The Number No One Will Talk About

 I saw this chart at an NPR blog and thought it worth repeating. 

Here is their comment: 

In the debt-ceiling negotiations, politicians are debating how to reduce the federal deficit by $2 trillion to $4 trillion over the next 10 years.

One number that hasn't been mentioned much: $13 trillion. That's size of the federal deficit over the next 10 years, according to a recent projection from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.

Of course, this is just a projection. And there's always a lot of uncertainty in any economic prediction, particularly one that tries to look a decade into the future.

Still, given that the deficit-reduction plans being hashed out in Washington are supposed to play out over the next decade, $13 trillion seems like a useful bit of context. It suggests the current fight over the deficit is just the beginning.

Yes this is a problem that we have been building up to for at least 40 years. the deficit will get worse and worse as America's baby boomers get older. Since we have a dysfunctional medical system, that is where the focus soon will be. 

Look at the two circles. the problem is huge, but the solutions offered are meager. 

Update on Tuesday, July 19, 2011 at 6:30AM by [Positive Dennis]

Graduation to RealityThere is now the first serious proposal on the table to cut the deficit and balance the budget from Senator Tom Colburn. It balances the budget by combining spending cuts with tax increases.