It's not just inflation.

A common objection is that the debt only looks bigger because dollars are worth less. So we converted debt per person into constant 2026 dollars. Even on that apples-to-apples basis, the real burden on each person has grown sharply — this is genuine growth, not just rising prices.

If the whole story were inflation, the real (dashed) line would be roughly flat. Instead it climbs steeply — meaning the country is borrowing faster than prices, population, or the economy are growing.