The editorial emphasizes the need for both parties to know the reality of America’s debt future.
Excessive debt can be devastating, as anyone who has ever had more money going out than coming in can attest.
Pervasive debt can paralyze our lifestyles today, limit our options tomorrow, and shatter our dreams of prosperity. And as borrowing costs rise, so does the risk of bankruptcy.
The same is true of our country’s long-term debt and our less-than-honest political struggles over our finances. According to the Congressional Budget Office, our country’s debt is set to rise from an already alarming 97% today to 181% of gross domestic product by 2053.
Based on current projections, the national debt in 30 years will almost double our economic output. Interest payments will snowball from the current troubled 2.5% of GDP to 6.7% in 2053, with interest payments exceeding all discretionary spending by 2047 and all social security spending by 2051. CBO estimates that it will.
We can develop growth-boosting strategies and meet our fiscal responsibilities, but not until Republicans and Democrats recognize the complexities of an aging population, rising health care costs, slowing labor force growth, and spiraling debt interest rates. Democrats can be accused of tax and spending policies, and Republicans can be accused of focusing on cutting taxes and cutting discretionary spending while downplaying the need for new revenue.
But without bipartisan recognition of this multi-layered threat, ideological deadlock will continue to fuel rising spending, slowing economic growth and record levels of debt, making sustainable solutions elusive. It will be something.
America’s changing demographics require attention to these threats. An aging population, unstable immigration policies and declining fertility rates will lead to slower labor force growth and squeeze productivity.
The CBO estimates that the share of Americans age 65 and older is expected to rise from 17.5% this year to 22.5% in 2053, increasing the cost of Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid benefits. Currently, these programs account for 10.9% of GDP, but the CBO forecasts that they will reach about 14.8% by 2053. At the same time, the workforce that pays taxes to support retirees is not adding workers fast enough to fund the Promised Rights Program.
Democrats’ ideas of taxing the public as additional revenue and Republicans’ ideas of tax cuts that stimulate growth without offsetting spending miss the point. Our country is getting closer and closer to the debt cliff as both parties refuse to honestly discuss the more complex and harmful labor and demographic trends.
The only way out of this fiscal hole is for both parties to stop digging and work on the deep-seated programs and policies that generate most of it. To put the country on a stronger financial footing, we need to seriously discuss these demographic time bombs in a way that delivers on our promise to retirees while shaping opportunities for future generations. . But that won’t happen until Congress and the White House stop pretending the current path is sustainable.
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