQ:QQQ), which track the S&P 500 index and Nasdaq 100 index, respectively, rose on Monday. The SPY was up 1.56% at $681.44, while the QQQ advanced 2.21% to $623.23, according to Benzinga Pro data.
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Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.
Photo courtesy: Shutterstock
