{"id":18140,"date":"2026-04-10T07:20:48","date_gmt":"2026-04-10T07:20:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/topat10.com\/?p=18140"},"modified":"2026-04-10T07:20:48","modified_gmt":"2026-04-10T07:20:48","slug":"we-owe-it-to-the-next-generation-to-get-national-debt-under-control-says-think-tank-boss-as-u-s-borrowing-hits-1-2-trillion-in-just-six-months","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/topat10.com\/?p=18140","title":{"rendered":"\u2018We owe it to the next generation\u2019 to get national debt under control, says think-tank boss, as U.S. borrowing hits $1.2 trillion in just six months"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Congressional Budget Office\u2019s latest monthly budget<\/a> says the U.S. government operated at a deficit of $1.17 trillion for the first six months of the fiscal year\u2014from October 2025 to March 2026.<\/p>\n

While the deficit is smaller than the shortfall for the same period last year, thanks in part to President Trump\u2019s tariff regime, the fact remains that the U.S. economy is piling more debt atop a $39 trillion heap<\/a>. Aside from the primary deficit, economists are also alarmed by the interest payments now required to service the debt\u2014estimated to come in at more than $1 trillion this year.<\/p>\n

The question of public debt is a concern for many, from Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell to JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon<\/a>. Many have theories on how the borrowing may adversely impact the economy in the long run, from a squeezing out of public investment through to a market \u201creckoning\u201d where bond investors demand higher returns for lending. Others suggest inflation may merely be allowed to trend higher, meaning the real value of the debt is eroded over time.<\/p>\n

\n

Indeed, the value of the debt itself is not the concern for many. Their alarm stems from the fact that the debt-to-GDP ratio is increasingly out of balance, and that the U.S. economy isn\u2019t growing fast enough to keep up with its borrowing rate. <\/p>\n

The more optimistic economic experts might argue the U.S. economy can grow its way out of a crisis (the potential transformative power of AI may offer a silver bullet here), while others point to the fact that 10- and 30-Year Treasury yields are showing no signs of panic.<\/p>\n

Michael Peterson, chairman and CEO of the Peter G Peterson Foundation<\/a>, warns that just because market alarms aren\u2019t sounding right now, it doesn\u2019t mean no issues will arise. The Peterson Foundation has long advocated for a more sustainable fiscal path for the U.S. economy.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the bond market is often a very good indicator of sentiment of concern of risk,\u201d Peterson told Fortune<\/em> in an exclusive interview. \u201cThat\u2019s what all these professionals are thinking about every day, and you have an enormous market that reflects the totality of thinking around that.\u00a0Given that the bond market is doing decent, they\u2019re not expecting a complete implosion in the near term.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, the fiscal decisions made across both sides of the political spectrum are \u201cvery damaging, even if there\u2019s not a crisis,\u201d Peterson said: \u201cIf you\u2019re looking at a company, it\u2019s not like: \u2018As long as it\u2019s not bankrupt, it\u2019s fine.\u2019 There are decisions that companies make that are ineffective and bad for growth\u2014they over-lever, and maybe they don\u2019t go into bankruptcy, but they damage themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a home-brewed crisis of our own making, putting aside what the bond market might do on top of that,\u201d Peterson continued. \u201cI think we owe it to the next generation to get this under control.\u201d <\/p>\n

There\u2019s also the matter of how the borrowing is spent: The CBO says that a significant proportion of government outlays ($1.7 trillion) are on immediate, mandatory expenses such as Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.<\/p>\n

While these are important, Peterson said, it doesn\u2019t present the same return on investment that spending on infrastructure or education may have for future generations: \u201cEven if we never have a crisis, these trillions of dollars\u2014the vast majority of which has been for immediate consumption with no economic benefit to the future\u2014have done damage to our kids and grandkids,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Future generations<\/h2>\n

Debate is also rife in the economics community about which category of consumer will feel the sharpest end of the national debt burden: Some argue it may be retirees, because their 401(k)s aren\u2019t indexed to inflation and their savings may be lowered by \u201cfinancial repression\u201d\u2014when the government keeps interest rates artificially low to make public funding cheaper.<\/p>\n

Others argue a market reckoning would force interest rates up, so those with a mortgage (or hoping to get a mortgage) will pay the price.<\/p>\n

Peterson is of the opinion that either way, the younger generations will bear the brunt of the burden: \u201cI think it\u2019s hard to parse through how it would pan out in terms of the pain, if you will, but it\u2019s going to be widespread and it\u2019s going to be significant and it\u2019s going to be long-standing.\u00a0We can fight over who got the worst end of the shortest stick, but we clearly are doing a disservice to anybody participating in the economy in the future.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI certainly worry that the most disadvantaged will pay the price if it squeezes out income support and other activities that the government would have done if they had more resources.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Congressional Budget Office\u2019s latest monthly budget says the U.S. government operated at a deficit of $1.17 trillion for the first six months of the fiscal year\u2014from October 2025 to March 2026. While the deficit is smaller than the shortfall for the same period last year, thanks in part to President Trump\u2019s tariff regime, the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":367,"featured_media":18141,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[123],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18140","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business"],"yoast_head":"\n\u2018We owe it to the next generation\u2019 to get national debt under control, says think-tank boss, as U.S. borrowing hits $1.2 trillion in just six months | Unlock Informed Choices with Us<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\""We can fight over who got the worst end of the shortest stick, but we clearly are doing a disservice to anybody participating in the economy in the future," Michael Peterson, 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Pringle","author_link":"https:\/\/topat10.com\/?author=367"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"The Congressional Budget Office\u2019s latest monthly budget says the U.S. government operated at a deficit of $1.17 trillion for the first six months of the fiscal year\u2014from October 2025 to March 2026. While the deficit is smaller than the shortfall for the same period last year, thanks in part to President Trump\u2019s tariff regime, the…","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/topat10.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18140","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/topat10.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/topat10.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/topat10.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/367"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/topat10.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=18140"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/topat10.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18140\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/topat10.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/18141"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/topat10.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=18140"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/topat10.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=18140"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/topat10.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=18140"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}