The already bloated U.S. national debt has reached a new high for the current administration. With over $2 trillion now racked up by the end of 2018, the total national debt is at $21.974 trillion. The Trump administration began with a slight dip in the national debt, but it has been steadily increasing since the 2017 tax cut was put into place. The national debt has been on the rise through both the George W. Bush and Barack Obama administrations, with the biggest increase taking place during the 2008-09 financial crisis and ensuing stimulus package heavily increasing the debt.
Economists note that under the current economy, the debt is quite high, with the total debt at 78 percent of the GDP, the highest since 1950, and the deficit also increasing 0.3 percent since last year. Many economist also fear that, despite the strong economy now, a slowdown and possible recession by 2020 could also impact the debt and send it even higher. Looking at a graph of where the debt sits, the projections for the future do show a steep increase above any other time period by 2030, at which point things could be significantly problematic. The national debt’s all time high was during World War Two, when it reached 120 percent of the countries GDP.
