Phil Gramm: Obama's Legacy is '$10 Trillion Debt Increase'
Wednesday, 22 May 2013 11:10 AM
President Barack Obama's biggest gift to future generations will
be an unsustainable government debt load, says former Sen. Phil Gramm.
Under Obama, the debt burden has jumped almost $6.2 trillion, the equivalent of $78,385 per family of four, the Texas Republican wrote in The Wall Street Journal Wednesday along with Steve McMillin, a former deputy director of the White House Office of Management and Budget.
"Unless the economy soars, or a significant budget agreement is reached, the most lasting legacy of the Obama presidency will be a $10 trillion increase in the national debt — a burden that bodes ill for the nation's future," Gramm and McMillin wrote.
The massive debt burden will start to have an impact once interest rates rise, they wrote.
"Once the Federal Reserve's easy-money policy comes to an end and interest rates return to their post-World War II norms, the cost of servicing this debt will explode," they wrote. "The cost will increase further as the Fed sells down its $1.85 trillion holding of government bonds and the Social Security system runs deeper and deeper into the red."
The budget deficit has begun to shrink, the two acknowledge. But while April tax payments soared 28 percent from 2012, they said, much of that stemmed from "a one-time rush at the end of 2012 to report income before rates rose in January."
The second-biggest factor in reducing the deficit, they added, consisted of a one-time accounting adjustment from Fannie Mae.
Under Obama, the debt burden has jumped almost $6.2 trillion, the equivalent of $78,385 per family of four, the Texas Republican wrote in The Wall Street Journal Wednesday along with Steve McMillin, a former deputy director of the White House Office of Management and Budget.
"Unless the economy soars, or a significant budget agreement is reached, the most lasting legacy of the Obama presidency will be a $10 trillion increase in the national debt — a burden that bodes ill for the nation's future," Gramm and McMillin wrote.
The massive debt burden will start to have an impact once interest rates rise, they wrote.
"Once the Federal Reserve's easy-money policy comes to an end and interest rates return to their post-World War II norms, the cost of servicing this debt will explode," they wrote. "The cost will increase further as the Fed sells down its $1.85 trillion holding of government bonds and the Social Security system runs deeper and deeper into the red."
The budget deficit has begun to shrink, the two acknowledge. But while April tax payments soared 28 percent from 2012, they said, much of that stemmed from "a one-time rush at the end of 2012 to report income before rates rose in January."
The second-biggest factor in reducing the deficit, they added, consisted of a one-time accounting adjustment from Fannie Mae.
© 2013 Newsmax. All rights reserved.
No comments:
Post a Comment