{"id":1906705,"date":"2023-03-29T14:55:56","date_gmt":"2023-03-29T18:55:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/financial-crisis-looming-due-to-mounting-federal-debt-experts\/"},"modified":"2023-03-29T15:04:32","modified_gmt":"2023-03-29T19:04:32","slug":"financial-crisis-looming-due-to-mounting-federal-debt-experts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/financial-crisis-looming-due-to-mounting-federal-debt-experts\/","title":{"rendered":"Financial Crisis Looming Due to Mounting Federal Debt: Experts"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">18<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Ffinancial-crisis-looming-due-to-mounting-federal-debt-experts%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1906705&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div class=\"post_content\">\n<div class=\"aplayer_app\" data-source=\"https:\/\/vs1.youmaker.com\/assets\/2023\/0329\/17506c37-3b9d-4061-92d6-876dc4c0290b\/audio.mp3?length=3803949&#038;duration=317\"><\/div>\n<\/p>\n<p>The U.S. is in \u201cterrible shape\u201d financially and is \u201cflying blind in mountains of debt\u201d that will cause future generations to \u201creap the whirlwind of an irreparable economic disaster\u201d unless immediate action is taken, according to some witnesses and members of the House Budget Committee.<\/p>\n<p>Witnesses testifying at the March 29 hearing on the country\u2019s financial outlook uniformly recommended cutting the size of the federal budget deficit and reducing the national debt, which has reached $31.4 trillion, the largest dollar amount in history and the largest percentage of the nation\u2019s gross domestic product since World War II.<\/p>\n<p>Even some Democrats, who have uniformly defended President Joe Biden\u2019s recent spending initiatives and proposed 2024 budget, acknowledged that the growing national debt poses a serious financial problem though they urged moderation in making spending cuts.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_5158283\" style=\"width: 600px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\"><noscript><\/noscript> Moody\u2019s Analytics chief economist Mark Zandi speaks during a forum held by Democratic members of the House Ways and Means Committee on Dec. 13, 2017, in Washington. (Zach Gibson\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cDeficits and debt are projected, especially in the next decade, to reach levels that, simply, none of us would be comfortable with,\u201d said Ranking Member Brendan Boyle (D-Pa.).<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo we\u2019re seeing a similar picture. And we do have very different ideas as to where the solutions lie.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2>Slowing Spending<\/h2>\n<p>Chairman Jodey Arrington (R-Texas) blamed the current inflation on the \u201cavalanche of new spending\u201d under the Biden administration that added $6 trillion to the national debt.<\/p>\n<p>Agreeing that spending should not continue at the same rate, Mark Zandi, the chief economist at Moody\u2019s Analytics, disagreed on the effect of the large federal spending bills passed over the last three years.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe pandemic rescue packages, beginning with the Cares Act that was passed three years ago March of 2020 through the American Rescue Plan passed in March of 2021, have gone a long long way to restoring the economy to full employment,\u201d Zandi said.<\/p>\n<p>Noting that the unemployment rate is now at 3.6 percent, which is considered full employment, Zandi said, \u201cThat would not have happened without the very aggressive muscular response.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_5158251\" style=\"width: 600px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\"><noscript><\/noscript> Rep. Brendan Boyle (D-Pa.) speaks during a news conference to announce legislation that would tax the net worth of America\u2019s wealthiest individuals at the U.S. Capitol on March 1, 2021, in Washington. (Chip Somodevilla\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Nevertheless, the level of U.S. debt will create serious problems in the future, especially by driving up interest rates, and must be addressed, according to Zandi.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI do think it does require both tax increases and government spending restraint to be able to do that going forward,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Others more urgently advocated for deep cuts in federal spending.<\/p>\n<p>Scott Hodge, president emeritus at the Tax Foundation, called for the elimination or privatization of a number of federal programs.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMany of these budget problems are being driven by entitlement programs that are already bankrupt on a cash basis and must rely on a massive infusion of general revenues to keep them afloat,\u201d Hodge said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe federal budget is still running failing business enterprises such as the Tennessee Valley Authority, Amtrak, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and the U.S. Postal Service.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThese and many more federal assets should be sold off and the proceeds used to pay down the national debt.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Agreeing in principle that the debt should be reduced, Boyle questioned the plan endorsed by a number of Republicans including Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) to balance the federal budget in 10 years without raising taxes or cutting Medicare or defense spending.<\/p>\n<p>That approach would not be successful, according to Zandi. \u201cIt would require a complete cut of all discretionary, non-defense spending,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt would be the fodder for a recession and \u2026 the fallout in terms of jobs and unemployment would be quite significant. So I don\u2019t think that proposal is at all feasible or realistic.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2>Planned Future<\/h2>\n<p>Expert witnesses were aligned in their opinion that the United States needs to be guided by a clear fiscal policy rather than moving from one spending program to another.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe plain and simple and hard truth is the United States is [a] declining great power, and China is rising,\u201d said David Walker, former comptroller general of the United States.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cToday, America is flying blind in mountains of debt, and without about navigation system,\u201d Walker said, urging the committee to work toward a long-term financial strategy rather than simply approving an annual budget.<\/p>\n<p>John Taylor, professor of economics at Stanford University and former undersecretary of the Treasury echoed the idea.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cGoing forward, I think we need a renewed set of principles. Based on experience as well as economic theory, I recommend this alternative, a stimulus mantra: permanent, pervasive, and predictable,\u201d Taylor said, meaning the government should deal with the nation\u2019s finances in a comprehensive and stable manner.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWith uncommon courage and common-sense economic policies, we can stave off a debt crisis. We can strengthen America\u2019s balance sheet and we can save the Union,\u201d Arrington said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe have different views on how to do that. And I hope that we can at least agree that this current path is completely unsustainable.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The U.S. is in \u201cterrible shape\u201d financially and is \u201cflying blind in mountains of debt\u201d that will cause future generations to \u201creap the whirlwind of an irreparable economic disaster\u201d unless immediate action is taken, according to some witnesses and members of the House Budget Committee. Witnesses testifying at the March 29 hearing on the country\u2019s<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1793,"featured_media":1906706,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[543],"tags":[6170,5487,4521,3974,4263,10292,4147],"class_list":["post-1906705","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-epoch-times","tag-crisis","tag-debt","tag-experts","tag-federal","tag-financial","tag-looming","tag-mounting"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1906705","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1793"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1906705"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1906705\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1906706"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1906705"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1906705"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1906705"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}