The CBO, even with obscured numbers, sounds a warning bell on US debt load: Roll Call Story, here, in its entirety for ease of access:
Debt as a share of the United States economy is on track to blow through the previous World War II-era record within two decades and keep rising from there, the Congressional Budget Office said in its annual long-term budget report.
Generally assuming no change in current laws, growing budget deficits would push debt held by the public from the current level of 78 percent of the economy to almost 100 percent of gross domestic product by 2028, and to 152 percent of GDP by 2048, according to the agency.
“That amount would be the highest in the nation’s history by far,” said the report, which estimates the growth of spending and revenue over the next three decades as a share of the economy. The current record for debt as a share of GDP was set in 1946 when it hit 106 percent. Debt as a share of the economy is projected to exceed that level in fiscal 2034 under the latest projections, one year earlier than in last year’s long-term budget outlook.
CBO highlighted the role that rising interest costs will have, along with the growth of Social Security and Medicare.
In a statement distributed with the report, CBO Director Keith Hall said that by 2048, “as interest rates rise from their currently low levels and as debt accumulates, the federal government’s net interest costs are projected to more than double as a percentage of GDP and to reach record levels.”
Hall said interest costs would equal spending for Social Security, currently the largest federal program, by 2048.
CBO has long warned that rising debt poses a risk to the economy, and Hall made the point again Tuesday.
“The prospect of large and growing debt poses substantial risks for the nation and presents policymakers with significant challenges,” he said in the statement.
Under current law, revenue is projected to be relatively flat over the next few years in relation to GDP, rise slowly and then jump in 2026 after certain tax cuts expire.
“After 2026, revenues are projected to keep rising in relation to the size of economy — though not to keep pace with spending growth — mostly because of increases in individual income tax receipts,” Hall said.
Compared to last year’s report, CBO’s projections of debt growth are higher through 2041 and lower thereafter. The agency projects debt as a share of GDP would be 3 percentage points lower in 2047 than projected last year. The increase in debt through 2041 stems primarily from the tax overhaul, the two-year budget deal and the fiscal 2018 omnibus spending bill, the CBO said.
If Congress extends the individual tax cuts and several other tax provisions that are set to expire at the end of 2025, as many House Republicans want to do, debt would grow even faster, according to the CBO.
Debt held by the public. What, exactly, does that mean? According to the Treasury, it’s: “The Debt Held by the Public is all federal debt held by individuals, corporations, state or local governments, Federal Reserve Banks, foreign governments, and other entities outside the United States Government less Federal Financing Bank securities.”
A refrain from the don’t-worry-about-it nitwits is that… Hold that a second. One notes, for all the dire and calamitous warning, the CBO reports no numerical dollar figures at all. Allow me to post some:
Gross federal government debt: $21.175+ Trillion (as of right now – the thing grows rapidly) (see: US Debt Clock);
Debt Held By the Public: call it $16 Trillion right now (St. Louis Fed.); and
US GDP (2018 est.): $18.5-ish Trillion (World Bank).
Okay, with that out of the way, a variety of idiots usually shrug their shoulders and murmur something like, “But, we owe it to ourselves. So what?” Rose-colored glasses are useless to the blind. Or the stupid.
One, with math skills not acquired in a Detroit public “school,” will notice that the Gross Debt already exceeds the GDP by 14+%. That’s bad. When, soon, and sooner than 2028, the Public Debt exceeds the GDP, things will be worse. We shall ignore TOTAL debt (all sources), unfunded liabilities, and future derivative betting bailouts as such surpasses the ridiculous for the purely hilarious.
Gross US Debt is a combination of Public Debt and Intragovernmental Debt: $21.175 T – $16.5 T = $4.675 T. Who owes what to whom, now? In a way, with the Intra Debt, we do owe it to ourselves. This assumes “we” own and control the government. “We” do not. But, if we did, or if we pretend we do, then there’s a little truth to it. And a little mystery. If we really owe it to ourselves, then why not cancel and dismiss it? We’d be in the same position, right? And, hey!, if we are the public, and the public holds the rest, then why not get rid of that too?
Because we are not the public. Individuals maybe. But notice that there’s also corporations, foreigners, other entities, and the private Federal Reserve. Therein lies the rub. The Fed is the reason all this debt (by any name) floats around. It’s how they make (a very, very, very good) living, by adding zeros in a computer. This simple trick allows political lowlifes easy money to buy votes and, thus, hold power. They, in turn, are happy to allow the banksters to grift away.
You’re not paying this off as that’s not the purpose. It’s not owed to you and, odds are, a few bonds aside, you don’t own any of it. But you will be on the hook. Some more figures:
Total Debt per person within the US:
Forget it. It’s more than you could pay however you slice it. And it’s meaningless. The point isn’t repayment. The point is enslavement. The entire US economy and most of the world is now absorbed into this system of fake, debt-based funny money. None of it is real, literally just being zeros in computers for me to recycle here. The elites make a profit and hold power based on lies and nothingness. The only thing real about it is the real labor stolen from you to make interest payments for the system.
If you’re an average American worker and taxpayer, then you devote a considerable part of your life and time to paying: taxes, a mortgage, and maybe other debts (car, education, cred cards). All of these payments are for alleged cash which never existed and never will. A grand and sick illusion.
Any money you have left over for living is devalued by the constant inflow of new funny money. See: Gresham’s Law. There’s a reason why the cost of everything keeps going up much faster than any raises you might receive. There’s a reason why people need 30-year mortgages. Why they need 7-year car loans. Why they finance increasingly useless degrees. Prices are artificially inflated.
The taxes pay for, in this order: welfare, warfare, interest on the debts, more welfare, some other BS, and, somewhere waaaay down the line, maybe a little needful governance.
This is a giant ripoff. In an economy based on real money, things would cost less, people would keep more money, and banksters and pols would have to seek honest work. As the whole system is bullshit and not intended to ever be paid off, the answer is simple. All the debt – all of it at all levels – should be repudiated. Cancel it. Heck, make it illegal to issue debt.
The “owe it to ourselves” crowd has no response to the common sense solution except a horrified resort to scare tactics. “That would crash the economy!” Maybe. For a short time. Then it would recover and improve – for real people. But, no, they’d prefer the long, slow bleeding we currently suffer. It kind of reminds me of the house slave reminding the field hands to keep singing. Enslavement with a smile.
If we really owe ourselves anything, then it’s honest reflection and, then, maybe a little righteous anger.
Or cat videos. A new tattoo. Some “reality” TeeVee. Whatever makes you sing happily.
Think this was abolished in 1865? Boondocks/YouTube.
