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

In the current global market for better biotech advances, medical innovations, and healthcare services, the new integration of artificial intelligence (AI) reshapes the competitive landscape worldwide.

Charlene Vos

2026-04-30 08:28:00 Thursday ET

In the current global market for better biotech advances, medical innovations, and healthcare services, the new integration of artificial intelligence (AI) reshapes the competitive landscape worldwide.

In the current global market for better biotech advances, medical innovations, and healthcare services, the new integration of artificial intelligence (AI)

+See More

CNBC's business anchorwoman Becky Quick interviews Nobel Laureate Joseph Stiglitz on the current Sino-U.S. trade war.

Daisy Harvey

2018-03-27 07:33:00 Tuesday ET

CNBC's business anchorwoman Becky Quick interviews Nobel Laureate Joseph Stiglitz on the current Sino-U.S. trade war.

CNBC's business anchorwoman Becky Quick interviews Nobel Laureate Joseph Stiglitz on the current trade war between America and China. As America imposes

+See More

Income and wealth concentration follows the ebbs and flows of the business cycle in America.

Amy Hamilton

2019-04-23 19:45:00 Tuesday ET

Income and wealth concentration follows the ebbs and flows of the business cycle in America.

Income and wealth concentration follows the ebbs and flows of the business cycle in America. Economic inequality not only grows among people, but it also gr

+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

Warwick macroeconomic expert Roger Farmer proposes paying for social welfare programs with no tax hikes.

Jonah Whanau

2019-07-05 09:32:00 Friday ET

Warwick macroeconomic expert Roger Farmer proposes paying for social welfare programs with no tax hikes.

Warwick macroeconomic expert Roger Farmer proposes paying for social welfare programs with no tax hikes. The U.S. government pension and Medicare liabilitie

+See More

What are the mainstream technological advances in the global auto industry?

Chanel Holden

2024-04-30 09:30:00 Tuesday ET

What are the mainstream technological advances in the global auto industry?

With clean and green energy resources and electric vehicles, the global auto industry now navigates at a newer and faster pace. Both BYD and Tesla have

+See More