http://cbo.gov/sites/default/files/cbof ... screen.pdf
Summary
The United States is facing fundamental budgetary challenges. Federal debt held by the
public exceeds 70 percent of the nation’s annual output (gross domestic product, or
GDP)—a percentage not seen since 1950—and a continuation of current policies
would boost the debt further. Although debt would decline to 58 percent of GDP in
2022 under the current-law assumptions that underlie the Congressional Budget
Office’s (CBO’s) baseline projections, those projections depend heavily on significant
increases in taxes and decreases in spending that are scheduled to take effect at the
beginning of January. If, instead, lawmakers maintained current policies by preventing
most of those changes from occurring—what CBO refers to as the alternative fiscal
scenario—debt held by the public would increase to 90 percent of GDP 10 years from
now and continue to rise rapidly thereafter.
