The US government’s balance sheet continues to expand at a scorching pace, with more than a quarter of a trillion dollars in debt added in two months.
New data from the Treasury Department’s Debt to the Penny system shows the country’s national debt rose from $34.297 trillion on February 21st to $34.571 trillion on April 24th.
That’s an increase of $273.859 billion in about 60 days.
The record-high US debt level comes as billionaire investor Leon Cooperman warns that the country is inching closer to a financial crisis.
According to the hedge fund manager, the country missed the opportunity to achieve financial sustainability when it largely set aside the recommendations of the Simpson-Bowles report.
The report, which was released in December 2010 during the Obama administration, sought to avert a potential financial cliff by cutting back on key government spending and raising revenue to put the “national debt on a stable and then downward path.”
Says Cooperman on CNBC,
“The debt situation, you’re right, I’m concerned. We have a system of leadership in this country that devolved into a leadership in crisis.
On your program a number of months ago, you had Mitt Romney and [Senator Joe Manchin]. They basically endorsed the Simpson-Bowles [report], which was about eight or nine years ago. The only problem is [there is] nothing we’ve done about the Simpson-Bowles report and the problem is three times larger today.
But when you have no idea when the stuff hits the fan… If deficits don’t matter as some people insist, then I’m being too conservative. But deficits matter. I think they will ultimately.
I think we’re heading into a financial crisis in this country.”
In March, the Congressional Budget Office stated that the federal deficit amounted to $1.7 trillion for the 2023 fiscal year, up from $1.4 trillion in 2022.
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