A bipartisan group of US lawmakers, including Senators Mitt Romney (Republican of Utah) and Joe Manchin (Democrat of West Virginia), as well as Representatives Bill Huizenga (Republican of Michigan) and Scott Peters (Democrat of California), have raised an alarm about the escalating national debt of the United States, deeming it the “greatest threat” the country is facing.
In an opinion piece published on The Hill, the group of lawmakers argued that this burgeoning fiscal challenge is imperiling the future prospects of the American Dream, particularly for younger generations. The article comes at a time in which the U.S. national debt has surpassed the $34 trillion mark after rising by more than $82 billion since the beginning of January.
The country’s national debt is now above $100,000 per citizen, and $264,000 per taxpayer, with the official U.S. Federal budge deficit now sitting at $1.75 trillion according to tracking data.
The article goes on to suggest that the current increase in the country’s national debt is unsustainable and demands immediate attention as it isn’t just an economic issue, but the “greatest threat” the country is currently facing, currently “rapidly approaching the crisis point.”
The lawmakers then noted they proposed the establishment of a bipartisan fiscal commission to find solutions to strength the country’s fiscal health and “meaningfully decrease the national debt.” The article reads:
This commission would look at the federal budget as a whole — closely examining both spending and revenue sources, leaving no stone unturned.
Further heightening the seriousness of the situation, the lawmakers suggest that is the status quo is kept, Social Security will become insolvent in less than a decade, which “would result in an automatic cut in benefits by 24 percent.”
As CryptoGlobe reported, analysts have suggested that the US is facing a “debt death spiral” and have cautioned that the Federal Reserve may have to resume its money printing—possibly causing the U.S. dollar to crash and boosting the price of the flagship cryptocurrency as it competes with gold.
Christopher Wood, global head of equity strategy at Jeffries, called Bitcoin and gold “critical hedges” against the return of inflation as G7 central banks “will not be able to exit from unconventional monetary policy in a benign manner and will ultimately remain committed to ongoing central bank balance-sheet expansion in one form or another.”
Last year, the Institute of International Finance noted that global debt has surged to a staggering $307 trillion after surging more than $10 trillion in the first half of the year.
The IFF, a financial consortium representing the largest global banks and financial powerhouses, also noted that over the past decade, global debt has skyrocketed by a “staggering” $100 trillion.
Featured image via Unsplash.
