People pass by a poster showing the US national debt in Washington, DC on August 19, 2026.Mandel Ngan | Afp | Getty ImagesGovernment debt has eclipsed $40 trillion, passing yet another staggering benchmark for red ink, according to the Treasury Department. The total U.S. IOU hit $40.05 trillion as of Tuesday, some four and a half years after topping $30 trillion. Years of escalating budget deficits, pushed higher by stimulus funding during the Covid pandemic, have seen the public share of the de...