On January 1, 1791, the US national debt was ~$75 million

In 1971, the US national debt reached ~$23 billion

From 1791 to 1971, the growth rate was 3.24%

Today, the US national debt is $33 trillion

From 1971 to 2023, the growth rate has been 15%

What happened in 1971?

The US Dollar became a fiat currency, and backed by nothing but trust

Before 1971, the US Dollar was backed by gold

This means every US Dollar in circulation could be exchanged for a specific amount of gold

In 1971, Richard Nixon "temporarily" paused the exchange of US Dollars to gold

This gave the US government the ability to print as much USD as it wanted because it didn't need to worry about the USD/GOLD exchange rate!