The Congressional Budget Office released figures that project the national debt to double by 2047.
That would take it from the existing 75% of the Gross Domestic Product, which is bad enough, to 150% of the GDP, which is unthinkable.
I know! Let’s cut taxes and increase spending!
Illustration by Rilsonav, “Debt,” Pixabay, Creative Commons.
From Stephan Dinan, Debt to double over next 30 years, economy sputtering: CBO – Washington Times:
The U.S. economy will continue to struggle over the next few decades, averaging less than 2 percent growth and forcing the federal government into some major choices, according to the latest analysis Thursday from the Congressional Budget Office.
One way to keep the debt from exploding would be an immediate and permanent tax increase, averaging $1,300 a year for middle class families. Or the government could impose even deeper spending cuts, particularly for senior citizens. Lowering the debt back to the levels it was just a decade ago would require a $2,100-a-year tax hike, the CBO said.
Without any action, the federal budget deficit will reach nearly 10 percent of gross domestic product in 2047, and the debt held by the public will have doubled from about 75 percent of GDP to 150 percent, CBO analysts said.
That would be the largest debt figure in U.S. history.
“Such high and rising debt would have serious budgetary and economic consequences,” the CBO said in its report.
The problems, the analysts said, are obvious: The government is spending far more than it’s collecting in taxes, and that will only get worse as the population skews older, and taxpayers have to shell out more money to pay for their Medicare and Social Security benefits.
[Keep reading. . .]
The Congressional Budget Office released figures that project the national debt to double by 2047.
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