Deficit Continues to Swell as Debt Is Suddenly Not An Issue

Remember when the size of the deficit and national debt was a really big deal in the United States.

These days it seems as though nobody cares anymore.

Earlier this week, the United States debt clock ticked over the $22 trillion mark for the very first time. This came on the same week that the Treasury Department announced that the deficit through the first four months of the year was $310 billion, up 77% from the same period last year.

The blame was placed at the feet of plummeting tax revenues and increased government spending.

Of the $22 trillion that the United States owes, over $16.2 trillion is in the form of public debt (that is money that is owed to foreign governments, pension funds, individual investors, foreign investors, etc) and the rest is on the form of intragovernmental holdings (money that is owed to the Social Security fund, etc).

Since 1999, the US government has added $16.5 trillion in debt.

Since 2004, the US government has added almost $15 trillion in debt.

Since 2010, the US government has added almost $9 trillion in debt.

The cost to taxpayers is real, as the US government needs to spend countless billions of dollars per year servicing this debt.

Nobody seems to care.

In the past, the national debt and deficit were two very big election issues. In the upcoming 2020 Presidential election, they will almost certainly be secondary issues behind immigration, national security, the economy and foreign relations.

None of that seems to matter anymore.

According to the CBO, the United States will be posting deficits that will average $1.2 trillion by 2025, and this will further increase to $1.4 trillion by 2028, provided that things don't change.

Where is the outrage over deficits and debt now?

Filed under: General Knowledge