By Ben Ritz
The federal government is in desperate need of a fiscal correction. In just the last year, the annual budget deficit more than doubled from $933 billion to $2 trillion. Such explosive growth in federal borrowing might be warranted to combat an economic emergency such as the COVID pandemic, when the unemployment rate soared to 13%. But unemployment in both 2022 and 2023 has consistently been under 4% — a level not seen for such a prolonged period since the 1950s. Among economists, it’s axiomatic that in boom times such as these the government should be paying down its debts, not running them up.
The problem is only set to get worse in the coming years as deficits continue to grow with no end in sight. This borrowing comes at an enormous cost: annual interest payments on the national debt are at their highest level as percent of economic output since they peaked in the 1990s. By 2028, the government is projected to spend more than $1 trillion each year just to service our ballooning debts — more than it spends on national defense. The United States is potentially entering a vicious cycle whereby higher deficits lead to both a larger stock of debt and higher inflation, which the Federal Reserve must combat by raising the rate of interest paid on both public and private debts. These skyrocketing borrowing costs threaten to crowd out other critical public investments and slow economic growth.
For the Peter G. Peterson Foundation’s “Fiscal Commission” essay series
