Dear Reader,
The Congressional Budget Office just made it official. The federal government ran a $2.0 trillion deficit in fiscal year 2026. That is $218 billion worse than last year. $7.4 trillion went out the door. $5.4 trillion came in. Nobody called a press conference. Nobody declared a national emergency. They just quietly published the number and moved on.
Inside today's issue:
- The $2 Trillion Confession: The CBO confirmed it. The deficit hit $2 trillion for FY2026. The national debt crossed $40 trillion in August. And the bond market is starting to ask the question Washington cannot answer.
- The Interest Trap: With the 10-year Treasury near 5%, the government now owes roughly $2 trillion a year just in interest payments. The deficit and the interest bill have become the same number. That is not a coincidence.
- The Pattern I Have Seen Before: Deficits expand. Bond markets break. Currency collapses. Hard assets survive. This is not a prediction. It is history. Rome, Weimar, Argentina. The sequence never changes.
- Larry Benedict — Oil Skimming: When the market crashed 37% in 2008, Larry Benedict made $95 million for his clients. Now he's sounding the alarm on oil. He says the next big move could be starting. His new presentation on a strategy called "Oil Skimming" is worth a look. (Brownstone Research)
THE $2 TRILLION CONFESSION
Every fiscal year, the Congressional Budget Office publishes the final tally. This year it read:
"The federal budget deficit totaled $2.0 trillion in fiscal year 2026, $218 billion more than the deficit recorded in fiscal year 2025."
Two trillion dollars. In one year. On top of the $40 trillion they already owe. The BBC noted the debt milestone in August. It got one day of coverage. Then it disappeared.
Here is what they are not measuring: the interest bill.
The 10-year Treasury is sitting at roughly 5% right now. Apply that rate to $40 trillion in debt. You get approximately $2 trillion a year in interest payments alone. Not to reduce the debt. Not to fund roads or schools. Just to pay the creditors from the last round of borrowing.
The annual deficit and the annual interest bill are now essentially the same number. That means every dollar of new borrowing goes straight to servicing old borrowing. Washington is running a national Ponzi scheme and calling it fiscal policy.
Tomorrow, the Federal Reserve decides whether to raise rates again. They raised in September to 3.75-4.0%. CPI is running at 3.7% year over year. If they raise, the interest bill grows. If they hold, inflation keeps eating your paycheck. There is no clean exit from this trap.
I have studied this pattern for 50 years. Rome did not fall in a day. It bled out slowly. Senators kept voting. Taxes kept rising. The currency kept losing value. One day the creditors stopped showing up. That is when things moved fast.
But there is one specific number inside this debt spiral that stopped me when I saw it this morning. It tells you exactly what kind of window you have right now. I want to walk you through it after a word from a sponsor.
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THE PLAY
The number that stopped me? Interest on the national debt hit $1.1 trillion for the first 10 months of FY2026. The government is now spending more on interest than on Medicare. More than on defense. Interest is the largest single line item in the federal budget.
When a government reaches this point, it has three options. It can raise taxes. It can cut spending. Or it can print money. Historically, democracies choose the third option. Always. Because option one and two cost votes.
When they print, every dollar in your savings account loses purchasing power. The number in your bank account stays the same. The price of everything around you rises. That is the hidden tax. That is the robbery they never announce.
Gold does not care about deficits. Silver does not care about deficits. Bitcoin does not care about deficits. These assets cannot be printed. They cannot be "fixed" by a Fed committee. They have no interest payments. They owe nothing to nobody.
I bought my first gold coin in 1972. I have been buying silver since the 1970s. I added Bitcoin when it was below $10,000. None of those purchases required permission from Washington. That is exactly the point.
The window to position yourself before the dollar's next leg down is open right now. I do not know how long it stays that way. The Fed meets tomorrow. The midterms are in days. This is not a drill.
The history books are full of governments that ran out of road. Hard assets outlasted every single one of them.
To your freedom,
Robert Kiyosaki
Author, Rich Dad Poor Dad
P.S. The book Hedge Fund Market Wizards profiles some of the greatest traders alive. And our friend Larry Benedict has his own chapter. Now this former hedge fund manager is turning to oil, and he says the market conditions forming right now are some of the best he's seen in 40 years. Watch the free presentation here.