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

Saudi Aramco aims to initiate its fresh IPO in December 2019.

Charlene Vos

2019-12-13 09:32:00 Friday ET

Saudi Aramco aims to initiate its fresh IPO in December 2019.

Saudi Aramco aims to initiate its fresh IPO in December 2019. Several investment banks indicate to the Saudi government that most investors may value the mi

+See More

Chicago financial economist Raghuram Rajan views communities as the third pillar of liberal democracy.

Jonah Whanau

2019-02-25 12:41:00 Monday ET

Chicago financial economist Raghuram Rajan views communities as the third pillar of liberal democracy.

Chicago financial economist Raghuram Rajan views communities as the third pillar of liberal democracy in addition to open markets and states. Rajan suggests

+See More

U.S. senators urge the Trump administration to prevent the IMF from bailing out several countries that face predatory Chinese loans.

Chanel Holden

2018-02-01 07:38:00 Thursday ET

U.S. senators urge the Trump administration to prevent the IMF from bailing out several countries that face predatory Chinese loans.

U.S. senators urge the Trump administration with a bipartisan proposal to prevent the International Monetary Fund (IMF) from bailing out several countries t

+See More

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin welcomes a weak U.S. dollar amid pervasive fears of an open trade war between America and China.

James Campbell

2018-01-15 07:35:00 Monday ET

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin welcomes a weak U.S. dollar amid pervasive fears of an open trade war between America and China.

Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin welcomes a weak U.S. dollar amid pervasive fears of an open trade war between America and China. At the World Economic For

+See More

The Trump fiscal trifecta of lower income taxation, new infrastructure, and deregulation has yet to run its natural course.

Becky Berkman

2017-04-25 06:35:00 Tuesday ET

The Trump fiscal trifecta of lower income taxation, new infrastructure, and deregulation has yet to run its natural course.

This nice and clear infographic visualization helps us better decipher the main memes and themes of President Donald Trump's first 100 days in office.

+See More

Allianz chairman Mohamed El-Erian bolsters a new American economic paradigm in lieu of the Washington consensus.

Apple Boston

2018-04-20 10:38:00 Friday ET

Allianz chairman Mohamed El-Erian bolsters a new American economic paradigm in lieu of the Washington consensus.

Allianz chairman Mohamed El-Erian bolsters a new American economic paradigm in lieu of the Washington consensus. The latter dominates the old school of thou

+See More