According to deficit forecasts in President Barack Obama's latest budget, the national debt will surpass $20 trillion by 2016.
If this occurs (and it is almost certain to occur), then Obama will add
more to the national debt during his presidency than all prior
presidents combined, despite collecting projected record-high tax receipts each year of his last term in office.
Obviously,
there is a spending problem in Washington, D.C., and the reason for it
is no mystery. The largest expenditure in Obama's budget -- and the
largest federal outlay in every budget since 1970 -- is an expense item
labeled "payments for individuals," which includes spending on Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, unemployment benefits,
disability payments, and other federal welfare subsidies. These
payments constituted 65 percent of all federal spending in 2012 and are
expected to grow to 70 percent in 2016. (By contrast, national defense
spending was 19 percent of the federal budget in 2012 and will decrease
to only 14 percent in 2016.)
No comments:
Post a Comment