You know those analogies that compare a normal person's charity to a rich person's charity? So a billionaire giving $1m is like me giving someone a 100% tip on a $10 meal.
$4T in debt for the US is bearable. Between a $23T GDP and being constitutionally obligated to pay those debts as they come due, it's not really an issue. There's probably a lot of fraud in government programs, but that money still gets spent in the economy that financed the loan.
The issue is deficits. Those can go up in times of crisis, but end up bolstering the nation's ability to pay, so it's not all bad. I have near complete contempt for what passes for political parties in the US but, historically speaking, the way to go if you care about reducing the debt is Democrats. They consistently wipe out the deficit and set us on a path to paying it down just in time for Republicans to take over and flip it back to red with tax cuts and set the stage for crisis with deregulation. Democrats might raise the debt, but it's usually to deal with a crisis.
See that slide down after most people got checks and businesses got PPP loans they didn't have to pay back when the pandemic was at its worst? That's investment paying off. And that's with supply issues that continue to this day.
Watch that space for when supply catches up and we start figuring out better pandemic management after the next killer wave. The road ahead is bumpy, but I see wise investments paying off as long as some idiot doesn't get into power and start cutting taxes for people who don't need them again.
The people who keep loaning money to the government at least don't seem worried because they keep doing it.
Backed by the full faith and credit of the United States. (As well as what looks like the Fed [1].)
[1] https://bpi.com/the-mysterious-footnote-7-to-whom-and-on-wha...