In a recently published article entitled, “U.S. Debt on Pace to Top $54 Trillion Over Next 10 Years,” the NYT seeks to convey the false impression of control at the highest levels of the American government, while the President of the United States, who is perceived as incapacitated, continues to become the subject of news reports, pointing out an endless stream of gaffes. The amount the NYT provided is far below the actual expected amount.
The article claims without a calculation that “The United States is on a pace to add nearly $19 trillion to its national debt over the next decade as mounting costs of an aging population continue to weigh on the nation’s fiscal outlook.” It is entirely without precedent to claim that the debt the United States continues to accumulate is based on the “aging population,” although being without qualification the statement may actually be an allusion to the “aging population” of American politicians rather than the “aging population” of the United States. If so, then the article may be referring President Biden, if not Mitch McConnell, Nanci Pelosi, or a score of other aging American politicians.
To say the least, the NYT does not provide any arithmetic, formula, or calculation for its figure. It almost appears as though the newspaper pulled the number out of thin air. It must be really thin air. The Federal Debt is on track to increase by a much larger amount than $19 trillion.
The article mentions how “The budget office’s director, Phillip L. Swagel, said that even with the decline in deficits, the nation remained on track to rack up more debt as a share of its total economic output in 2034 than at any other time in its history.” Due to the way that the English language is structured, the statement in the article appears to be cryptic. Either “the nation remained on track to rack up more debt than at any other time in its history” or “the nation remained on track to rack up more debt than at any other time in its history” as “a share of its total economic output in 2034.” If even without qualification, the debt is, nonetheless, expected to accumulate now until 2034.
It appears as though the Federal debt continues to reach historic milestones. Just two years ago, the New York Times published an article entitled: “U.S. National Debt Tops $31 Trillion for First Time.” It is worthwhile to compare the figures from that NYT article published on October 4th, 2022 to the one published most recently on February 7th, 2024. The February 7th, 2024 article states: “America’s gross national debt topped $34 trillion last month.” If $31 trillion became a first time in 2022, $34 trillion in 2024 cannot be anything but.
The October 4th, 2022 article states: “The government is constantly issuing new debt, which effectively means its borrowing costs rise.”
The October 4th, 2022 article, however, makes one more comment: “Federal debt is not like a 30-year mortgage that is paid off at a fixed interest rate.” Although the authors refrain from drawing out the analogy to its most logical conclusions, the meaning is clear. Americans have surprisingly nothing to show for the enormous debt the United States has accumulated.