By BRETT ROWLAND | THE CENTER SQUARE
The Congressional Budget Office on Wednesday released a bleak outlook for the federal government with new projections that show debt levels will reach their highest levels ever in five years.
“Debt held by the public, boosted by the large deficits, reaches its highest level ever in 2029 (measured as a percentage of GDP) and then continues to grow, reaching 166% of GDP in 2054 and remaining on track to increase thereafter,” according to the CBO report. “That mounting debt would slow economic growth, push up interest payments to foreign holders of U.S. debt, and pose significant risks to the fiscal and economic outlook; it could also cause lawmakers to feel more constrained in their policy choices.”
The CBO further projected that the Social Security Old-Age and Survivors Insurance trust fund will be exhausted in 2033, the Medicare Hospital Insurance trust fund in 2035, and the Highway Trust Fund in 2028.
Maya MacGuineas, president of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, said the new report should serve as a wake-up call for Congress.
“This is yet another reminder that politicians put political priorities ahead of the long-term health of the country,” she said. “There is no way to look at these eye-popping numbers without realizing we need to make a change. And yet we have lawmakers promising what they won’t do: I won’t raise taxes, I won’t fix Social Security, I won’t pay for all the things I do want to do. And so we continue on this dangerous path.”
MacGuineas said neither President Joe Biden nor former President Donald Trump have been talking about solutions on the campaign trail ahead of the 2024 presidential election.
“So far, the presidential campaign is not offering any hope – candidates need to be asked how they would fix Social Security, fix Medicare, and bring the debt back to manageable levels,” she said. “Voters should not be satisfied without specific answers.”
The CBO report found that “interest costs more than double in relation to GDP between 2024 and 2054, driven by rising interest rates and growing debt.”
“Those costs reach 6.3% of GDP in 2054 and are larger in every year than their average of 2.1% of GDP over the past 50 years,” according to the report. “Higher interest rates account for about two-thirds of the projected rise in net interest costs over the 2024–2054 period; primary deficits account for the rest.”
MacGuineas said the biggest concern is the rising cost of interest.
“The scariest part of our grim fiscal outlook is rising interest costs. Those costs have already doubled as a share of the economy since 2015, and this year CBO believes interest will cost more than defense spending or Medicare,” she said. “By 2053, interest costs will double again after becoming the single largest line item in the entire federal budget in 2051. This year, we will spend $870 billion on interest – more than all the federal dollars we spend on children – and that number will only grow from here.”
Michael A. Peterson, CEO of the Peter G. Peterson Foundation, called the long-term outlook “dangerous.”
“CBO’s new report shows that over the next three decades, America’s debt will grow by more than $100 trillion, as we pay out more than $75 trillion on interest alone. Our debt is projected to continue climbing, approaching twice our gross domestic product, which is uncharted territory for the world’s largest economy,” he said. “Looking ahead to 2025, the leaders we elect this fall will face a series of critical fiscal decisions, including the debt ceiling and expiration of some of the 2017 tax cuts. As we enter the heart of campaign season, CBO’s report is proof positive that our debt challenge is serious, and fiscal solutions should be a key part of the national conversation.”
“Gradually, then suddenly.”
Ernest. An emotional loony bird and a meanie but curiously wise and surprizingly observant. I wonder what he’d think of these times.
> I wonder what he’d think of these times.
Probably not much. Ernest was a masculine dude. This generation is very feminized. Way too much so.
> An emotional loony bird and a meanie
He was. Especially with drink and women. And at the end. But then most of our endings are not very pretty.
Agree
See! Our current Alaska leaders have no care for their constituents who trusted them enough to vote for their elections. They are cruel to be stringing the Alaskans along thinking they and their adult children and grandchildren and communities infrastructure and needs can continue surviving off government dependence. If Alaska leaders truly cared about us, this year’s budget would be Donna Auduin style trimmed for our long run, and leaders will be pushing more constituents into independence.
When the cabbage hits the fan, American citizen will not survive long. No government to fall back on as it will have gone to chaos. American’s while a history of resilience in the past, have failed to maintain the Republic and as it dissolves much as Haiti, the soft population will fail as dog eat dog becomes the survivalist mode.
Sad prediction, but look around, mob mentality is bubbling just below the surface and unity of the population is fractured beyond reason. for what it is worth, arm up for the short term. as there will be slight success of any long term.
Yes it’s getting time that something is going to tip the cart over.
I can’t wait to see the government broke and the freeloaders with non government handout.
What’s the fuss? If you have it, spend it; if you don’t, spend it like you do. Why make life more complicated than it need be?
“And did we tell you the name of the game, boy, we call it riding the gravy trrrrraaaaiiiiiiinnnnn yaaa.”
Ozzie in his most drug-addled moments was far more sane that most of the free-spending swamp creatures in Washington DC.
Jay was quoting Pink Floyd, not Ozzy. You’re thinking Crazy Train, not Have a Cigar.
Yeah, I realized my mistake the moment I hit “post comment”.
(You’d think I’d have learned to proofread my comments by now.)
While your statement is 100% correct, those lyrics are from Pink Floyd, Have a Cigar.
No kidding. Spend trillions we don’t have on things we don’t need…
What did anyone think was gonna happen?
Shut it down! The sooner the better!
Trump grew the debt by $7.8 trillion. Biden has grown the debt by more than $4 trillion- and lies about it. We need to get these old farts out of the way so we have rational spending- and balanced budgets.
You forgot to include Obama at 11 trillionish.
When you have someone that doesn’t do any maintenance on a home or vehicle. The next owner has a lot of fixing to do. To socialist steering the ship, drain the strategic oil reserves.Gut the military. Use the funds to buy votes with bureaucratic programs. When an adult grabs the wheel (provided they overcome the steal) The Programs are in place AND the repairs on the property begin. But not without a fight. Then on cue, the useful idiots start parroting spending gibberish.
You left out 0bama who grew the debt by $10T+.
That is true. Problem is Obama isn’t running, so I was focusing on those who are. The fact is we’ve had deficit spending for most of the last fifty years. This was all presidents, D and R alike. The only pause was when Gingrich and Clinton balanced the budget for a few years.
Gingrich did that without any support from Clinton. In fact, Clinton fought Ginrigh tooth and nail over the budgets.
CBM. Nope. Clinton signed the Balance Budget Act in 1997. He reformed some of the more odious welfare programs- such as lifetime welfare. Clinton angered his base by doing so. By today’s standards Clinton would be a Republican. Which says how far the looney left have moved left.
He signed the bill into law because Congress was going to override any veto attempt.
And, my point, reminder was, just because they are old does not mean they are a problem. The young Presidents we have had are just as bad, if not worse than the old guys. See 0bama as the perfect example of a guy elected because he is young and dynamic, but is totally incapable for carrying out the duties of the position.
Obama IS running..buydung
This is categorically INCORRECT. Trumps attempted to pull back on spending and the debt rose $2.5 trillion in 3 years. Then Congress spent $6.5 trillion, using “COVID” as an excuse in 2020 and January of 2021. Congress is, and always has been in charge of spending, not the president. Under the constitution, the president cannot spend any money congress does not appropriate.
Thanks for pointing that out.
Mitch McConnell and Nancy Pelosi are two of the fattest Pork barrel Queens in history with an expertise in channelling foolish government projects into the pockets of family run businesses and wealthy donors pockets.
Donald “Ruthless” Rumsfeld is a prime example of cashing in on record government funded profits during Covid with his Remdesivir miracle drug earning nearly 6 billion as well as being the recipient of government spending of 2 trillion on the phony hunt for weapons of mass destruction He invented in Iraq.
Its been going on for a very long time.
Ever wonder who was the recipient of the vast carpet bombing of Vietnam? hint LBJ
All they had to do was remove one man who stood in the way of full scale war.
Your figures are way off Robert. The president can use his veto pen. Trump failed to do so.
No point in vetoing, when it is obvious beyond any shadow of a doubt the veto will be overriden.
Excuses excuses. CBM, read the Constitution some time- a presidential veto can only be overridden by a two thirds vote of both houses. Democrats don’t have a two thirds majority in either chamber.
Remember, Trump used to be a Democrat. And he was a draft dodger. He’s not a fiscal conservative.
Really?
Oh…. I did not know that…. Please.
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How many Republicans voted against Trump on a regular basis? Hint, way too many of them.
Robert, why are you defending Trump? The debt increased by $7.8 trillion while he was president. Trump could have vetoed spending bills and Congress can only override a budget veto with a two thirds vote. And Robert, there is not a two thirds Democrat majority in either chamber.
Trump was a Democrat until 2009. Think about that a little bit. He spent most of his adult life as a Democrat, and he dodged the draft. Trump cult members can not accept facts about their hero. Sad.
It’s not the Presidents that increase the debit it is the Congressional Senators and Representatives that do that. At the current Rate under Biden though the debit increase is expected to be the largest of any President. You want to control the spending elect fiscal conservatives but the MSM will tell the public they are the worst kind and that they will cut your SS which the trust fund that supports that is predicted to be insolvent by 2031.
Steven, by your standards we should not elect Trump. He’s a train wreck that allowed the debt to grow by $7.8 trillion. He could have vetoed the spending bills Congress passed and failed to do so.
We now spend over $800 billion dollars per year on debt service. This devalues the dollar and makes all Americans poorer. (Biden in no gem either.)
No, seriously, the young dynamic guy was the one that doubled the National Debt in his 8 years in office. It went, per the White House, from about $10T to $20T under 0bama’s watch.
Frankly, by that standard, the old guys are doing fine.
CBM. So, if you can do math, Obama (your numbers) raised the debt $5 trillion per term, and Trump raised it $7.8 trillion in ONE term.
Bravo. Trump grew the debt more than Obama per term. But hey, Trump was a Democrat for most of his adult life. We should expect him to be a fiscal train wreck.
Take away the ridiculous COVID spending, and Trump was not bad at all.
Too bad Fauci and the rest of the deep state, especially Congress, were determined to piss away trillions because of the panicdemic.
Everyone needs to know that the green slips of paper in your wallet are federal reserve notes. They have no inherent value. The only reason people use them is because the government says they are legal tender and they will use unlimited force to require everyone in the world to use them.
Most people won’t believe this, but for all of human history except the last century all the coins people used were made out of gold and silver. Paper bills were frowned on and were accepted at a discount from its face value. People didn’t use credit cards. Businesses wouldn’t accept checks from strangers. However, prices were stable and any inflation was considered a sign of terrible management of the economy by reckless speculators.
The whole world got away from that and inflation has destroyed the wealth of the people all over the world… except the tiny fraction of people that own shares in the central banks.
As currency has become more and more an abstraction, separated from and them removed entirely from the physical precious metals that money originally was, the predatory nature of the monetary/currency system has grown concurrently. The vast majority of Americans have utterly no idea how they are consistently and systematically raped by today’s purely fiat currency system, particularly in its non-physical (credit card) manifestations.
Stalin said 1 death is a tragedy, a million is a static. The same concept applies to debt at this scale.
Both sides know this can’t ever be paid back, so they are happily maxing out the credit card.
Steal your money to put you in debt.
Are most of the treasures are held by Americans?
Let’s see if they can get WW3 going to default on the debt later. Looks like it’s in progress now, one step at a time.
It is not difficult to cut spending, but the Federal (and pretty much all) Government does not want to do it. Just look at the absolutely meaningless BS the Anchorage assembly spends money on. When the Anchorage School District is sponsoring non-academic events, that costs money. (If I remember correctly, it was a fishing derby.) When the Anchorage Dept. of Health is paying for radio ads telling you to plug in at 20, it is wasting money.
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Do not get me started on the State and Federal Budgets.
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Final item. Tell Congress to stop adding debt for “infrastructure.” The only thing these massive infrastructure bills are doing is raising the cost of getting projects done. $1.6T for the “Bipartisan Infrastructure Law” is not going to build anything more than what was already planned. Why? Because there is only so many contractors, material sources, and laborers available, and when competition for scarce resources goes up, so does costs.
Every time there is a massive infrastructure spending law, it results in not much infrastructure gained. Not much more than already planned for and funded.
The difficulty comes in the will to do so.
The will to do so would be a lot stronger if re-election was not always looming on the horizon.
We are on the path of Weimar Republic, and subsequent collapse.
With the same predictable results.
Four years ago today, the Dow Jones opened at 19,830. Today the Dow closed at 39,110. We were promised that the market would tank if Joe Biden was elected. Additionally – Joe has never filed bankruptcy or been charged with sexual assault.
That is because China Joe has never held a real job, i.e., in the private sector.
(Well, aside maybe from being a lifeguard, you know, the job where all the kids loved to pet his leg hair. Maybe even Cornpop, too.)
Wait, didn’t he drive a semi truck as well?
And, wasn’t he a professor too?
Yep. Gold broke $2200 yesterday with rate cuts coming. Oh yeah!
And, Sebastian, can you tell us here exactly what control the President has over the markets?
What laws did pResident Biden sign that caused the market to grow? Which executive orders were responsible for that growth?
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Do not rush, I will wait.
Tekbro, I did not say any President controls the stock market. I just pointed out your boy told the world that the stock market would crash if Dark Brandon won the 2020 election. Trump also stated he single-handedly eliminated ISIS. A number of Moscow families would like to take issue with this boast. But it’s a big weekend, focus on the $450 million needed by Monday, it’s not too late for you to send in a couple of hundred dollars to help the same guy who assured you he is worth at least $10 billion. Grifters gotta grift!
Wait a second…
Trump was wrong about the stock market under Briben? I thought, per the news media, that Trump was never wrong about anything ever.
.
And, isis is coming back after three years of Biden’s bumbling hamhanded attempts at diplomacy? Gee, that is weird. I mean, if I had a cancerous tumor removed, but continued smoking, should I assume I will never get cancer again? I wonder if leaving billions of dollars of military equipment behind for the Taliban to use might have contributed to a resurgence of a group calling themselves the islamic state?
Meanwhile, St. Murkowski (R) Hails “$30.4 million for 42 climate resilience projects” while her party continues to offer her their full support.
How Odd.
Her party … the democrats? Well, they have always supported her! Everyone is bought out or threatened on both sides of the aisle!
I’m
Looking forward to the carnage actually. It will be enjoyable to watch these welfare leaches curled up in the corner of their million dollar homes, no heat, no lights with looters going wild. We are living in the most bizarre times..people deserve everything they get.
Go to any city council or borough meeting. A good chance there will be some item involving grants (maybe state but federally sourced) or federal matching funds. Anyway free federal money they can’t say no to. If someone does turn down free fed $$ they will bear the wrath. Then there are federal funds for education. It all adds up as we live beyond our means in a state of 750,000 total population. Austerity is not popular now a days!
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