The headline CBO numbers make for bracing reading, and illustrate the work our country needs to undertake—sooner rather than later—to get our fiscal house in order. //

The CBO analysis shows the cumulative effects of the federal government spending far too much:

Except for a shortfall of “only” $984 billion in 2023, federal deficits will exceed $1 trillion throughout the decade, and well into the future.
Deficits will rise from roughly 4 percent of GDP to more than 6 percent of GDP by the end of the decade—well in excess of any potential economic growth rate, creating an unsustainable fiscal scenario.
Net interest costs will more than triple, from $352 billion in 2021 to an estimated $1.2 trillion the federal government will spend just on interest in 2032.
Publicly held debt will rise to 110 percent of GDP by 2032—“higher than it has ever been.”
Lest anyone believe these budgetary woes stem primarily from “the rich” not “paying their fair share” in taxes, CBO also projected that in 2022, revenues will reach their highest share as a percentage of the economy since the dot-com boom of 2000. Moreover, the CBO report assumes that the President Trump tax cuts expire as scheduled at the end of 2025.

In other words, this document assumes record revenue in the short term and a major tax increase in a few years’ time, and still results in massive debt and deficits over the coming decade. //

A mere ten months ago, in July 2021, CBO estimated the federal government would run deficits of $12.1 trillion over the coming decade. That number sounds bad enough, but the updated forecast now shows $14.5 trillion of red ink.