The fiscal health of the United States is not in great shape and does not appear it will improve at anytime in the near future, or at least before 2034. It turns out that, according to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), a nonpartisan organization that has been preparing budget analyzes since 1975, that the national debt will reach $50 trillion by that year.

The figure would represent 122% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP), which, according to The Washington Post, would "far exceed the maximum established after World War II."

As if the data were not discouraging enough, the truth is that the CBO initially projected a little less debt, around 48 trillion, but revised its forecast as social security and defense costs increased.

The danger of public debt

"I place economy among the first and most important virtues, and public debt as the greatest of dangers to be feared. To preserve our independence, we must not let our rulers load us with perpetual debt," said Thomas Jefferson during his time as president, as a warning for both the present, and the future.

However, the former president would not be very happy with the recent data on the national debt, that is, what the United States owes its creditors. The figure was released at the end of February and was somewhere between alarming and catastrophic. According to the Treasury Department, the number amounts to $34,332,006,626,320.48.

The number is even stronger when compared to what the United States owed about 40 years ago, when the national debt was $907 billion.

The Congressional Budget Office It is also not very encouraging regarding what may happen in the future, since estimates that the national debt will grow to 54 trillion dollars in the next decade, due in part to an aging population and federal health care costs. Additionally, higher interest rates are further exacerbating the fiscal situation.

When calculating per capita debt, in other words, each person's share of the debt incurred by the Government, each American owes $103,409.

Finally, a recent report prepared by the United Nations (UN) and titled A World of Debt, found that the United States leads the global ranking of public debt, with over 33 trillion dollars. Second place went to China with almost $15 trillion dollars and Japan completed the podium with $10.6 trillion.

"The vast majority of which is held by the public through bonds and other borrowing instruments. The cost of that debt continues to rise as the federal government spends more and must borrow to pay for it." The rest of the debt is in the hands of other government programs, such as Social Security and Medicare, which have received more money than they have paid," stated the Washington Post.