The U.S. federal government debt has risen from less than 40% of total GDP about a decade ago to 78% as of May 2018.

John Fourier

2018-06-01 07:30:00 Fri ET

The U.S. federal government debt has risen from less than 40% of total GDP about a decade ago to 78% as of May 2018. The Congressional Budget Office predicts that this ratio will surge to 96% in 2028. Although many blame the Trump tax cuts as the key root cause, the increases in health care and retirement benefits suggest a different real reason for U.S. deficit severity.

Harvard professor Martin Feldstein attributes the recent rise of U.S. budget deficit from 4% to 5% of total GDP to increases in Medicare and social security retirement benefits for middle-class older Americans. These increases in core health care and retirement benefits account for about 2.7% of total GDP. The neoclassical Sargent-Wallace thesis suggests that the central bank cannot finance incessant increases in core deficits with government bond issuance regardless of money supply growth. This money supply expansion would lead to inexorable inflationary pressures that defeat the dual mandate of both maximum employment and price stability in the suboptimal fiscal-monetary policy coordination. Inflation serves as a seigniorage tax that would in turn dampen real macroeconomic variates such as household consumption, capital investment, labor supply, and total economic output. In light of this ripple effect on sustainable financial market growth and prosperity, the law of inadvertent consequences counsels caution.

 


If any of our AYA Analytica financial health memos (FHM), blog posts, ebooks, newsletters, and notifications etc, or any other form of online content curation, involves potential copyright concerns, please feel free to contact us at service@ayafintech.network so that we can remove relevant content in response to any such request within a reasonable time frame.

Blog+More

Nir Eyal and Ryan Hoover explain why keystone habits lead us to purchase products, goods, and services in our daily lives.

Fiona Sydney

2025-07-26 09:26:00 Saturday ET

Nir Eyal and Ryan Hoover explain why keystone habits lead us to purchase products, goods, and services in our daily lives.

Nir Eyal and Ryan Hoover explain why keystone habits lead us to purchase products, goods, and services in our lives. The Hooked Model can help shine new lig

+See More

Uniform field theory of corporate finance

Peter Prince

2022-11-25 09:29:00 Friday ET

Uniform field theory of corporate finance

Uniform field theory of corporate finance While the agency and precautionary-motive stories are complementary, these stories can be nested as special cas

+See More

AYA fintech finbuzz analytic report on the U.S. top tech titans Fall-Winter 2019

Andy Yeh Alpha

2019-11-06 12:29:00 Wednesday ET

AYA fintech finbuzz analytic report on the U.S. top tech titans Fall-Winter 2019

Our fintech finbuzz analytic report shines fresh light on the fundamental prospects of U.S. tech titans Facebook, Apple, Microsoft, Google, and Amazon (F.A.

+See More

Is higher stock market concentration good or bad for Corporate America?

Laura Hermes

2025-03-03 04:11:06 Monday ET

Is higher stock market concentration good or bad for Corporate America?

Is higher stock market concentration good or bad for Corporate America? In recent years, S&P 500 stock market returns exhibit spectacular concentrati

+See More

Tony Robbins explains in his latest book on personal finance that *patience* is the top secret.

Becky Berkman

2017-01-27 17:19:00 Friday ET

Tony Robbins explains in his latest book on personal finance that *patience* is the top secret.

Tony Robbins explains in his latest book on personal finance that *patience* is the top secret to successful stock investment. The stock market embeds an

+See More

Bill Gates and Warren Buffett shared their best business decisions in a 1998 panel discussion.

Laura Hermes

2017-11-13 07:42:00 Monday ET

Bill Gates and Warren Buffett shared their best business decisions in a 1998 panel discussion.

Top 2 wealthiest men Bill Gates and Warren Buffett shared their best business decisions in a 1998 panel discussion with students at the University of Washin

+See More