From the Right

/

Politics

Who Wants to Increase the National Debt? Both Trump and Harris

Debra Saunders on

WASHINGTON -- It's been a little over a week since the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget sent a letter to Kamala Harris and Donald Trump suggesting they get serious about "skyrocketing" national debt, which now exceeds $35 trillion.

Washington is spending $1.8 trillion more than it collects annually.

"Our publicly held debt will soon surpass the entire size of the U.S. economy, and debt is projected to exceed its previous record, 106 percent of GDP, in 2027," the letter warned. "At a projected cost of $892 billion this year, our nation already spends more on interest on the debt than we do on both national defense and all federal spending on children."

"The costs and promises just keep coming," CRFB head Maya MacGuineas observed as we chatted over the phone Friday. As November nears, the candidates are dangling "expensive targeted breaks for groups of voters" with a "silly cynical patchwork of fiscal giveaways."

CRFB crunched the numbers from the Harris and Trump campaign troves and reported that Harris scored better than Trump.

The fiscal watchdog group factored three outcomes -- low impact, high impact and in between -- of each candidate's proposals and figured the impact on the national debt for Plan Kamala could be as low as zero or as high as $8.1 trillion over 10 years starting in 2026.

For Trump, the range could be as low as $1.45 trillion or as high as $15.15 trillion over the same period.

That would be on top of the $1.8 trillion or so in debt that we already accumulate each year.

Since the letter went out, MacGuineas noted, there has been another natural disaster, Hurricane Milton, and Harris promised to have Medicare fund at-home, long-term care and Trump promised a new tax break on car-loan interest. So those estimates can only grow.

MacGuineas knows that the longer Washington puts off addressing America's over-indebtedness, the more painful the remedy will be.

Because really, the only way to eliminate the money gap and put federal spending on a sustainable path would be to address entitlement spending. But you don't hear either candidate talking about fixing Social Security or Medicare. Instead, you hear about how they want to give away more money they don't have.

Part of the problem is there is no crisis, just more red ink every year; our finances resemble the frog in the pot on top of a fire.

 

But it's also true that with no crisis, this would be a perfect time to course-correct. The economy is strong enough to absorb the cost of what needs to be done.

Shortly after MacGuineas and I spoke, The Wall Street Journal reported that JPMorgan Chase Chief Financial Officer Jeremy Barnum said on a conference call that after a recent interest rate cut, the U.S. economy is in a "kind of Goldilocks" situation.

Inflation is at 2.44% right now. But when interest rates climb, the cost of paying off the mountains of U.S. debt will climb as well.

So this would be a great time to right the ship, except that it's an election year, and neither party wants to talk about paying the piper.

Republicans aren't talking about cutting government to right the ship, MacGuineas noted, and Democrats aren't pushing for the broad tax hikes necessary to pay for their programs.

I asked MacGuineas: What should voters be pushing for?

A pledge from candidates, MacGuineas responded, and it's simple: "No new borrowing until they fix this situation, barring emergencies."

That makes so much sense, you know it won't happen.

Contact Review-Journal Washington columnist Debra J. Saunders at dsaunders@reviewjournal.com. Follow @debrajsaunders on X.

----


Copyright 2024 Creators Syndicate, Inc.

 

Comments

blog comments powered by Disqus

 

Related Channels

Armstrong Williams

Armstrong Williams

By Armstrong Williams
Austin Bay

Austin Bay

By Austin Bay
Ben Shapiro

Ben Shapiro

By Ben Shapiro
Betsy McCaughey

Betsy McCaughey

By Betsy McCaughey
Cal Thomas

Cal Thomas

By Cal Thomas
Christine Flowers

Christine Flowers

By Christine Flowers
David Harsanyi

David Harsanyi

By David Harsanyi
Dennis Prager

Dennis Prager

By Dennis Prager
Erick Erickson

Erick Erickson

By Erick Erickson
John Stossel

John Stossel

By John Stossel
Josh Hammer

Josh Hammer

By Josh Hammer
Judge Andrew Napolitano

Judge Andrew Napolitano

By Judge Andrew P. Napolitano
Laura Hollis

Laura Hollis

By Laura Hollis
Michael Barone

Michael Barone

By Michael Barone
Michael Reagan

Michael Reagan

By Michael Reagan
Mona Charen

Mona Charen

By Mona Charen
Oliver North and David L. Goetsch

Oliver North and David L. Goetsch

By Oliver North and David L. Goetsch
R. Emmett Tyrrell

R. Emmett Tyrrell

By R. Emmett Tyrrell
Rachel Marsden

Rachel Marsden

By Rachel Marsden
Rich Lowry

Rich Lowry

By Rich Lowry
Ruben Navarrett Jr

Ruben Navarrett Jr

By Ruben Navarrett Jr.
S.E. Cupp

S.E. Cupp

By S.E. Cupp
Salena Zito

Salena Zito

By Salena Zito
Star Parker

Star Parker

By Star Parker
Stephen Moore

Stephen Moore

By Stephen Moore
Terence P. Jeffrey

Terence P. Jeffrey

By Terence P. Jeffrey
Tim Graham

Tim Graham

By Tim Graham
Veronique de Rugy

Veronique de Rugy

By Veronique de Rugy
Victor Joecks

Victor Joecks

By Victor Joecks
Wayne Allyn Root

Wayne Allyn Root

By Wayne Allyn Root

Comics

Andy Marlette Steve Benson Joel Pett Al Goodwyn Joey Weatherford John Branch