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发帖数: 4150 | 1 The Congressional Budget Office warned policy makers on Tuesday not to
become too comfortable with shrinking budget deficits.
The aging U.S. population, federal health-care costs, and expanded subsidies
for health care will push government spending to a much larger level as a
share of the economy than any period since World War II.
CBO, which provides budget estimates for Congress, said deficit is expected
to continue shrinking over the next few years but will eventually climb
again, “mainly because of increasing interest costs and growing spending
for Social Security and the government’s major health care programs (
Medicare, Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program, and subsidies
to be provided through health insurance exchanges).”
It said that currently, federal debt is roughly 73% of gross domestic
product. Under current law, debt as a share of GDP is expected to fall to 68
% by 2018 but then steadily increase because the gap between revenue and
spending will widen. By 2038, the debt to GDP ratio will reach 100%, CBO
estimated, “nearly equal to the percentage just after World War II and
almost triple the percentage in 2007.”
The agency said “large and continually growing federal debt…would increase
the probability of a fiscal crisis for the United States.” |
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