Thursday, May 20, 2010

AT A GLANCE: THE FEDERAL BUDGET & DEBT



















As I have mentioned in earlier blogs, I am honored to be on the board of directors of the Nebraska State Chamber of Commerce and I am chairperson of the Small Business Committee. Recently the State Chamber had their annual fly-in to Washington, D.C. Unfortunately, I was not able to go to Washington but I was quite interested in their findings.

They were briefed on the federal budget and national debt by Nebraska’s First District Congressman, Jeff Fortenberry. The graphs above are from Rep. Fortenberry’s website and were presented to State Chamber members who attended the May 5 Nebraska Breakfast on Capitol Hill. Currently, U.S. federal debt as a percentage of the Gross Domestic Product is about 60%. At the current pace, it will hit 150% of GDP in 10 years, and 300% of GDP by 2050. (By comparison, the crisis in Greece began when its debt hit 115% of GDP.) The bipartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget has presented six future scenarios for America – and all are reasons for concern. The best case scenario is long-term economic stagnation; the worst case is default – when the government can no longer pay its bills. Another possible scenario is runaway inflation. I thought that you would be interested in the Commissions findings, click here.