by Tom Gantert
So far in the fiscal year 2024, the federal government has had to borrow about $5 billion every day.
The Congressional Budget Office said Thursday the federal budget deficit was $1.5 trillion for the first 10 months of fiscal year 2024, which covers October through July.
The CBO stated that the $1.5 trillion deficit for the first 10 months of FY 2024 was $103 billion less than the deficit recorded during the same period last fiscal year.
The federal budgeting agency projects the deficit for 2024 will be $2.0 trillion. The deficit for fiscal year 2023 was $1.7 trillion. But the CBO says the differences in the deficits those years could be attributable to budgeting “timing shifts”.
“We’re nearly at the end of fiscal year 2024, and while most of America is focused on the momentum in the race for the White House, beneath the surface our nation’s fiscal health has continued to worsen,” said Maya MacGuineas, president of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, in a media release. “We’ve just surpassed $35 trillion in gross debt, and today’s CBO projections estimate we’ve borrowed another $242 billion in July, or $5 billion each day this fiscal year. Our fiscal trajectory cannot be left on autopilot – the stakes are far too high and the consequences far too steep to leave our national debt climbing in perpetuity.”
The Peter G. Peterson Foundation, which was founded by Peter Peterson, the former secretary of commerce for President Richard Nixon, tracks the national debt at $35.08 trillion, or $104,193 for every person in America, as of Aug. 8.
“Historically, our largest deficits were caused by increased spending around national emergencies like major wars or the Great Depression,” the foundation stated on its website. “Today, our deficits are caused mainly by predictable structural factors: our aging baby-boom generation, rising healthcare costs, and a tax system that does not bring in enough money to pay for what the government has promised its citizens.”
The think tank Truth in Accounting states the real national debt is closer to $156.8 trillion if unfunded Social Security and Medicare promises were included.
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Tom Gantert worked at many daily newspapers including the Ann Arbor News, Lansing State Journal and USA Today. Gantert was the managing editor of Michigan Capitol Confidential for five years before joining The Center Square.
