The national debt now exceeds $22 trillion, an all-time high. If you were to spread that out across everyone living in the United States of America, each person would owe about $67,000.
The national debt represents cumulative annual budget deficits. According to the Congressional Budget Office, the debt this year will be about $897 billion, which is a 15.1% increase over last year’s $779 billion shortfall. Economists predict that the debt will reach $1,140 trillion by the year 2050.
Experts say the debt-to-GDP level isn’t dangerous, but it could be before long. Both President Barack Obama and President Donald Trump have seen the national debt rise on their watch. The national debt was low overall until the Cold War in the early 1980s under President Ronald Regan. The Congressional Budget Office predicts the debt held by the public will come close to post-WWII levels in the next ten years.
It would currently take the United States over 400 million years to pay off the debt. In spite of healthy economic growth, the budget deficit in 2020 is expected to exceed $1 trillion.
After the GOP tax bill went into effect in December 2017, debt growth picked up enormous speed. The national debt doubled over the last eight years.
