National debt is already killing the American Dream, says top economist—and it might push the U.S. into an outright depression

The government’s $38.5 trillion national debt is suffocating the American Dream, a leading economist has warned, and if a highly debated debt crisis comes to fruition the country could be facing an all-out economic depression.

Many factors have been blamed for the death of the American Dream. Most recently, it has been housing stock, with President Trump moving to bar large Wall Street investors from buying up single-family homes. Elsewhere, JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon agrees that housing is a barrier but so is education...