The government increased payments to individuals without reducing spending elsewhere in the budget.

Each year, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) publishes its Budget and Economic Outlook. The CBO’s deficit projections for the current fiscal year (FY) and the next 10 FYs are widely followed because they provide an assessment of the medium-term budget outlook based on current law and a...

After 1982 the international investment position of the United States dramatically shifted from one of sizable net creditor to much more sizable net debtor. As the U.S. deficit on current international transactions soared to record levels during the mid-1980s, some observers perceived a grave...

Minneapolis Fed Vice President Preston Miller suggests that long-term federal budget problems, exacerbated by the needs of an aging population, might be alleviated by a new approach to funding benefits received by that same aging population.

An examination of the various factors that have determined the level and growth of the federal debt over the past 40 years, with some perspective on future levels of federal debt.