What those numbers actually conceal is the largest financial illusion in modern history. Behind that hypnotic screen of “national debt” lies a hidden ledger—$169 trillion in extracted wealth, covertly funneled out of the nation’s bloodstream and into the vaults of private entities that treat citizens not as participants in a republic, but as units of capital on a balance sheet.

This wealth, if evenly distributed, would amount to $495,000 owed to every American citizen. But instead of reclaiming it, we live under the weight of austerity, told we must “tighten our belts” for a crisis we never caused.