Dealing with high inflation and an increasingly shaky economy, Americans are forced to make tougher spending choices. With public debt at an all-time high, government should do the same. This feat isn't that hard now that the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has released a series of budget options showing Congress how to do it.
It's worth repeating that maintaining spending at the current level is not a viable option. Given the dramatic increase in annual federal government spending over the next 30 years—from 22.3 percent of GDP to 30.2 percent—combined with federal tax revenues that have remained fairly constant at around 19 percent, CBO projects that future deficits will explode. It's forecasted to triple from 3.7 percent of GDP today to 11.1 percent in 2052. Over the next 10 years, primary deficits (deficits excluding interest payment on the debt) amount to $7.7 trillion. Meanwhile, deficits with interest payments total $15.8 trillion—roughly $1.6 trillion a year.
