public debt Archives

Scary Savings

By Econ70 | 10/31/2013

The latest economic treat, the budget deficit fell to just 4.1% of GDP in 2013, the lowest level since 2008. Revenues were 16.7% of GDP, while expenditures were 20.8%. Rising revenues accounted for 79% of the deficit decline in 2013. The trick will be getting the annual deficit below 2.5% of GDP. As long as…

Bad Debt

By Econ70 | 08/30/2011

A man in a suit and glasses is holding his hands up

Total debt is the sum of all IOUs ever issued by the Treasury and is (egad) 98% of GDP. Total debt is the sum of the public debt–which is held by individuals, foreign gov’ts and financial institutions–and is 61% of GDP, and the intra-governmental debt, which consists of gov’t IOUs held by the gov’t (the…

Bulging Balance Sheet

By Econ70 | 01/18/2011

A blue banner with the words north star synergy written in white.

In the past 3 years, the Federal Reserve’s balance sheet has expanded by $1.5 trillion yet nominal GDP has managed to rise by only $500 billion. Moreover, the U.S. public debt has exploded by about $5 trillion over that same time frame. This means that while the USA is 244 years old, over 1/3 of…