The plan has always been that the debt will be shrunken by inflation. In 20 years the dollar will be worth about 10% of its current value, and $20 trillion will look like a reasonable debt level.
For the past 50 years I have profited enormously by betting that real inflation will be about 3 times what the "experts" say it will be.
Maybe as much as half of that debt is held by the Fed for adjusting the monetary base. They can soak up a lot of high powered money by selling it to the public.
You were fortunate to have lived through a time of decreasing interest rates that “afforded” increased debt loads. It was cyclical and cannot happen again. Especially in a era of deflationary pressures.
Imagine going from $20T to 120T over the next 40 yrs?
Yup. Games with money. I wonder what the investors and owners of that debt think about it. Especially, every time the Fed dilutes the currency.