Update: Treasury rates continue rising up, up, and away. These rates alone could add $500 billion more to annual interest costs within a decade (relative to the CBO baseline of 3.6% govt interest rates). Caution: Depressing charts to follow:

Below are the interest costs based on CBO's low-interest rate (current policy) baseline. If rates settle at 4.6% instead of 3.6%, then annual interest costs jump to $2.5 trillion within a decade - consuming one-third of all federal taxes. Or all your federal taxes until May 1.

Interest costs have recently surpassed Medicaid, Defense, and Medicare, and are set to surpass Social Security within two decades - or closer to 12 years if interest rates remain elevated.

Lest anyone think a debt-and-interest spiral would be no big deal, the sober-minded economists at Penn-Wharton cannot even model out a functioning economy over the long-term. Can someone please wake up Congress before they pile on a $5 trillion tax cut?