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03-08-2017, 04:15 PM
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"In the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, both the U.S. deficit and debt spiked for several years as the federal government collected less tax revenue and increased spending to counteract the downturn.
The 2016 budget deficit was roughly $600 billion, with the federal government spending $3.9 trillion while taking in $3.3 trillion in revenue. This amounts to about 3 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), down from nearly 10 percent in 2009. The average over the past five decades has been 3 percent.
Since the start of the crisis in 2007, total U.S. government debt has roughly doubled. Debt held by the public—the measure of how much the government owes to outside investors—stands at $14.4 trillion. It has nearly doubled since 2007, rising from about 40 percent to nearly 80 percent of GDP. (Counting intragovernmental debt, or debts owed by one U.S. government agency to another, brings the total to nearly $20 trillion, more than 120 percent of GDP.)
Without any further spending, the Congressional Budget Office estimates that the debt will grow by $9.4 trillion over the next decade.
How Trump's budget proposal could affect America's debt | PBS NewsHour
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