The Debt

Trump Says National Debt Is Not His Problem: Report

By Michael Rainey and Yuval Rosenberg

As a candidate, Donald Trump said he could eliminate the national debt in eight years, largely by focusing on better trade deals. But in office, Trump has presided over a considerable increase in red...
Paul Ryan Says the National Debt Is His Biggest Regret. See How It Grew Under His Watch.

By Yuval Rosenberg

Outgoing House Speaker Paul Ryan said Thursday that the ballooning national debt is his biggest regret. In an interview with The Washington Post , Ryan named the debt and immigration as the two...
Flood of US Debt Overwhelms Bond Funds

By Michael Rainey

The U.S. government will issue $129 billion of debt this week, a 28 percent increase over the same time last year, and the surge in borrowing is so great that it’s “beginning to warp bond indexes,”...
Is Trump Serious About Tackling the Deficit? Obviously Not

By Yuval Rosenberg

President Trump is demanding that his advisers come up with a plan to reduce the deficit, The Washington Post’s Josh Dawsey and Damian Paletta report . Oh, and President Trump is also pushing new...
Chart of the Day: Is Demand for US Debt Drying Up?

By Yuval Rosenberg

Bloomberg’s John Auther and The Washington Post’s Heather Long both highlight this chart from Deutsche Bank’s chief U.S. economist, Torsten Slok, showing weaker demand for 30-year Treasury bonds. “...

The Problem with Our $6 Trillion War Tab

By Yuval Rosenberg

We told you last week that the total long-term cost of post-9/11 wars is approaching $6 trillion , according to a report by the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs at Brown...
Securing America’s Future Requires Political Courage Now

By Russ Latino

My son is five. He plays with Legos and digs old-school video games. My daughter is three. She likes dolls and is prone to uncontrollable giggling with no apparent provocation. Neither have much...
Deficit Hit $100 Billion in October

By The Fiscal Times Staff

The U.S. government spent $353 billion in October while revenues came in at $253 billion, producing a deficit of $100 billion. Receipts were 7 percent higher than a year ago, but spending was up 18...
What Should Democrats Do Now That They’ve Won the House?

By Michael Rainey

With Democrats winning control of the House Tuesday, political experts are lining up to give advice on what they should do with their new powers. While there’s little chance of enacting significant...
Two Wall Street Titans Warn About the Rising Risk of a Debt-Driven Crisis

By The Fiscal Times Staff

“[W]hen you have two of the most influential people in finance sounding the alarm over the same scenario, it’s probably time to start paying attention,” says Bloomberg’s Brian Chappatta . The two...

The Post-Election Outlook: ‘Debt, Debt and More Debt’

By Yuval Rosenberg

The 2018 elections are looking like a lose-lose proposition for the U.S. bond market, according to Bloomberg’s Liz McCormick and Alex Harris : “If Democrats take the House, it raises the odds that...
Deficit Jumped to $782 Billion in 2018 – and It’s Only Going to Get Bigger

By Michael Rainey

You might have missed this with everything else going on in the world, but the Congressional Budget Office said Friday that the deficit for fiscal year 2018 rose to $782 billion, a big jump from the...
Why Rising Interest Rates Really Matter

By Michael Rainey

The job market is “sizzling,” says Moody's Analytics chief economist Mark Zandi, thanks in part to the deficit-financed tax cuts and government spending increases that went into effect this year. The...
Larry Kudlow Wants to Put a ‘Big Dent’ in Government Spending

By Yuval Rosenberg

Larry Kudlow, the director of President Trump’s National Economic Council, is once again talking up the economy and talking down the threat posed by rising debt and deficits. And once again, he’s...
Congress Added $2.4 Trillion to the National Debt in 2018: Report

By The Fiscal Times Staff

Fiscal 2018 ends on Monday, and the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget calculates that lawmakers added $2.423 trillion to the national debt through 2027 through legislation enacted over the...