Washington – National Debt Hits New Milestone, Topping $22 Trillion

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    Washington – The national debt has passed a new milestone, topping $22 trillion for the first time.

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    The Treasury Department’s daily statement showed Tuesay that total outstanding public debt stands at $22.01 trillion. It stood at $19.95 trillion when President Donald Trump took office on Jan. 20, 2017.

    The debt figure has been rising at a faster pace following passage of Trump’s $1.5 trillion tax cut in December 2017 and action by Congress last year to increase spending on domestic and military programs.

    Michael Peterson, head of the Peter G. Peterson Foundation, says “our growing national debt matters because it threatens the economic future of every American.”

    Peterson said that interest on the national debt already costs more than $1 billion daily, and “as we borrow trillion after trillion, interest costs will weigh on our economy and make it harder to fund important investments for our future.”

    The national debt is the total of the annual budget deficits. The Congressional Budget Office projects this year’s deficit will be $897 billion, which would be a 15.1 percent increase over last year’s imbalance of $779 billion. The CBO is projecting that the deficit will keep rising in coming years and will top $1 trillion annually beginning in 2022 and never drop below $1 trillion through 2029. Much of the increase will come from rising costs to fund Social Security and Medicare as baby boomers retire.

    The Trump administration contends that its tax cuts will eventually pay for themselves by generating faster economic growth. However, that projection is disputed by many economists.


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    17 Comments
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    Sholi-Katz
    Sholi-Katz
    5 years ago

    This should scare everyone. For all the years we overspent in lean times and paid back in good times. The last 20 years we just print money as we can get away with it, which other countries can’t. The question is – are we really a rich country? You know what the value of just 1 trillion is? Add up every single property in Brooklyn Queens, Bronx and Staten Island and it does not add up to a trillion dollars. In essence we sold off 20 of our biggest cities.
    What happens when the day of reckoning comes around and we cant print money anymore, causing a huge economic collapse. How do we still pay for all the services we give? The entitlements are too great and all those who live their lives off them, what next – the riots starts – first they will blame the fat rich ones and can you guess who comes next. Remember occupy wall street – Jewish history is our true pointer, it does not change.

    yaakov doe
    Member
    yaakov doe
    5 years ago

    I always thought the GOP wanted deficit reduction. Has that changed? With the Trump tax cut and the planned Space Force isn’t the deficit going to keep growing?

    Meloah
    Meloah
    5 years ago

    Another problem here is how much would the economy have grown if not for the constant increase in debt faster than the growth of GDP? Our debt to GDP has steadily grown from about 30% in the 80’s to 105% presently. So part of the growth of the economy is due to overspending by the government. What will happen when we have to cut back in order to lower the ratio (spend less than the growth of the economy)?
    In addition, part of the growth is due to non-sustainable low interest rates. Eventually the rates will rise due to a lack of confidence in our ability to pay back the debt, or problems in Japan, China and other countries who also have issues with of debt/gdp (Japan 250%).
    So the growth of world economies is partially due to overspending. Tough times (potentially a depression with high inflation) could be ahead.

    ayinglefunadorf
    ayinglefunadorf
    5 years ago

    Thank you Mr trump. He himself claimed “the King Of Debt” Bankrupt many times…

    qazxc
    qazxc
    5 years ago

    We need to restore all income tax rates to 1960s level. The economy did very well.

    emes01
    emes01
    5 years ago

    The Republicans don’t seem to care. Last year’s tax cuts for the rich have to be reversed. There is a proposal by the Democrats now to eliminate the Social Security part of the deficit but the Republicans are ignoring it.

    puppydogs
    puppydogs
    5 years ago

    Obama increased the debt more than all other presidents combined.