federal debt


The national debt problem – already bad at about $15.4 trillion — is probably worse than reported. That’s the latest according to a new study on the debt by the accounting firm of Deloitte and Touche, a document that is designed to wake people up to the fact that the debt is whittling away the government’s ability to innovate, construct and grow.

The study found that because of overly optimistic projections, the federal debt is probably much deeper. Keep reading →

In Washington, you can’t go too long in cocktail party banalities without people asking “So…what do you do?”

It wasn’t too long ago that my response, “I’m a budget geek”, used to elicit a half-hearted, “Oh. Great.”, as their eyes glazed over, scanning the crowd looking for the next target. But that’s beginning to change. Keep reading →

As everyone in the federal government–and most citizens–know, the government has been recording the largest budget deficits, as a share of gross domestic product (GDP), since the end of World War II. As a result of those deficits, the amount of federal debt held by the public has soared-surpassing $9 trillion at the end of fiscal year 2010 to a level equal to 62% of GDP.

The interest the government pays on that debt is currently low by historical standards as a percentage of GDP but it is expected to grow rapidly over the next several years as interest rates rise. (A summary of key facts about the Federal debt are available on my Wiki site.) Keep reading →