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1 Chris R. Edwards & Peter J. Neff, Washington's Largest Monument: The National Debt 1 (1993)

handle is hein.taxfoundation/srbhxz0001 and id is 1 raw text is: TAX ri Inrj FOUNDATION March 1993, No. 17 Washington's Largest Monument- The National Debt Exploding Federal Government Debt Over Half the Nation's GIP; Annual Interest Payments Exceed 14 Percent of Federal Spending At the end of 1992, federal, state, and local governments had accunlulatCdt total credit market debt of $3.81 trillion, representing $ 15,117 in additional future taxes for each person in the United States. The fedcral government was responsible for $2.89 trillion of this total, while state and local governments added $917 billion to the debt load. Federal Government Debt Federal government debt is growing quickly, averaging over 12 percent growth annually since 1980. Legislative efforts during this period to stem the tide of red ink failed, and the Congressional Budget Office ((1)) projecls federal public debt will grow at 8.6 percent per year over the next 10 years. Figure I shows the rapidly growing size of the ftederal debt cor- pared to the overall size of the I I.S. economy, WaYs to Measure the Debt Numerous measures of the fcdcral government's debt atre used. The largest figure is gross debt, which stood at over $4 trillion, or almost $16,000 per capita, in 1992 (sec Table 1). However, this figure includes over $ 1 trillion of public debt held by the various trust funds maintained by the federal government in support of programs such as Social Security. In effect, these are liabilities owed by the federal gov- Figure I Federal Public )ebl as t Percentage f Gross Doinestic Producl Fiscal Years 1980-200.3 80 - 70 - 60 - 50 - 40 - 30 - 20 10 0 80m 8 8 8 8 8 9 2te9e . . . . 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93e 94e 95e 96e 97e 98e 99e 2000e 2001e 2002e 2003e SoltI'cc: (O)l/grcssiOI1al IBudgct O)ffice, 1993-200H Fc), ccas 3y Chris R. Fdt'ards Iicononzis 1mvv Foundatlon and Pelerj. A'(f Adjunct Analyst lx Foundation -1