Debt to Rise to 90% of GDP

[rightwinger]

What interest rate are we currently paying?

I bet its much less than the rate we paid when Ronald Reagan ran up the debt

Let us not forget the warning we got from Moody's a couple of weeks ago on our AAA-rating. If/when we lose that rating... interest rates will go up in order to get buyers for our paper. They're liable to go up a little bit anyway. Already, we have several corporate entities who are selling at lower rates. What that means essentially is that bond buyers consider a corporation like Lowes a better risk than the United States Government.

We do not have 900 billion to pay on interest. We don't have ANY money to pay on interest that we don't first have to borrow from someone else. We're borrowing money in order to pay for the money we already borrowed... with no end in sight.

I was just wondering what interest rate we pay on our debt, do you know?

I imagine that under Reagan it had to be over 10%

 

[Murf76]

I was just wondering what interest rate we pay on our debt, do you know?

I imagine that under Reagan it had to be over 10%

No idea. I read somewhere though, (can't remember where) that our current annual interest payments now are around 350 billion.

 

[antagon]

Meister, do you know what the difference is between the PUBLIC Debt and the NATIONAL debt? This article is using the figure of 6.3 trillion as our Public debt, yet our National Debt was around $11.5 trillion??? What is the difference? Seems like each of us OWE even more than what the writer states if you look at National Debt?

we dont 'owe'. some of that debt is owed us. we || taxpayer =/= government.

 

[Care4all]

And yet, even when faced with facts, there will be those that defend this administration!

What is wrong with you guys. Obama is working with what he was given. Two wars - three trillion, a drug bill from 2003 that's anywhere from 2 to 15 trillion. It's astounding how you blame Republican mess on him.

The GDP of the US is 14.5 trillion. The GDP of the European Union is over 18 trillion. We could start with pulling our troops and bringing them home. We could rebuild America's crumbling infrastructure.
What are Republican ideas? None. Look at their own party finances. 22 million, then they get 96 million in donations, and they end up with less than 10 million. Yea, so "fiscal".

Did you look at the CBO's numbers for the year 2020....you want to blame that on the last administration, also? Unbelievable

By the way....are those numbers you threw out the RNC's money...or are they tax dollars? hmmmm?

Actually Meister, it does include what actions congress took in legislation in previous administrations....it only makes sense....

especially with entitlement changes, such as adding prescription drugs for seniors and with any move congress has legislated that affects the budget long term...defense contracts to build fleets etc, that take time would be in there too....

So you can see how decisions made previously like the institution of Social Security by previous congresses and Medicare by previous congresses affect the budgets in the future and any new president, whether republican or Democrat, will inherit these monstrosities weighing us down.

What the president CAN DO is act on reforming these programs so that they spend less....hopefully through efficiencies and not through cutting essential benefits and hopefully by not having to raise taxes to support them.

One way for us to see apples to apples with President Bush's administration and congresses is to look at what CBO projected to be our long term debt to 2020, at the last day of the Bush Presidency....they did do this comparison short term but i did not note it being shown for the long term to 2020?

And then the other comparrison is that we need to look at the long term debt calculation for the last day of the clinton presidency to the last day of the Bush presidency, to be fair in the comparison of Bush vs Obama....

To me, this is NOT a Clinton vs bush vs Obama situation.....THIS IS A COLOSSAL CRISIS that BOTH the Republicans in a major way contributed to and the Democrats in a major way are contributing to as we speak....

Who's to blame doesn't solve this...

Having a crappy economy, high unemployment.... bringing in less taxes doesn't help this

More seniors retiring than expected because they lost their jobs has effected this with not being taxed anymore and now pulling off of SS, so increased unexpected SS payments...

No more surpluses to use in their budget from SS as Clinton and Bush had to use to balance their budget, does not help this situation either....

WHOEVER took this presidency, was going to be FACED with a LONG TERM debt/deficit monstrosity that is unimaginable to the average joe. ...even BEFORE the addition of this health care....we can cut out the health care bill and see that deficits and debt are farther than the eye can see and mind imagine

A STRONG ECONOMY, is our only hope, Obi Wan Kenobi!

 

[Care4all]

Meister, do you know what the difference is between the PUBLIC Debt and the NATIONAL debt? This article is using the figure of 6.3 trillion as our Public debt, yet our National Debt was around $11.5 trillion??? What is the difference? Seems like each of us OWE even more than what the writer states if you look at National Debt?

we dont 'owe'. some of that debt is owed us. we || taxpayer =/= government.

yes we do*...we and future generations have to PAY that DEBT, we most certainly are in debt to others....yes, the gvt IS US, the people....we(gvt) borrowed, so we(taxpayer) owe....sadly.

 

[antagon]

we're not the same as the government, care. we have an explicit relationship with the government (hence uncle sam), but the we(gvt) concept is a fallacy. even if this was a total democracy, there would be a distinction between us - even if the govt were funded entirely from tax.

our debt is a problematic course we've embarked on, however, there's international consensus as to that course such that it needs to be viewed from a relative perspective. from that perspective, despite the debt that it entails, the US is the better for having most major currencies based on our own. if we had an isolationist instead of imperial policy, we would be even more precarious than we are now.

 

[Xenophon]

Who didn't see this one coming down the pipeline? This is not good for our economy, nor our bond rating.

President Obama's fiscal 2011 budget will generate nearly $10 trillion in cumulative budget deficits over the next 10 years, $1.2 trillion more than the administration projected, and raise the federal debt to 90 percent of the nation's economic output by 2020, the Congressional Budget Office reported Thursday.

The federal public debt, which was $6.3 trillion ($56,000 per household) when Mr. Obama entered office amid an economic crisis, totals $8.2 trillion ($72,000 per household) today, and it's headed toward $20.3 trillion (more than $170,000 per household) in 2020, according to CBO's deficit estimates.
CBO report: Debt will rise to 90% of GDP - Washington Times

WOW....that's staggering

And yet, even when faced with facts, there will be those that defend this administration!

And this surprises you?

I have only been saying it for a year and a half now.

 

[DiamondDave]

National debt is laziness on our part. We want all the services but don't want to sacrifice to get them. The US is still the wealthiest country on earth. I love how these articles divide up the debt among each person. The US Government has tremendous resources. Almost 1/3 of all land in the US is owned by the Government. This land has tremendous value as well as mineral and grazing rights. The US Military has more equipment than any other nation.

Its like if I make $80,000 a year and owe $160,000 on a house valued at $400,000. My debt to earnings ratio is 200% but I am still financially well off

Not when you keep raising your debt on a higher ratio

 

[Zoom-boing]

Were I a conspiracy theoists, I'd suggest that the bankrupting of the FEDERAL government has been the intended outcome that both parties have been working toward all along.

Bumping, as this seems to have gotten over looked . . . .

 

[Maple]

Who didn't see this one coming down the pipeline? This is not good for our economy, nor our bond rating.

President Obama's fiscal 2011 budget will generate nearly $10 trillion in cumulative budget deficits over the next 10 years, $1.2 trillion more than the administration projected, and raise the federal debt to 90 percent of the nation's economic output by 2020, the Congressional Budget Office reported Thursday.

The federal public debt, which was $6.3 trillion ($56,000 per household) when Mr. Obama entered office amid an economic crisis, totals $8.2 trillion ($72,000 per household) today, and it's headed toward $20.3 trillion (more than $170,000 per household) in 2020, according to CBO's deficit estimates.
CBO report: Debt will rise to 90% of GDP - Washington Times

WOW....that's staggering

Oh, but he wants to do something about that now. Sure he does with his massive HEALTH CARE ENTITLEMENT PROGRAM that will most certainly BANKRUPT us. He is a SOCIALIST, no denying that.

 

[Meister]

What is wrong with you guys. Obama is working with what he was given. Two wars - three trillion, a drug bill from 2003 that's anywhere from 2 to 15 trillion. It's astounding how you blame Republican mess on him.

The GDP of the US is 14.5 trillion. The GDP of the European Union is over 18 trillion. We could start with pulling our troops and bringing them home. We could rebuild America's crumbling infrastructure.
What are Republican ideas? None. Look at their own party finances. 22 million, then they get 96 million in donations, and they end up with less than 10 million. Yea, so "fiscal".

Did you look at the CBO's numbers for the year 2020....you want to blame that on the last administration, also? Unbelievable

By the way....are those numbers you threw out the RNC's money...or are they tax dollars? hmmmm?

Actually Meister, it does include what actions congress took in legislation in previous administrations....it only makes sense....

especially with entitlement changes, such as adding prescription drugs for seniors and with any move congress has legislated that affects the budget long term...defense contracts to build fleets etc, that take time would be in there too....

So you can see how decisions made previously like the institution of Social Security by previous congresses and Medicare by previous congresses affect the budgets in the future and any new president, whether republican or Democrat, will inherit these monstrosities weighing us down.

What the president CAN DO is act on reforming these programs so that they spend less....hopefully through efficiencies and not through cutting essential benefits and hopefully by not having to raise taxes to support them.

One way for us to see apples to apples with President Bush's administration and congresses is to look at what CBO projected to be our long term debt to 2020, at the last day of the Bush Presidency....they did do this comparison short term but i did not note it being shown for the long term to 2020?

And then the other comparrison is that we need to look at the long term debt calculation for the last day of the clinton presidency to the last day of the Bush presidency, to be fair in the comparison of Bush vs Obama....

To me, this is NOT a Clinton vs bush vs Obama situation.....THIS IS A COLOSSAL CRISIS that BOTH the Republicans in a major way contributed to and the Democrats in a major way are contributing to as we speak....

Who's to blame doesn't solve this...

Having a crappy economy, high unemployment.... bringing in less taxes doesn't help this

More seniors retiring than expected because they lost their jobs has effected this with not being taxed anymore and now pulling off of SS, so increased unexpected SS payments...

No more surpluses to use in their budget from SS as Clinton and Bush had to use to balance their budget, does not help this situation either....

WHOEVER took this presidency, was going to be FACED with a LONG TERM debt/deficit monstrosity that is unimaginable to the average joe. ...even BEFORE the addition of this health care....we can cut out the health care bill and see that deficits and debt are farther than the eye can see and mind imagine

A STRONG ECONOMY, is our only hope, Obi Wan Kenobi!

I'm wondering what politicians (if any) will stand up and start taking on this deficit. Make actual cuts in spending, and not the fuzzy math cuts like they always have had in the past. I've never understood how they can say that they made an actual cut in a specific area, and the next year comes around and we are deeper in debt with that specific area. They must think were idiots.
Eventually this will hurt our credit rating, and hurt our dollar. Other countries aren't hurt as bad on a global scale with debt, because there is the US that is the stabilizer in the world. Once that changes, everyones chickens will come home to roost.

 

[Xenophon]

I wonder if any of them understand that the economy will never recover if they keep adding debt and entitlements.

 

[Care4all]

Did you look at the CBO's numbers for the year 2020....you want to blame that on the last administration, also? Unbelievable

By the way....are those numbers you threw out the RNC's money...or are they tax dollars? hmmmm?

Actually Meister, it does include what actions congress took in legislation in previous administrations....it only makes sense....

especially with entitlement changes, such as adding prescription drugs for seniors and with any move congress has legislated that affects the budget long term...defense contracts to build fleets etc, that take time would be in there too....

So you can see how decisions made previously like the institution of Social Security by previous congresses and Medicare by previous congresses affect the budgets in the future and any new president, whether republican or Democrat, will inherit these monstrosities weighing us down.

What the president CAN DO is act on reforming these programs so that they spend less....hopefully through efficiencies and not through cutting essential benefits and hopefully by not having to raise taxes to support them.

One way for us to see apples to apples with President Bush's administration and congresses is to look at what CBO projected to be our long term debt to 2020, at the last day of the Bush Presidency....they did do this comparison short term but i did not note it being shown for the long term to 2020?

And then the other comparrison is that we need to look at the long term debt calculation for the last day of the clinton presidency to the last day of the Bush presidency, to be fair in the comparison of Bush vs Obama....

To me, this is NOT a Clinton vs bush vs Obama situation.....THIS IS A COLOSSAL CRISIS that BOTH the Republicans in a major way contributed to and the Democrats in a major way are contributing to as we speak....

Who's to blame doesn't solve this...

Having a crappy economy, high unemployment.... bringing in less taxes doesn't help this

More seniors retiring than expected because they lost their jobs has effected this with not being taxed anymore and now pulling off of SS, so increased unexpected SS payments...

No more surpluses to use in their budget from SS as Clinton and Bush had to use to balance their budget, does not help this situation either....

WHOEVER took this presidency, was going to be FACED with a LONG TERM debt/deficit monstrosity that is unimaginable to the average joe. ...even BEFORE the addition of this health care....we can cut out the health care bill and see that deficits and debt are farther than the eye can see and mind imagine

A STRONG ECONOMY, is our only hope, Obi Wan Kenobi!

I'm wondering what politicians (if any) will stand up and start taking on this deficit. Make actual cuts in spending, and not the fuzzy math cuts like they always have had in the past. I've never understood how they can say that they made an actual cut in a specific area, and the next year comes around and we are deeper in debt with that specific area. They must think were idiots.
Eventually this will hurt our credit rating, and hurt our dollar. Other countries aren't hurt as bad on a global scale with debt, because there is the US that is the stabilizer in the world. Once that changes, everyones chickens will come home to roost.

I can only PRAY that our allies that have not been hurt as badly realize their chickens will come to roost as well, when we fall....? if they do not help us, when we come in need?

 

[Truthmatters]

"That figure would equal 90 percent of the estimated gross domestic product in 2020, up from 40 percent at the end of fiscal 2008. By comparison,America's debt-to-GDP ratio peaked at 109 percent at the end of World War II"

This is from the article

 

[Truthmatters]

It seems that maybe if we can learn to make things again and END the wars someone started (and said would be some other presidents job to end them) then we can work our way out of this mess because we did it before.

 

[boedicca]

What is wrong with you guys. Obama is working with what he was given. Two wars - three trillion, a drug bill from 2003 that's anywhere from 2 to 15 trillion. It's astounding how you blame Republican mess on him.

The GDP of the US is 14.5 trillion. The GDP of the European Union is over 18 trillion. We could start with pulling our troops and bringing them home. We could rebuild America's crumbling infrastructure.
What are Republican ideas? None. Look at their own party finances. 22 million, then they get 96 million in donations, and they end up with less than 10 million. Yea, so "fiscal".

No - he created much of the red himself, with help from Pelosi and Reid:

 

[boedicca]

Not that I doubt your numbers but our debt to GDP was 54% last year. I don't how know how this calculation was made but it is hard to believe that it is going to go up by 66%. Even if it does so what? The debt to GDP ratio in Japan is 193% now. Japan seems to be doing pretty good. Looking at the debt ratio for a number of countries, we will have plenty of company at the 90% level by 2020. The only thing about this ratio that is really important is how we stack up against other nations. Even at 90% in 10 yrs we don't look that bad.

Doing pretty good? Have you paid attention to Japan? They had two lost decades economically. They are BUILDING ROBOTS because their birthrate is so far below the replacement rate that the country is literally dying out. Of course they don't care about piling on debt. Most of them will be dead before the bills come due.

 

[boedicca]

What interest rate are we currently paying?

I bet its much less than the rate we paid when Ronald Reagan ran up the debt

It's low - but heading higher. The recent Treasury Auction pushed close to 4%.

The estimates of $700B to $900B of annual interest payments are very reasonable (a big increase from the $260B or so we paid in 2008).

 

[Truthmatters]

After WWII we had a 109% debt to gdp ratio

 

[boedicca]

Meister, do you know what the difference is between the PUBLIC Debt and the NATIONAL debt? This article is using the figure of 6.3 trillion as our Public debt, yet our National Debt was around $11.5 trillion??? What is the difference? Seems like each of us OWE even more than what the writer states if you look at National Debt?

National Debt includes all of the Treasuries that are held in the SS Lockbox and the like. Those have to be paid off at some point - starting this year, given that SS is going negative.