The deficits - the gap between what government spends and what it collects in taxes - average about 5 percent of the economy.
As CBO Director Keith Hall recently testified, "Investors would become unwilling to finance the government's borrowing unless they were compensated with very high interest rates." That could trigger draconian spending cuts or tax increases - and a stiff recession.
The main cause is political expediency: It's more popular to increase spending and cut taxes than the opposite.
On April 9, five Democratic economists issued a rejoinder in the Post, rejecting the Hoover economists' suggestion that spending cuts for "Entitlements" - mainly programs for the elderly and the poor - bear all the burden of cuts.
In today's dollars, balancing the budget would require annual spending cuts and tax increases of about $1 trillion dollars.
These entitlements constitute about 70 percent of federal spending; if they're ignored, the entire adjustment would fall on other spending and taxes.
Otherwise, spending cuts would be unacceptably severe.
https://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2018/04/16/avoiding_a_debt_crisis_136804.html
As CBO Director Keith Hall recently testified, "Investors would become unwilling to finance the government's borrowing unless they were compensated with very high interest rates." That could trigger draconian spending cuts or tax increases - and a stiff recession.
The main cause is political expediency: It's more popular to increase spending and cut taxes than the opposite.
On April 9, five Democratic economists issued a rejoinder in the Post, rejecting the Hoover economists' suggestion that spending cuts for "Entitlements" - mainly programs for the elderly and the poor - bear all the burden of cuts.
In today's dollars, balancing the budget would require annual spending cuts and tax increases of about $1 trillion dollars.
These entitlements constitute about 70 percent of federal spending; if they're ignored, the entire adjustment would fall on other spending and taxes.
Otherwise, spending cuts would be unacceptably severe.
https://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2018/04/16/avoiding_a_debt_crisis_136804.html
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