Choices for Deficit Reduction

"The United States is facing fundamental budgetary challenges. Federal debt held by the public exceeds 70 percent of the nation's annual output (gross national product or GDP) - a percentage not seen since 1950- and a continuation of current policies would boost the debt further. Although debt would decline to 58 percent of GDP in 2022 under the current-law assumptions that underlie the Congressional budget Office's (CBO's) baseline projections, those projections depend heavily on significant increases in taxes and decreased in spending that are scheduled to take effect at the beginning of January. If, instead, lawmakers maintained current policies by preventing most of those changes from occurring - what CBO refers to as the alternative fiscal scenario - debt held by the public would increase to 90 percent of GDP 10 years from now and continue to rise rapidly thereafter..."
Choices for Deficit Reduction