Greg Fleming, chief executive officer of Rockefeller Capital Management, identified the U.S. fiscal situation as his primary concern in a 2026 Bloomberg Wealth interview with David Rubenstein. Fleming cited the national debt approaching $40 trillion and interest payments surpassing defense spending as key indicators of the economic challenge.

Fleming manages more than $200 billion in client assets at Rockefeller Capital Management. He stated that the scale of borrowing has reached levels that require close attention from financial leaders and policymakers.

"I’m most focused on the fiscal situation in this country," Fleming said during the interview. The executive noted that the government spent more on interest than on defense in 2025, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

The federal government spends more on interest payments than on national defense. Net interest payments on the U.S. national debt are projected to exceed $1 trillion in fiscal year 2026. This projection marks a significant increase from the $345 billion in interest the U.S. government paid during 2020.

"It’s a fantastic amount of money to have borrowed, even for an economy this robust and this big," Fleming said. The U.S. national debt crossed $39 trillion in mid-March 2026, moving closer to the $40 trillion threshold. The country runs annual deficits of 5% to 7% of GDP.

In October 2023, he told David Westin in a Bloomberg interview that the "U.S. debt situation is definitely a concern." At that time, he predicted that U.S. interest payments would exceed military spending by 2027. U.S. interest payments exceeded military spending in 2024, arriving three years earlier than his initial projection.

Debt held by the public crossed 100% of GDP in April 2026. This milestone marked the first time since World War II that debt held by the public exceeded 100% of GDP. Brookings economist Jessica Riedl calculated that the U.S. debt-to-GDP ratio could climb to 137% within a decade.

A 2024 industry survey found that 48% of financial advisors ranked the national debt as America’s most urgent policy problem. PureSource News reported on 2026-04-03 that Trump proposed a $1.5 trillion defense budget for 2027. Earlier coverage on 2026-07-26 reported that Trump broke a promise on national debt, with an expert stating he had failed badly. Earlier coverage on 2026-07-29 reported that economists disagree on national debt and that Americans face the consequences.

Fleming also discussed technology trends during the same interview, noting that artificial intelligence adoption is accelerating. "Artificial intelligence adoption is moving faster than even I thought," he said. The St. Louis Fed analyzed nearly 490,000 corporate earnings calls to assess this trend. Research from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis showed a spike in mentions of AI-related productivity in corporate earnings calls but almost no appearance in macroeconomic data.

The convergence of rising debt levels and increasing interest costs presents a structural shift in federal spending priorities. With net interest payments projected to exceed $1 trillion in fiscal year 2026, the cost of servicing the debt competes directly with other major budget items such as national defense. The Congressional Budget Office confirmed that the government spent more on interest than on defense in 2025, validating concerns that fiscal pressures are altering the composition of federal outlays.

Projections indicate that the debt trajectory may continue to accelerate relative to the size of the economy. Jessica Riedl of the Brookings Institution estimates the debt-to-GDP ratio could reach 137% within a decade, surpassing the peak recorded during World War II. This potential increase represents a rise of 132 percentage points from the current annual deficit range of 5% to 7% of GDP. The intersection of these fiscal metrics with broader economic indicators, such as the disconnect between AI productivity mentions in earnings calls and macroeconomic data, suggests complex dynamics affecting long-term stability.

Why It Matters

The shift where interest payments exceed defense spending marks the first time since World War II that debt held by the public surpasses 100% of GDP. This structural change alters federal spending priorities as net interest costs are projected to exceed $1 trillion in fiscal year 2026, a sharp rise from $345 billion in 2020. With the debt-to-GDP ratio potentially reaching 137% within a decade, these metrics reflect concerns shared by nearly half of financial advisors who rank the national debt as the nation's most urgent policy problem.