Courage needed on U.S. debt trajectory
Our national debt is careening out of control and the picture worsens each day. Washington seems to be burying their head in the sand. The annual budget deficit is expected to top $1 trillion in 2020, bringing our cumulative national debt to over $33 trillion by 2028. To put this in perspective, the debt is greater than what the U.S. produces in a whole year. This high debt-to-GDP ratio tells investors we may have trouble repaying the loans. That’s a new and worrying occurrence for the United States. In 1998, the debt was only half of America’s economic output.
Who in Washington has the courage to stand up and fight for some fiscal sanity before it’s too late? Paul Ryan is retiring and has been the voice of reason in talking about the debt, the deficit, and entitlement and health care reform. Who will fill that void?
The U.S has been the financial capital of the world with a AAA credit rating established in 1917. In August of 2011 that ended as Standard & Poor’s lowered the rating to AA+. Was this a wake-up call? Not at all. Spending and deficits continued with reckless abandon and the next downgrade is coming very soon.
By 2023, according to the budget office, interest costs are projected to exceed what the government spends on the military. By 2028, interest payments will reach $915 billion, more than triple the interest costs last year. Imagine if interest rates continue to rise as creditors demand a higher return for higher risk debt. Can you imagine the day that U.S. debt is rated as speculative?
It’s hard to understand why Republicans and Democrats are not talking about this and developing a plan to start bending the curve back toward fiscal responsibility. We don’t have to balance the budget in the short term. Just change the direction of the deficits. Show real courage and demonstrate to the world and the financial markets that we will be responsible and start moving toward a balanced budget. Let’s get our credit rating back to AAA where it belongs. This is the United States of America. We need to start acting like it and lead the way once again.
Please Washington, stand up and fight. You may be worried about re-election, but I believe those who do the right thing will be greatly respected and rewarded for their courage!
Timothy F. Devlin
Spokane