The Future of America and the American World Order

[a completely inoffensive name]

Blast from the past: In 2001, the CBO estimated that the national debt would be retired by 2006 (2008?). 10 years later, Pew did a retrospective on the debt.

The direct culprits for our now-$20 trillion, then-$11 trillion (2011) debt would be the Middle East wars, Bush tax cuts, Medicare Part D, the recession stimulus, and lower-than-projected revenue leaving aside the tax cuts due to "technical and economic" changes. I can't find a detailed definition of how the CBO assesses this latter.

After 2011, I would assume the drivers of the debt continue to include wars and health-care policy, but more notably interest payments and the ongoing costs of the economic crisis.

In more recent news, the DOD/Pentagon released an estimate that the Mid-East wars have cost us $1.5 trillion: more than a little conservative.

You can't starve the beast without a justification.