A former International Monetary Fund (IMF) chief economist is sounding the alarm about the US government’s insatiable thirst for debt.
New data from the U.S. Treasury Department shows that the national debt rose from $34.155 trillion on February 1st to $34.368 trillion on February 23rd.
That’s an increase of over $213.182 billion in about three weeks.
The country’s swelling national debt has caught the attention of ex-IMF chief economist Olivier Blanchard.
In a video conference call with members of the UK’s House of Lords Economic Affairs Committee, Blanchard reportedly says he’s concerned about the US government’s growing primary deficits or the total deficit this year minus interest payments.
“In the US, I’m very worried because the primary deficits are very large and there’s absolutely no attempt to decrease them in any way, shape or form.”
According to Blanchard, the record-level debt of the United States could be the catalyst that triggers the next global financial crisis.
“I don’t see a big crisis coming, again except for the US where at some point it will happen, whether it’s in five years, 10 years I do not know.
As we know, if they struggle in the US, then this has implications for the rest of the world.”
Blanchard is not the only one who thinks a big crisis is coming for the United States.
In November, former Congressman Ron Paul called the attention of US lawmakers to address the government’s ballooning debt burden.
“We are more than 33 trillion dollars in debt, with interest payments on that debt dwarfing all other government spending. A crash is coming. There is no time for more ‘business as usual.’”
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