This year has taken so many shocking turns that we have become immune to startling news. So when the Congressional Budget Office released its new long-term estimates of federal deficits and debt in September, almost no one noticed.
The figures were grim. The CBO expects the federal debt in 2050 to be twice as large as the country’s annual economic output — a level never approached in our history. It estimates that spending that year will be about 31 percent of gross domestic product, up from about 20 percent today, while revenues will reach only 18 percent of GDP (up from …
This article appears as “A Debt to the Future” in the December 17, 2020, print edition of National Review.
Something to Consider
If you enjoyed this article, we have a proposition for you: Join NRPLUS. Members get all of our content (including the magazine), no paywalls or content meters, an advertising-minimal experience, and unique access to our writers and editors (conference calls, social-media groups, etc.). And importantly, NRPLUS members help keep NR going. Consider it?
If you enjoyed this article, and were stimulated by its contents, we have a proposition for you: Join NRPLUS.
