By CASEY HARPER | THE CENTER SQUARE
The cost of interest payments on the national debt will continue to grow as a financial burden for the U.S. over the next decade, even surpassing what the nation spends on national defense within a few years, a newly released budget analysis shows.
The national debt hit $31 trillion last fall and is well on its way to $32 trillion this year. As that debt grows, the U.S. Congressional Budget Office projects that the federal government will shell out over $10 trillion in the next decade on interest payments alone.
“To put this $10.5 trillion total in perspective, this means that spending on net interest will exceed all defense spending over the next decade,” the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget said in its analysis of CBO’s data. “In addition, we estimate the net interest spending will surpass all federal spending on children this year, meaning that we will be paying more to service our debts of the past than to invest in future generations.
“For every dollar that the U.S. government will borrow over the next decade, 50 cents will be just to pay interest on our national debt,” the group added.
CBO also projects that the debt as a percentage of GDP will hit record levels in that time and average $2 trillion deficits.
The latest debt projections are based on current spending obligations. That means new spending from Congress without offsetting tax increases or spending cuts will accelerate that growth of the debt beyond those projections.
“After jumping from $352 billion in Fiscal Year (FY) 2021 to $475 billion in 2022, annual net interest outlays will triple, reaching $1.4 trillion by 2033,” the CRFB said. “As a share of the economy, net interest will rise from 1.9 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in FY 2022 to exceed its record as a share of GDP – 3.2 percent set in 1991 – by 2030 before reaching a high of 3.6 percent of GDP by 2033.”
CRFB said the cost of interest on the national debt will soon surpass entitlement spending if nothing changes.
“Unfortunately, the decades to follow 2033 are projected to be in even worse fiscal shape. With deficits continuing to grow unsustainably over time, interest on debt will eventually become the largest part of the federal budget,” the group said. “Net interest will surpass defense spending by 2028, Medicare spending by 2044, and Social Security spending by 2050, becoming the largest single line item in the budget. By 2053, net interest will consume approximately 7.2 percent of GDP – nearly 40 percent of federal revenues.”
But hey! We’ve got all these billions to give Ukraine.
This nations finances are a Ponzi scheme. This will collapse and take all of us with it.
So what are some of the congressional or administrative options..??…maybe increase the defense spending…offer more incentives for wind & solar energy..??
Cut.
I think Charlie was being snarky there Masked.
Default, declare bankruptcy, cut a better deal. If we still had Trump this wouldn’t be an issue, it’s ridiculous.
Just wait what the debt interest payment situation looks like when interest rates climb to 8%, then 12%, then 20%, on the way to 100% and beyond, as the US dollar finally sinks into its death spiral. I’m estimating a 40% chance of seeing that by next year, and an 80% chance within three years.
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And you can take that to the bank (well, if you want to lose it).
The best way to make debt decrease is to pay it off is with new production from all resources, especially new oil and gas production, drill Alaska and stop those who stop it.
Or try and inflate your way out of it…which never works.
We are obviously trying the inflation method because production is against the progressive cause.
Let’s borrow more and crash the economy as quick as we can. The depression didn’t teach anybody anything. When we go broke the whole world is going to suffer. I say bring it on so we can see who’s rich and then we know who’s responsible. And the voter will vote for more of the same.
But, we got a BiPartisan Infrastructure Law passed that has $1,600,000,000 of construction jobs in it. Well, more like a few hundred billion, the rest is being spent on meaningless feel good “green” projects that will benefit China a lot more than the USA.
And, let’s not forget about the trillions that were squandered because of a virus that has a 99+% recovery rate.
And, we are sending billions to a foreign nation, who can use it to pay pensions, whereas the Social Security and Medicare trust funds are being plundered in the USA.
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Deficit spending can stimulate an economy. Continued, and continually increasing deficits turn into impossible to manage debt.
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And, those idiots in DC want to raise the debt ceiling without implementing any spending cuts.
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Congress is your enemy.
I hope hope our congressinal delegation goes down with the rest of the country when this country collapses
We need to know where they live so we can go take back what they stole from us.
I hope hope our congressinal delegation goes down with the rest of the country when this country collapses
Every dollar in your wallet, your bank account, and in your 401k is fake. They’re all IOU notes from the federal reserve, a private bank that the US Treasury is enthralled to. When people talk about government debt, they’re really talking about debt to a private bank.
They never talk about the national credit do they? It’s the people who labor who create all the private credit.
Does anyone wonder why every move Biden is making makes inflation worse?
In his own way he’s the most effective president since Roosevelt. His success rate at F-ing things up is astounding.
When you can disguise malice as incompetence, it is amazing what you can get away with.
How about we make China pay for all the Covid costs since they released it on America and the world or we could say 7 trillion and we aren’t paying off the debt that they carry
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