The numbers keep piling up condemning President Donald Trump’s presidency as bad for the United States. The national debt has hit a new high this week, passing $22 trillion for the first time, even though Trump has often touted his policies’ supposed fiscal stability to the point of promising during the 2016 campaign season to eliminate the entire national debt in eight years.
That’s not exactly looking likely.
The Campaign to Fix the Debt’s co-chairmen Judd Gregg and Edward Rendell shared this week:
‘This milestone is another sad reminder of the inexcusable tab our nation’s leaders continue to run up and will leave for the next generation.’
Although a number of already in-place trends have contributed to the federal government’s worsening fiscal condition, Trump’s particular policies have contributed to its demise. While spending for Social Security and Medicare has continued to grow to the point of the programs approaching being a net drain on the budget, Trump has slashed taxes for rich Americans, sending corporate tax receipts to a low not seen in decades. Meanwhile, as an indicator of just how on the rocks the administration has left everyday Americans, income tax refunds this year are reported to be around 8% lower than last year, on average.
These issues aren’t limited. Although the Trump administration has taken the scorched earth approach of simply dismissing the legitimacy of the office’s findings entirely, the Congressional Budget Office estimated just last month that by 2029, the United States national debt would be equal to 93 percent of its GDP, fueled by an ever-looming budget deficit that at this point the current administration has all but pushed aside. In 2049, the debt is projected to equal around 150 percent of the nation’s GDP, should current trends continue.
The CBO estimates that the federal budget deficit will surpass $1 trillion in 2022, which translates to well above the average deficit from 1969 to 2018, which equaled about 2.9 percent of the GDP. From 2020 through 2029, the deficit is projected to be equal to about 4.4 percent of the nation’s GDP.
The Trump administration has claimed despite these dismal figures that the economy would right itself via their tax cuts supposedly paying for themselves via increased spending, but that’s not happening.
They’re pressing on with further spending plans anyway. Trump continues to push for billions of dollars for a wall blocking off Mexico that will not actually address many of the issues facing the United States and others around its southern border, like the drugs that are smuggled through ports of entry.
Although there are plenty of other continued spending pushes from the U.S. government, the dangerous irony remains.
Heading into 2020, at least one major presidential race contender has already distinguished themselves with an attention to righting the United States’ financial standing. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) has presented a plan to tax the ultra rich’s assets, similar in theory to a proposal that emerged from Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) to tax the incomes of those earning millions a year at a higher than present rate.
Stunningly enough, 61 percent of voters supported Warren’s proposals to tax the rich’s wealth in a recent poll — which could be a sign of how the 2020 election will play out.
Featured Image via YouTube screenshot
