Technically there’s no ceiling and as the reserve currency the us used to have special place, but there are consequences, there is “too high”, there can be a spectacular crash when other countries and currency traders get worried about whether you can pay it back. It’s just not clear where that will be.

US debt is now at proportions that has caused economic crashes in other countries. More importantly, payments toward that debt are now one of the biggest parts of the annual budget, making it tougher to afford other things.

Bringing the analogy back to personal finance, we are “house poor”. We haven’t always spent prudently, but now our house needs paint, the roof is leaking, and the furnace may not light this winter.

Edit: one party decided it was worth going into a little more debt to replace the furnace because winter will be cold and heat is necessary, while the other cancelled that, losing the deposit and took yet more debt to day trade and collect Labubu’s, cancelling “fraud, waste and abuse”, like having the internet