3 ms·

US federal govt.

• JumpCrisscross 3y ago
  > US federal govt Who is saying this? One, it doesn’t make sense: interest payments are part of the budget. If we ask when interest will become the largest budget item, it’s around 2045 [1]. (For larger than discretionary, it’s early 2030s.) Fundamentally, interest as a fraction of GDP is high but precedented [2]. It’s trending worryingly. But it is not proximately dangerous. [1] https://www.crfb.org/papers/interest-payments-federal-budget https://www.crfb.org/papers/interest-payments-federal-budget [2] https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/FYOIGDA188S https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/FYOIGDA188S
  • zeusk 3y ago
    Take it with OP, I'm just pointing out what he meant. Regardless - I do agree that the debt and deficit situation is getting a little out of hand. We're running deficits in late cycle which is quite dangerous. Also your [1] link is hilariously out of context from what has happened in the past year, interest rate on treasury bonds is 4+% and on bills/notes is 5+%. [2] Makes it seem like things are alright but we're in late cycle and we should be saving money for a downturn instead of taking on more debt at higher rates. https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/A091RC1Q027SBEA https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/A091RC1Q027SBEA
• pradn 3y ago
  That's not true. The interest could possibly exceed the defense budget by the end of the decade. But not the whole budget.