How are they paying it if they’re making 30K or less? They’re not
Exactly right. Instead the government is borrowing the money at artificially low interest rates. The government would stagger under the load of any realistic cost of borrowing.
When I retired in 2003, the financial counselors were using numbers as high as 8 percent when calculating retirement income for potential retirees.
Fortunately for me I didn't believe a word of it. Since that time I have made approximately 3 percent from my retirement funds and that is what we live on. If interest rates were to be allowed to return to normal, we could vacation in Switzerland.