GDP, inflation, recession, national debt, federal budget

The federal government’s debt grew more than twice the amount that the economy did in the fourth quarter of 2023, as measured by gross domestic product (GDP).

Real GDP showed above-trend growth in the fourth quarter of 2023, rising 3.3% year-over-year, equating to a $328.7 billion increase to the U.S. economy, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA). In contrast, the federal government held nearly $33.17 trillion in debt at the end of the third quarter of 2023, which jumped to just over $34 trillion by the end of the year, equating to an over $800 billion deficit gain in the fourth quarter, according to the Treasury Department.

“What we’re effectively doing on a national level is racking up debt faster than we’re growing our income,” E.J. Antoni, a research fellow at the Heritage Foundation’s Grover M. Hermann Center for the Federal Budget, told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “At the same time, the cost to service a dollar of debt is rising. This is a deadly combination because it leads to a debt death spiral. This GDP report showed annualized interest on the debt breaching $1 trillion for the first time ever. While runaway consumer spending is not sustainable either, runaway government expenditure growth is worse because the government spends money so inefficiently. Thus, you get less ‘bang for your buck,’ so to speak.”