Sobering public debt assessment by the CBO
Over the past few years, U.S. government debt held by
the public has grown rapidly—to the point that, compared
with the total output of the economy, it is now
higher than it has ever been except during the period
around World War II. The recent increase in debt has
been the result of three sets of factors: an imbalance
between federal revenues and spending that predates the
recession and the recent turmoil in financial markets,
sharply lower revenues and elevated spending that derive
directly from those economic conditions, and the costs of
various federal policies implemented in response to the conditions.
Read the whole thing…