(B) MONETARY POLICY

By Spencer Jakab - Say you added just 1 percentage point to the average interest rate in the CBO’s forecast ...That would result in an additional $3.5 trillion in federal debt by 2033. The government’s annual interest bill alone would then be about $2 trillion. For perspective, individual income taxes are set to bring in only $2.5 trillion this year. Compound interest has a way of quickly making a bad situation worse—the sort of vicious spiral that has caused investors to flee countries... Read More

By Red Jahncke - The Federal Reserve’s policies of increasing interest rates and quantitative tightening—reducing its $8.9 trillion balance sheet—will increase the volume and cost of federal government borrowing, slamming the federal budget and exposing the consequences of decades of deficit spending. Total federal gross interest cost over the 12 months ending on May 31 was $666 billion. If we include the impending extra interest on Treasury bills and the maturing notes, that figure rises to $863 billion. This is a staggering cost. National military spending was $746 billion over the past 12 months; Medicare spending was $700 billion. Read...