{"id":2359397,"date":"2024-10-25T06:50:54","date_gmt":"2024-10-25T10:50:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/which-presidential-candidate-can-best-confront-profligate-spending-and-ballooning-national-debt-washington-examiner\/"},"modified":"2024-10-25T06:53:01","modified_gmt":"2024-10-25T10:53:01","slug":"which-presidential-candidate-can-best-confront-profligate-spending-and-ballooning-national-debt-washington-examiner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/which-presidential-candidate-can-best-confront-profligate-spending-and-ballooning-national-debt-washington-examiner\/","title":{"rendered":"Which presidential candidate can best confront profligate spending and ballooning national debt? &#8211; Washington Examiner"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">30<\/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%2Fwhich-presidential-candidate-can-best-confront-profligate-spending-and-ballooning-national-debt-washington-examiner%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=2359397&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--><p>The article \u2063raises concerns about the rising national debt and government spending in the United States. It highlights a\u2064 warning from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) regarding projected interest payments on the national debt, which were expected to surpass defense and discretionary spending by 2046. However, just 14 months later,\u200b actual interest payments have exceeded these projections by 22 years. <\/p>\n<p>The piece emphasizes \u200dthat the federal government spent $6.8 trillion in 2024, marking\u200b an\u2062 11% increase\u200d from the previous year, with\u2063 significant\u2062 portions allocated to Social Security \u200band debt\u200d interest. The author critiques politicians, particularly Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump, for \u2064their inadequate responses to the problem of excessive spending,\u200c noting that both parties have avoided taking \u200cmeaningful action to curb mandatory entitlement expenses.<\/p>\n<p>The article asserts \u2062that while Harris blames tax\u2063 cuts from Trump&#8217;s administration for the ballooning deficit, government tax revenue has remained strong.\u2064 With rising federal spending and\u200c a growing \u2063deficit, the piece concludes that the primary\u200d issue lies not in taxation but\u2062 in profligate government expenditures that need to be addressed.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<p><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><\/p>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-header-search-button-mob dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search\" aria-labelledby=\"td-header-search-button\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search-inner\">\n<form method=\"get\" class=\"tdb-search-form\" action=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\"><\/form>\n<div class=\"tdb-aj-search\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/#\" role=\"button\" aria-label=\"Search\" class=\"tdb-head-search-btn dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div class=\"tdb-sacff-txt\">Magazine &#8211; Business<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<h1 class=\"tdb-title-text\">Which presidential candidate can best confront profligate spending and ballooning national debt?<\/h1>\n<div><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-title-line\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div id=\"Brid_1696128\" class=\"tpd-featured-video bridtv\"><\/div>\n<p>In July of last year, the nonpartisan <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/congressional-budget-office\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">Congressional Budget Office<\/a> triggered panic when it warned that projected payments on interest on the national debt would outpace defense spending, as well as nondefense discretionary spending. And that interest payment would outpace <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/medicare\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">Medicare<\/a> spending by 2046.<\/p>\n<div class=\"article-paywall\">\n<p>Just 14 months later, the cost of interest on our $35 trillion <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/national-debt\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">national debt<\/a> has already blown past these two benchmarks, beating the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/cbo\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">CBO<\/a>&lsquo;s projections by a staggering 22 years.<\/p>\n<p>Following the $1.45 trillion spent on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/social-security\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">Social Security<\/a>, the $950 billion cost of borrowing comprised the second <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/studies-medicaid-rolls-improper-payments-expand-hurting-state-budgets\/\" title=\"Studies: Medicaid Rolls, Improper Payments Expand Hurting State Budgets\">largest line item<\/a> of spending by our federal government in the fiscal year that ended this past September. At $896 billion, Medicare came in a close third. Our entire <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/defense\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">national defense budget<\/a>, at $826 billion, was the fourth-largest spending category for fiscal 2024.<\/p>\n<p>Just in time for voters to head to the polls, the economic elite have emerged for their quadrennial pantomimes as debt hawks. They&rsquo;re now pinky-promising that former President <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/donald-trump\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">Donald Trump<\/a>, the Republican nominee, would be worse for the national debt than Vice President <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/kamala-harris\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">Kamala Harris<\/a>, the Democratic standard-bearer.<\/p>\n<p>But the facts say otherwise. Harris and her boss, President <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/joe-biden\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">Joe Biden<\/a>, entered office with economic and job growth exploding as COVID-19 tailed off. Biden and Harris defied prescient warnings that the economy ran the risk of overheating after the 2020 COVID-19-induced bipartisan spending spree.<\/p>\n<p>Instead, the federal government racked up a $2.8 trillion deficit for fiscal 2021, amounting to more than 12% of that year&rsquo;s economic output. Although that number briefly dipped below 6% in 2022, the past two years of nearly $2 trillion subsequent annual deficits have brought our deficit-to-GDP ratio to roughly 7%, the same as in 1946, when the government was paying back debt for a world war.<\/p>\n<p>The data belie Harris&rsquo;s repeated assertion that insufficient taxation is fueling our ballooning deficit crisis. While Harris has attacked Trump&rsquo;s 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act as a handout to the rich, federal income taxation has become increasingly progressive: Income tax payments by the top percentage of earners <a href=\"https:\/\/unleashprosperitynow.com\/#pdf-great-again-book\/1\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">increased<\/a> by 19% from 2019 to 2021. But more importantly, tax revenue has continued to boom even as the TCJA remains in effect. (Either Trump or Harris will be responsible for the fate of key provisions of the TCJA, which begin to expire next year.)<\/p>\n<p>In other words, if the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/kudlow-touts-success-of-operation-warp-speed-under-trump-admin\/\" title=\"Kudlow touts success of Operation Warp Speed under Trump admin.\">tax cuts enacted<\/a> by Trump created surplus tax revenue by boosting economic growth, then simply reversing those tax rates, especially the corporate tax rate, which was rendered globally competitive by the TCJA, would likely reduce overall tax revenue, not increase it.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Profligate spending must stop<\/h2>\n<p>The problem, plain to see, is spending.<\/p>\n<p>The federal government spent $6.8 trillion in 2024, 11% more than in 2023 and, in nominal terms, $200 billion more than we spent in 2020, <em>the actual year of the pandemic<\/em>. Mandatory entitlement spending, which, to be fair, Trump and Harris are equally abysmal in their refusal to do nothing to curb, rose by 7% in 2024 to nearly $3 trillion. Net interest payments on the debt, however, rose by 34% in just one year. The sheer cost of debt comprised 12% of all federal spending, up from 8% in 2017.<\/p>\n<p>Inflationary spending, here, is both cause and effect. The multitrillion-dollar totals of the ARP, Inflation Reduction Act, and <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\">unilateral student debt cancellations triggered inflation<\/a>, which forced the Federal Reserve to hike interest rates while bond markets organically priced in the declining solvency of federal coffers. Excess spending by Biden and Harris didn&rsquo;t then just increase the sheer amount of debt taken out by the federal government, but it also increased the rate of that borrowing.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><strong><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Trump was by no means conservative in his spending. Even before COVID-19, his government averaged a deficit-to-GDP ratio of 3.9%, a little higher than the 3.7% averaged between 1993 and 2022. But even with COVID-19, the government still took about $6 trillion of debt. Compare that to the more than $7 trillion shelled out by Biden and Harris despite inheriting a rebounding economy aided by vaccines developed more quickly than ever before in history.<\/p>\n<p>The Trump and Biden-Harris records comparatively speak for themselves, and on the deficit, it&rsquo;s no contest.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p> <script data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/cdn-cgi\/scripts\/5c5dd728\/cloudflare-static\/email-decode.min.js\"><\/script><script>!function(){var g=window;g.googletag=g.googletag||{},g.googletag.cmd=g.googletag.cmd||[],g.googletag.cmd.push(function(){g.googletag.pubads().setTargeting(\"has-featured-video\",\"true\")})}();<\/script><script>var _bp=_bp||[];_bp.push({\"div\":\"Brid_1696128\",\"obj\":{\"id\":\"27789\",\"width\":\"1280\",\"height\":\"720\",\"stickyDirection\":\"below\",\"video\":\"1696128\"}});<\/script><script defer src=\"https:\/\/services.brid.tv\/player\/build\/brid.min.js\"><\/script><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Which candidate can tackle excessive spending and national debt<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2693,"featured_media":2359398,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Biz.TianasTake.1030.webp","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[538],"tags":[34059,43700,43698,35293,43699],"class_list":["post-2359397","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-washington-examiner","tag-election-2024","tag-fiscal-responsibility","tag-national-debt","tag-presidential-candidate","tag-profligate-spending"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Biz.TianasTake.1030.webp","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2359397","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\/2693"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2359397"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2359397\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2359398"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2359397"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2359397"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2359397"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}