FED CHAIRMAN POWELL URGES CONGRESS TO ADDRESS FEDERAL BUDGET’S “UNSUSTAINABLE PATH"

[Joe Capitalist]

At a hearing on the Economic Outlook before the Joint Economic Committee on November 13, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell expressed concern about America’s fiscal outlook and how it may affect our economic future.

Powell highlighted the importance of having fiscal space to support economic recovery in the event of a downturn. The unsustainable path that we’re on now, he said, “could restrain fiscal policymakers' willingness or ability to support economic activity during a downturn.”

Looking further out into the future, Powell added:
“I remain concerned that high and rising federal debt can, in the longer term, restrain private investment and, thereby, reduce productivity and overall economic growth. Putting the federal budget on a sustainable path would aid the long-term vigor of the U.S. economy and help ensure that policymakers have the space to use fiscal policy to assist in stabilizing the economy if it weakens.”

Chairman Powell’s testimony comes during a period of historically high debt and deficits. Federal debt relative to GDP is the highest it has been since 1948, while the FY 2019 deficit was the largest in seven years. The Congressional Budget Office projects that national debt could rise to about 140 percent of gross domestic product by 2049.

Thanks Trump:



President Donald Trump is said to not be worried about setting the US up for a massive debt crisis because he doesn't think it'll erupt until after he leaves office.

Sources close to the presidency told The Daily Beast that Trump had repeatedly shrugged off any concerns about the rising national debt because it was projected to come to a head only after he would finish a second term.
During a 2017 briefing with senior officials, Trump responded to a presentation of charts and graphics by saying, "Yeah, but I won't be here," according to a source The Daily Beast said witnessed the comment.
US debt sits at about $21 trillion, and in a few years the US could be paying more in interest on that debt than on the military or on Medicare.

The Treasury Department estimated in October that the federal government would issue $1.34 trillion in new debt during 2018 — a 146% jump from 2017 and the highest amount of new debt issued since 2010.
The GOP's new tax law is expected to add $1.5 trillion to the debt over 10 years and drive the US's exploding deficit.

Reducing the national debt is typically a major platform for Republicans and was something Trump campaigned on. At a campaign rally in 2016, he blamed President Barack Obama for a doubling of the national debt. The Daily Beast, however, cited sources closed to the president as saying Trump rarely raised the issue, including one former senior White House official who reportedly said, "I never once heard him talk about the debt."

Still, Trump may have recently shifted his attention toward the ballooning deficit. As The Daily Beast noted, a Washington Post report from November indicated that Trump had demanded that Cabinet officials work on a way to reduce the federal deficit. The Daily Beast quoted a former senior White House official as saying that Trump "understands the political nature of the debt but it’s clearly not, frankly, something he sees as crucial to his legacy."

The same Washington Post article, however, echoed an anecdote from the journalist Bob Woodward's latest book, "Fear: Trump in the White House." When Gary Cohn, then Trump's top economic adviser, brought the issue to Trump's attention, the president reportedly suggested the US could simply print more money to pay off the debt.
Marc Short, Trump's former legislative affairs director, told The Daily Beast that Trump did "recognize the threat that debt poses" and said Trump's concern about rising interest rates showed his concern for the matter. Senior Republicans have acknowledged the mounting debt. House Speaker Paul Ryan said in October that one of his biggest disappointments as speaker was his inability to address the growing federal debt.

[Cypress]

FED CHAIRMAN POWELL URGES CONGRESS TO ADDRESS FEDERAL BUDGET’S “UNSUSTAINABLE PATH"

Get rid of what actually caused it to get worse: Trump's tax cuts for the rich scheme.

[cawacko]

Powell's not wrong. No way government should be spending this much money at this point in the economic cycle (or at any time really). This whole thing is a house of cards but there is no adulting in D.C. (largely because voters don't demand it).

[countryboy]

Get rid of what actually caused it to get worse: Trump's tax cuts for the rich scheme.

Lying again eh? Federal revenues are up, its the spending stupid.

[Centerleftfl]

Lying again eh? Federal revenues are up, its the spending stupid.

Everyone KNOWS that deficits only matter when DEMOCRATS are in the WH. When REPS are in they CUT TAXES and go to war or decry the condition of the military and SPEND WHATS LEFT on it.

[countryboy]

Everyone KNOWS that deficits only matter when DEMOCRATS are in the WH. When REPS are in they CUT TAXES and go to war or decry the condition of the military and SPEND WHATS LEFT on it.

Deficits are not the same as debt, and neither party seems to want to do anything about either. But trying to blame this on Trump's tax cuts is pure sophistry, ESPECIALLY since federal revenues are up. Stop lying, and get back to me if you want to have a meaningful debate on the subject. I won't be holding my breath.

[Centerleftfl]

Lying again eh? Federal revenues are up, its the spending stupid.

Well fucking duh!!

[evince]

Powell's not wrong. No way government should be spending this much money at this point in the economic cycle (or at any time really). This whole thing is a house of cards but there is no adulting in D.C. (largely because voters don't demand it).

its the republican party asshole

you shits spend your asses off every time you have control

Bush REFUSED to pay for his war for oil and then crashed the entire world economy

[countryboy]

Well fucking duh!!

Well fucking duh is right. You made the claim this was somehow the fault of the Trump tax cuts, then you admit it's not. You are very confused.

[evince]

Deficits are not the same as debt, and neither party seems to want to do anything about either. But trying to blame this on Trump's tax cuts is pure sophistry, ESPECIALLY since federal revenues are up. Stop lying, and get back to me if you want to have a meaningful debate on the subject. I won't be holding my breath.

Clinton and the Dems reduced the debt with the 1993 budget reduction act

NOT ONE REPUBLICAN VOTED FOR IT


then Bush lied us to a war he REFUSED to pay for and crashed the entire world economy

[evince]

Well fucking duh is right. You made the claim this was somehow the fault of the Trump tax cuts, then you admit it's not. You are very confused.

https://www.taxpolicycenter.org/stat...outlay-summary


revenues went down idiot

[countryboy]

Clinton and the Dems reduced the debt with the 1993 budget reduction act

NOT ONE REPUBLICAN VOTED FOR IT


then Bush lied us to a war he REFUSED to pay for and crashed the entire world economy

Let's see your source for the bullshit about Bubba. Have you forgotten your Lord and Savior spent more than all previous president's combined? Did those unfunded liabilities magically go away when Trump was elected? Stop being a retard.

[evince]

you don't know this history?


and here you are claiming to be some expert on the issue?


REALLY?

[countryboy]

https://www.taxpolicycenter.org/stat...outlay-summary


revenues went down idiot

Lol, look at your chart again, retard. Like I said, revenues went UP.

[evince]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omnibu...on_Act_of_1993