This year’s budget deficit is on track to top $1.9 trillion, or more than 6% of economic output, a threshold reached only around World War II, the 2008 financial crisis and the Covid-19 pandemic. Publicly held federal debt—the sum of all deficits—just passed $28 trillion or almost 100% of GDP.
If Congress does nothing, the total debt will climb by another $22 trillion through 2034. Interest costs alone are poised to exceed annual defense spending.
But the country’s fiscal trajectory merits only sporadic mentions by the major-party presidential nominees, let alone a serious plan to address it. Instead, the candidates are tripping over each other to make expensive promises to voters.
In the past few months alone, Trump has promised to exempt tips from taxation, end income taxes on Social Security benefits, eliminate taxes on overtime pay, lower tax rates for companies that manufacture in the U.S., and create a new deduction for new parents’ expenses, offering more than $2 trillion in tax cuts atop $4 trillion to extend his first-term tax cuts.
Harris matched Trump’s tips idea and called for an expanded child tax credit, including $6,000 for parents of newborns.
When he first ran for president in 2016, Donald Trump said he would pay off the national debt within eight years. He went in the opposite direction: Debt rose from less than $15 trillion to more than $21 trillion by the time he left office.
President Biden and Harris expanded on Trump’s pandemic spending with the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan, which included another round of stimulus checks and aid to state and local governments. Their core domestic legislation—the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, which required Harris’ tiebreaking vote—was originally estimated to reduce budget deficits. But the projected reduction has shrunk or disappeared altogether as estimates of key tax credits, including breaks for electric vehicles, have risen.
Source: Excerpts from Wall Street Journal 9-16-24 By Richard Rubin
We can’t control what others do and we can’t stop misfortune from striking. But we can control our own actions. Those who are financially prudent will most likely enjoy success, even if events don’t always go their way.
QUINNSCOMMENTARY 
“My goal will be to cut your energy costs in half within 12 months after taking office,” former President Donald Trump said in a speech in Michigan last Thursday. “We can do that.”
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and she will give folks $25,000 to buy a house that will cost $25,000 more–no tax on tips–and find some way to circumvent a court ruling on passing on student loans to the working class–let’s not forget Medicare for all and abolishing private health insurance–transition surgery for illegals and federal prisoners–but she would save money by slicing the ICE budget and, who knows, maybe round 2 of defunding the cops.
I say send her back to Willie Brown–he straightened her out once maybe he can do it again, is the old pol still among us? –Dougie will be off with the new nanny so no issue there.
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Crazy Kamala isn’t going to do anything. She won’t have the votes in Congress.
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One can only hope, but if enough house and senate members sit on their hands, all sorts of oddball legislation could go through.
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Paul makes a great point about Kamala being limited in what she can do. If you are concerned about the damage that each of the two candidates could potentially do, then you should vote for Kamala, since it is very unlikely that the Dems will keep the Senate. On the other hand, Trump could possibly have the Senate and House, in addition to the Supreme Court, on top of the recent immunity ruling and also having lost almost all experienced and/or ethical figures for his Cabinet. So Trump would likely have free rein to implement a lot of his batshit crazy ideas that he was unable to carry out in his first term. These policies, like 20 percent across the board tariffs, Project 2025, etc, could easily end up causing much higher inflation, shortage of goods, geopolitical upheaval, and a sharp interruption of government services. Not to mention, if you don’t like Kamala’s performance, you can always vote against her next time, whereas you likely won’t have that chance with Trump.
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I thought tariffs were 10%–last time we did that the Japanese decided to build their plants here–nobody would pay 10% more as companies exporting goods would reduce prices to sell goods in the U.S.–if a 10% cost increase means you can’t find a market in the U.S. for your widgets, then you reduce the cost or build widgets here.
Like you I don’t like tariffs— I believe U.S. exports to China are faced with tariffs or costs that make it difficult to sell our goods there.
Project 2025 is a Heritage paper not adopted by Trump himself or the campaign–lots of progressive think tanks have similar papers and many of them headed by prominent progressives like John Podesta.
Lies and exaggerations are told by both sides and this is a good example.
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What you attribute to lies and exaggerations is just bad research and a poor information diet on your part. Look at Trump’s own words, so you can’t blame the “media”, 20 percent tariffs across the board. And not just China. That is more inflation and higher prices for everybody. Oh, and that was before he promised to stop all food imports. Which would also raise prices for everyone. Except for farmers, but wait, they also would have to pay higher prices for fertilizer and workers… nice try, but you are dead wrong on this one. There are plenty of legit reasons to vote for Trump, like if you want to make IVF illegal or give Ukraine to the Russians, so don’t feel like you have to defend all the clown car stuff. It is a slippery slope or next thing you could find yourself writing a defense of the “Black Nazi” Mark Robinson or pedophile Matt Gaetz or why Laura Loomer deserves a cabinet level position because of her affair with Trump or why RFK Jr would be a great choices as Secretary of HHS so he outlaw vaccines. There are plenty of nuts on the Dem side too – like the Squad and Elizabeth Warren – but the difference is that THEY ARE NOT IN CHARGE.
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So budget deficits are bad. Spending more than what we collect is bad and stopping the taxing of social security is bad. But spending billions on an additional 2 years of trade school or college with money we don’t have is good! Hum!
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I don’t listen to their speeches or watch tv interviews with either candidate or their spokespeople but I do have to suffer the short campaign ads on tv. The promises are one ups man ship for sure. But Harris does say she is going to make the wealthy pay their fair share and the greedy corporations. I am assuming that will pay for all her promises.
If she wins, I believe Pocahontas and Bernie and their fellow travelers will finally get their day and a lot of what sounds implausible now will be in place a few years from now, both economically and socially.
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