An interesting article by Charles Blahous, from Mercatus Center at George Mason University
Earlier this week the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released its updated outlook for the federal budget. Here are ten lessons it teaches us about the troubled state of federal finances.
- Federal debt is projected to grow faster than the economy can sustain. During President Obama’s time in office the nation has engaged in a protracted experiment in fiscal stimulus, manifested in five years of record federal budget deficits. As a consequence federal debt has risen dramatically relative to our economic output. In President Bush’s last full year in office, federal debt was 40.5% of GDP. This year it’s 76.3%. Economists are deeply divided over the wisdom of current deficit-spending.