The Debt

Moody’s Warns of Declining US Fiscal Strength

By The Fiscal Times Staff

Trump’s tax cuts combined with a slowing economy will diminish the United States’ “fiscal strength” over the next 10 years, Moody’s Investor Service said Wednesday. The gradual decline could pressure...
Trump Says National Debt Is Not His Problem: Report

By Michael Rainey and Yuval Rosenberg

As a candidate, Donald Trump said he could eliminate the national debt in eight years, largely by focusing on better trade deals. But in office, Trump has presided over a considerable increase in red...
Paul Ryan Says the National Debt Is His Biggest Regret. See How It Grew Under His Watch.

By Yuval Rosenberg

Outgoing House Speaker Paul Ryan said Thursday that the ballooning national debt is his biggest regret. In an interview with The Washington Post , Ryan named the debt and immigration as the two...
Flood of US Debt Overwhelms Bond Funds

By Michael Rainey

The U.S. government will issue $129 billion of debt this week, a 28 percent increase over the same time last year, and the surge in borrowing is so great that it’s “beginning to warp bond indexes,”...
Is Trump Serious About Tackling the Deficit? Obviously Not

By Yuval Rosenberg

President Trump is demanding that his advisers come up with a plan to reduce the deficit, The Washington Post’s Josh Dawsey and Damian Paletta report . Oh, and President Trump is also pushing new...

Chart of the Day: Is Demand for US Debt Drying Up?

By Yuval Rosenberg

Bloomberg’s John Auther and The Washington Post’s Heather Long both highlight this chart from Deutsche Bank’s chief U.S. economist, Torsten Slok, showing weaker demand for 30-year Treasury bonds. “...
The Problem with Our $6 Trillion War Tab

By Yuval Rosenberg

We told you last week that the total long-term cost of post-9/11 wars is approaching $6 trillion , according to a report by the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs at Brown...
Securing America’s Future Requires Political Courage Now

By Russ Latino

My son is five. He plays with Legos and digs old-school video games. My daughter is three. She likes dolls and is prone to uncontrollable giggling with no apparent provocation. Neither have much...
Deficit Hit $100 Billion in October

By The Fiscal Times Staff

The U.S. government spent $353 billion in October while revenues came in at $253 billion, producing a deficit of $100 billion. Receipts were 7 percent higher than a year ago, but spending was up 18...
What Should Democrats Do Now That They’ve Won the House?

By Michael Rainey

With Democrats winning control of the House Tuesday, political experts are lining up to give advice on what they should do with their new powers. While there’s little chance of enacting significant...

Two Wall Street Titans Warn About the Rising Risk of a Debt-Driven Crisis

By The Fiscal Times Staff

“[W]hen you have two of the most influential people in finance sounding the alarm over the same scenario, it’s probably time to start paying attention,” says Bloomberg’s Brian Chappatta . The two...
Visualizing the ‘Great Decoupling’

By Michael Rainey

The Washington Post’s Catherine Rampell asked economist and data visualization specialist Jonathan Schwabish of the Urban Institute to create a chart that shows how unusual the large and growing...
As Deficit Soars, Trump Advisers Focus on Discretionary Spending Cuts

By Yuval Rosenberg

National Security Adviser John Bolton, speaking Wednesday at an event hosted by the Alexander Hamilton Society in Washington, warned that the national debt is a societal threat with security...
Trump Says He'll Start Paying Down the Debt. Here’s Why That’s Not Likely

By Michael Rainey

In a somewhat surprising statement on fiscal policy, President Trump said Wednesday that the U.S. will start reducing its more than $21 trillion national debt. "We're going to start paying down debt...
Who Owns US Debt?

By The Fiscal Times Staff

At Bloomberg , bond strategist David Ader suggests that, while there are plenty of threats that could drive interest rates higher, the idea that foreigners are pulling back from U.S. debt isn’t one...