Xinhua News Agency, Washington, September 19 (International Observation) U.S. debt exceeds 33 trillion US dollars, concerns about government shutdown reappear
Xinhua News Agency reporter Xiong Maoling
The latest data released by the U.S. Treasury Department shows that as of September 18, the U.S. national debt exceeded $33 trillion. The U.S. debt has snowballed, reaching a new high in just three months, at an alarming speed.
This is the Treasury Building taken in Washington, the capital of the United States, on January 20. (Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Liu Jie)
Since the beginning of this year, financial management chaos has occurred frequently in the United States. A few months ago, the Republican and Democratic parties in the U.S. Congress staged a “wimp’s game” over the debt ceiling issue, which impacted the stability of the global financial market. The two parties in the United States are still fighting over budget issues. If they cannot reach an agreement on an appropriation bill within a few days, the U.S. government may “shut down” again by the end of the fiscal year on September 30.
In September 2017, the scale of U.S. debt exceeded US$20 trillion; in February 2022, the scale of US debt exceeded US$30 trillion. On June 16, 2023, the federal government’s debt exceeded US$32 trillion, reaching this number nine years earlier than predicted before the new coronavirus epidemic.
“The United States has reached a new milestone that no one can be proud of, as our total national debt just exceeded $33 trillion,” Maia McGuinhas, chairwoman of the Federal Budget Accountability Committee, an independent research organization in the United States, said in a statement. dollars. We’re becoming increasingly numb to these huge numbers, but that doesn’t make them any less dangerous.”
According to calculations by the Peter Peterson Foundation in the United States, distributing these huge debts to the American people is equivalent to a debt of US$99,000 per person. Michael Peterson, CEO of the foundation, said that U.S. finances were already on an unsustainable path before the new crown epidemic, and the new crown epidemic quickly exacerbated the U.S. fiscal challenges.
This is the Capitol Building taken in Washington, the capital of the United States, on January 19. (Published by Xinhua News Agency, photo by Shen Ting)
The Republicans and Democrats are still blaming each other for the “barbaric growth” of the U.S. debt that has broken through the “big mark” again. Republicans blame the Biden administration’s runaway spending for the current U.S. fiscal woes, and have tried to push for spending cuts during debt ceiling negotiations earlier this year and now in appropriations bill negotiations. The White House blames Republicans for the ballooning debt. White House spokesman Michael Kikukawa said the main reason for the increase in debt over the past 20 years was the trillions of dollars spent by Republicans on tax cuts that favored the wealthy and big businesses.
Budget experts don’t buy the blame game between the two parties. Peterson has previously pointed out that the continued accumulation of federal debt is the result of “irresponsibility” on fiscal issues by both parties in Congress. Over the past few decades, politicians in Washington have repeatedly chosen to cut taxes or push forward government spending programs instead of thinking about America’s future.
In fact, under the system of “taking turns” between the two parties in the United States, both parties hope to spend more money in order to win votes. Although controlling debt growth is beneficial to the long-term development of the U.S. economy, no government or political party is willing to bear the “notoriety” of cutting benefits or raising taxes. Politicians from both parties only care about immediate political interests and ignore long-term fiscal health. They spend too much and make the hole in the U.S. debt bigger and bigger, posing hidden dangers and risks to the U.S. economy and the global market.
At present, the two parties in the United States are engaged in a new round of battle over the appropriation bill, and there are still obvious differences between the two parties. According to US media reports, House Republicans recently introduced a short-term appropriation bill that will cut 8% of federal agency spending and strengthen immigration restrictions. But the bill has faced opposition within the Republican Party and is unlikely to win support from Democrats.
If the two parties cannot agree on an appropriation bill in time, the federal government may be shut down again. Kevin Kosar, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, recently wrote an article pointing out that due to serious political divisions, intensified fighting between the two parties, and some Republican conservatives trying to threaten Democrats with a government shutdown to control spending, the probability of a government shutdown may have already been reached. rise.
On July 13, 2022, customers shopped for goods in a supermarket in Washington, the capital of the United States. (Published by Xinhua News Agency, photo by Shen Ting)
It is foreseeable that the federal government shutdown will have an impact on the U.S. economy and market. According to Goldman Sachs’ forecast, every week the U.S. federal government shutdown lasts, economic growth will drop by about 0.15 percentage points.
Looking to the future, the U.S. fiscal outlook is not optimistic. As U.S. debt continues to soar, high interest rates brought about by the Federal Reserve’s aggressive interest rate hikes over the past year or so have also pushed up the interest burden. Data from the Peter Peterson Foundation shows that the United States currently spends nearly $2 billion on debt interest every day. In the next ten years, the federal government’s interest payments will exceed the U.S. government’s traditional spending on research and development, infrastructure, and education. sum.
On August 1, the international rating agency Fitch lowered the long-term foreign currency issuer default rating of the United States from AAA to AA+, indicating that the U.S. government’s governance and financial management capabilities are declining. As the battle between the two parties continues, the U.S. government has failed to do anything to increase revenue and cut expenditures, making it difficult to fundamentally improve the fiscal situation. Concerns about the U.S. fiscal crisis have further intensified.
#U.S #debt #exceeds #US33 #trillion #worries #government #shutdown #reappear_Xinhua #News #Network
2023-09-20 13:12:00
