A new record was shattered earlier this month after Republican lawmakers capitulated to Democratic Party demands to raise the debt ceiling. The first day the federal government was legally able to borrow more money, U.S. debt jumped by $328 billion in a single day. The previous single day increase record of $238 billion was set two years ago. Total federal debt now exceeds $17 trillion, according to Treasury Department figures.

Since the U.S. government is currently paying historically low interest rates, it was able to get away with forking over only $222.75 billion in interest payments on its debts last year—a figure that still represents a full 6 percent of the national budget. As the debt continues to grow, however, America’s creditors will likely start demanding higher interest rates to offset the risk of their investment. At the very least, the Senate Republican Budget Committee expects the amount the government is spending on interest payments to nearly triple in the next six years and approach $600 billion.

This means that by 2019, if not before, America will be spending more in interest payments than on national defense.

Financial historian Niall Ferguson has warned for years that nations and empires usually fall apart when the costs of serving their debt exceed the cost of their defense budget. More specifically, he has warned that the U.S. could experience a dramatic collapse when it reaches this point, just as was experienced by the Soviet Union.

Already, the U.S. is paying China almost $27 billion a year in interest payments. This amount of money represents almost a quarter of China’s total military expenditures. So it can be reasoned that Chinese officials are working to push American influence out of the South China Sea using warships built with the money America is paying them in interest.

These facts well illustrate what King Solomon wrote in Proverbs 22:7—that “the rich rules over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender.” A nation with a reckless spending problem (like America) will soon find itself destitute and unable to defend itself, while a nation with sound fiscal discipline (like Germany) will soon find itself in a position to dominate others. That is the way of this world!

To more fully understand the biblical identity of modern-day America and Britain, as well as their place in end-time prophecy, request and study Herbert W. Armstrong’s classic, The United States and Britain in Prophecy.