Numb-ers

 Elections should be sort of a dialectic moment where competing ideas and philosophies collide and a direction emerges. Our elections and the divisions underlying them are simply not capable of such decision. I expect the main result of the election will be investigations But, in the background where the grownups sit, they may be mulling these numbers, with an emphasis on "numb:"

The $1.271 trillion increase in federal debt over the last year was nearly $500 billion or 39% higher than the official annual deficit of only $779 billion, which means that politicians are keeping significant amounts of debt off-balance sheet.  

Over the past five years, the official deficit was reported as $2.977 trillion whereas the federal deficit grew by $4.777 trillion, meaning that 38% of the actual shortfall was hidden.

The CBO’s latest projection is the U.S. will add close to $1 trillion of debt in 2019 and over $1 trillion in 2020.

And this direction is with a Republican administration and Congress.

The off-budget deficits have averaged around $360 billion for the last five years, generally increasing over time. But if we take just that average and add them to the projected deficits, the US government deficit will be approximately $1.4 trillion per year for the next five years, which will mean $29 trillion total debt by 2024.

And that’s without a recession.