A lot must have changed since last Tuesday, when the president declared, “The United States of America, right now has the strongest, most durable economy in the world.” That was hardly the picture painted by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) yesterday in one of its bleakest projections about the federal debt in years. The only thing the president seems to be right about is that “the economy has been changing in profound ways.”
But not for the better. For the first time in more than a half-decade, the U.S. deficit is expected to rise by a half-trillion dollars -- more than quadruple last year’s spike. Thanks to the back-breakers of ObamaCare (which was supposed to decrease the deficit, remember?), Medicare, and Medicaid spending are skyrocketing. With increases to already ballooning programs, America’s spending spree shows no sign of stopping. “Suppose that year after year,” Stephen Landsburg once wrote, “you spend more than you earn. Which of the following could be paths back to fiscal sanity for your household? A) Spend less. B) Earn more. C) Stop at the ATM more often so you’ll have more cash in your pocket. Do we all understand why C is a really bad answer?”
Apparently, Congress doesn’t. Instead of trimming costs, we’re borrowing more! And as a result, the federal deficit is set to jump a whopping 24 percent. If a family did that, the bank would foreclose. But, as Americans have learned, the federal government plays by far different rules. “This report makes it abundantly clear that the era of declining deficits is over,” said the head of the bipartisan Campaign to Fix the Debt. After “a series of huge and irresponsible unpaid-for tax cuts and spending increases last year, deficits, and the national debt are rising much higher and much faster than expected.” Now, experts complain, the “new IOUs get thrown on top of the old pile.”
There had been some hope that the deficit would continue its slow and gradual decline. But the omnibus package rushed down the chimney in December -- and the president’s refusal to repeal several of the big-ticket items in ObamaCare -- helped blow those hopes to bits. Interestingly, not many candidates have been talking about the debt. Let’s hope that changes soon because the numbers show we’re on an unsustainable path of spending.
