White House lowballs debt predictions in new budget
The Obama administration's debt projections over the next ten years are 50% lower than the projections offered by the Congressional Budget Office.
The ten-year projections are contained in the president's latest budget – a $4.1-trillion free-for-all that funds every cockamamie scheme the administration has promoted over the last seven years.
The White House on Tuesday released a budget plan for 2017 that anticipates the government will rack up $6.1 trillion in new debt over the next 10 years, well short of the $9.4 trillion estimate that the Congressional Budget Office released in January.
The White House budget sees annual budget deficits in the $400 to $600 billion range over the next five years. From 2022 to 2026, the White House sees budget deficits in the $600 to $700 billion range.
But in January, the CBO released much higher estimates that said the annual budget deficit would spike to nearly $900 billion after five years, and exceed $1 trillion from 2022 to 2026.
According to CBO, $9.4 trillion in new debt will be added, putting the total national debt north of $28 trillion by 2026.
The lower White House figures would put the national debt at a somewhat smaller $25 trillion by 2026.
These numbers are incomprehensible. And what makes them even more frightening is that they are based on the dubious notion that the Federal Reserve will restrain the rise in interest rates. The cost of servicing that $28-trillion debt could easily reach $500-700 billion by 2025. It will be more if the Fed starts to jack up interest rates.
The GOP is getting flak for refusing to even hold hearings on Obama's budget. But the fact is, the administration's underlying numbers upon which they base their spending requests are a crock and bear no relation to reality.
A fitting last budget for an administration that has cooked the books every year since Obama took office.