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Originally Posted by opendoor
That seems like a weird criticism. Even if you remove the increases in debt during crisis situations (08-09, COVID, etc.) for Trump and Bush, the increase in debt under Biden has been the lowest since Clinton. And Clinton was the lowest since Nixon. So in the last 50 years, the growth in Federal Debt under Biden has been the 2nd slowest of any President.
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And if you look at what the US spends on interest to manage the debt, it has gone crazy the past few years, in large part to rising interest rates. Which of course is understandable, but also concerning long-term especially if rates don't come back down.
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This huge increase is due in part to the $9.5 trillion increase in debt held by the public between the beginning of 2020 and the end of 2023. But it is also due to much higher interest rates. Newly issued ten-year Treasury Notes paid an average of 3.8 percent in fiscal year (FY) 2023, compared to 2.4 percent in 2019 and 1.1 percent in 2020. Newly issued three-month Treasury Bills paid an average yield of 5.0 percent in 2023, compared to 2.3 percent in 2019 and 0.7 percent in 2020. Rates today are even higher.
At $659 billion, interest was the fourth largest government program in 2023, exceeded only by Social Security, Medicare, and defense. The federal government spent significantly more on interest than all spending on children. Interest costs also exceeded spending on Medicaid, veterans, food and nutrition services, and more.
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https://www.crfb.org/blogs/2023-inte...ch-659-billion
So again, easy to see how the current debt load, unease in the markets and the economy not being as stellar as everyone thinks it should be, is a concern.