The first segment of the first presidential debate between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump was dedicated to achieving prosperity.
As Concord Coalition Executive Director Robert L. Bixby points out in a blog post today, that provided an opportunity for the moderator to ask about – and the candidates to talk about – their plans for putting the projected federal debt on a sustainable path.
The first segment of the first presidential debate between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump was dedicated to achieving prosperity.
As Concord Coalition Executive Director Robert L. Bixby points out in a blog post today, that provided an opportunity for the moderator to ask about – and the candidates to talk about – their plans for putting the projected federal debt on a sustainable path.
“It’s hard to see how prosperity can be achieved, or long maintained, with a debt that is projected to reach unsustainable levels,” Bixby writes. “Unfortunately, the subject was not discussed.”
He adds: “Trump made a couple of passing references to the debt and Clinton noted that Trump’s plan might increase the debt, but neither of them made a connection to the debt as an economic issue, much less described what they would do about it.”
Bixby reviews some of the troubling projections from the Congressional Budget Office. For example, debt held by the public is projected to grow from 77 percent of GDP this year – the highest level since 1950 – to 86 percent in 2026, far above the average over the past 50 years of 39 percent.
Each candidate, Bixby says, “has made some expensive proposals that would have to be paid for and the American people have a right to know how they plan to do this without making the debt problem worse.”
