The Long-term Budget Outlook: Federal Budget Spending and Revenue Scenarios

Recently, the federal government has been recording the largest budget deficits, as a share of the economy, since the end of World War II. As a result of those deficits, the amount of federal debt held by the public has surged. At the end of 2008, that debt equalled 40 percent of the nation's annual economic output, as measured by GDP, a little above the 40 year average of 36 percent. Since then, large budget deficits have caused debt held by the public to shoot upward. As the economy recovers and the policies adopted to counteract the recession and the financial turmoil phase out, budget deficits will probably decline markedly in the next few years. But over the long term, the budget outlook is daunting. This book examines the long-term budget outlook with a focus on federal budget spending and revenue scenarios.