<div dir="ltr"><p style="margin:0px 0px 19px;padding:0px;text-align:left;color:rgb(51,51,51);text-transform:none;text-indent:0px;letter-spacing:normal;font-size:20px;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;font-weight:400;text-decoration:none;word-spacing:0px;white-space:normal;box-sizing:border-box;background-color:transparent">Trump, the self-proclaimed King of Debt, along with the tax-cutting GOP have received their "rewards."</p><p style="margin:0px 0px 19px;padding:0px;text-align:left;color:rgb(51,51,51);text-transform:none;text-indent:0px;letter-spacing:normal;font-size:20px;font-variant:normal;word-spacing:0px;white-space:normal;box-sizing:border-box;background-color:transparent"><span title="Evan Halper, Los Angeles Times" class="gmail-truncate" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;text-align:center;color:rgb(51,51,51);text-transform:none;text-indent:0px;letter-spacing:normal;font-size:13px;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;font-weight:400;text-decoration:none;word-spacing:0px;white-space:normal;box-sizing:border-box;background-color:transparent">Evan Halper, Los Angeles Times</span><span style="font:400 13px/20px "Segoe UI Bold","Segoe WP Bold","Segoe WP","Segoe UI",Arial,Sans-Serif;text-align:center;color:rgb(51,51,51);text-transform:none;text-indent:0px;letter-spacing:normal;text-decoration:none;word-spacing:0px;display:inline;white-space:normal;float:none;background-color:transparent">
        </span><b></b><i></i><u></u><strike></strike><br></p><p style="margin:0px 0px 19px;padding:0px;text-align:left;color:rgb(51,51,51);text-transform:none;text-indent:0px;letter-spacing:normal;font-size:20px;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;font-weight:400;text-decoration:none;word-spacing:0px;white-space:normal;box-sizing:border-box;background-color:transparent">Tax cuts championed by President Donald Trump are pushing the nation toward an unprecedented level of debt, heightening the risk for another financial crisis, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.</p><span style="font:400 20px/28.88px "Segoe UI","Segoe WP",Arial,Sans-Serif;text-align:left;color:rgb(51,51,51);text-transform:none;text-indent:0px;letter-spacing:normal;text-decoration:none;word-spacing:0px;display:inline;white-space:normal;font-size-adjust:none;font-stretch:normal;float:none;background-color:transparent">

 </span><span style="font:400 20px/28.88px "Segoe UI","Segoe WP",Arial,Sans-Serif;text-align:left;color:rgb(51,51,51);text-transform:none;text-indent:0px;letter-spacing:normal;text-decoration:none;word-spacing:0px;display:inline;white-space:normal;font-size-adjust:none;font-stretch:normal;float:none;background-color:transparent">
 </span><span style="font:400 20px/28.88px "Segoe UI","Segoe WP",Arial,Sans-Serif;text-align:left;color:rgb(51,51,51);text-transform:none;text-indent:0px;letter-spacing:normal;text-decoration:none;word-spacing:0px;display:inline;white-space:normal;font-size-adjust:none;font-stretch:normal;float:none;background-color:transparent">
</span><p style="margin:0px 0px 19px;padding:0px;text-align:left;color:rgb(51,51,51);text-transform:none;text-indent:0px;letter-spacing:normal;font-size:20px;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;font-weight:400;text-decoration:none;word-spacing:0px;white-space:normal;box-sizing:border-box;background-color:transparent">The budget office's annual look at the government's long-term financial outlook paints a grim picture, projecting soaring deficits in the coming years, with debt ultimately peaking at more than 152 percent of the nation's gross domestic product.</p><p style="margin:0px 0px 19px;padding:0px;text-align:left;color:rgb(51,51,51);text-transform:none;text-indent:0px;letter-spacing:normal;font-size:20px;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;font-weight:400;text-decoration:none;word-spacing:0px;white-space:normal;box-sizing:border-box;background-color:transparent">"The prospect of large and growing debt poses substantial risks for the nation and presents policy makers with significant challenges," Keith Hall, director of the budget office, said in a statement.</p><p style="margin:0px 0px 19px;padding:0px;text-align:left;color:rgb(51,51,51);text-transform:none;text-indent:0px;letter-spacing:normal;font-size:20px;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;font-weight:400;text-decoration:none;word-spacing:0px;white-space:normal;box-sizing:border-box;background-color:transparent">The biggest problem in the coming decade stems from last year's tax cut. It is estimated to increase the deficit by more than $2.3 trillion over that period.</p><p style="margin:0px 0px 19px;padding:0px;text-align:left;color:rgb(51,51,51);text-transform:none;text-indent:0px;letter-spacing:normal;font-size:20px;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;font-weight:400;text-decoration:none;word-spacing:0px;white-space:normal;box-sizing:border-box;background-color:transparent">The spiraling price of providing subsidized health care and social security for the nation's aging population adds to the problem, the budget office said.</p><p style="margin:0px 0px 19px;padding:0px;text-align:left;color:rgb(51,51,51);text-transform:none;text-indent:0px;letter-spacing:normal;font-size:20px;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;font-weight:400;text-decoration:none;word-spacing:0px;white-space:normal;box-sizing:border-box;background-color:transparent">The federal debt already stands at the highest level relative to the size of the economy that it has been since the aftermath of World War II. At that point, the nation was deep in the red from the war effort and the public works projects implemented in response to the Depression.</p><p style="margin:0px 0px 19px;padding:0px;text-align:left;color:rgb(51,51,51);text-transform:none;text-indent:0px;letter-spacing:normal;font-size:20px;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;font-weight:400;text-decoration:none;word-spacing:0px;white-space:normal;box-sizing:border-box;background-color:transparent">More recently, America plunged back into a high level of debt to combat the Great Recession, when Congress passed major spending increases to pull the nation out of it.</p><p style="margin:0px 0px 19px;padding:0px;text-align:left;color:rgb(51,51,51);text-transform:none;text-indent:0px;letter-spacing:normal;font-size:20px;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;font-weight:400;text-decoration:none;word-spacing:0px;white-space:normal;box-sizing:border-box;background-color:transparent">But Washington not only failed to wipe out the red ink when the economy rebounded, after a few years of progress in President Barack Obama's second term, the government under Trump has reversed course, moving toward even higher debt levels.</p><p style="margin:0px 0px 19px;padding:0px;text-align:left;color:rgb(51,51,51);text-transform:none;text-indent:0px;letter-spacing:normal;font-size:20px;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;font-weight:400;text-decoration:none;word-spacing:0px;white-space:normal;box-sizing:border-box;background-color:transparent">The national debt is projected to surge upward, bringing the nation into uncharted territory unless the government adopts far-reaching policy shifts that could include deep cuts in spending on entitlement programs or significant tax increases.</p><p style="margin:0px 0px 19px;padding:0px;text-align:left;color:rgb(51,51,51);text-transform:none;text-indent:0px;letter-spacing:normal;font-size:20px;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;font-weight:400;text-decoration:none;word-spacing:0px;white-space:normal;box-sizing:border-box;background-color:transparent">The report lays out precisely what it would cost to keep the long-term debt from soaring.</p><p style="margin:0px 0px 19px;padding:0px;text-align:left;color:rgb(51,51,51);text-transform:none;text-indent:0px;letter-spacing:normal;font-size:20px;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;font-weight:400;text-decoration:none;word-spacing:0px;white-space:normal;box-sizing:border-box;background-color:transparent">To bring the red ink down to the historical average level, taxes would need to increase 17 percent - $2,000 per household - or government spending would need to be cut by 15 percent. Over the last 50 years, federal debt has average about 41 percent of the gross domestic product.</p><p style="margin:0px 0px 19px;padding:0px;text-align:left;color:rgb(51,51,51);text-transform:none;text-indent:0px;letter-spacing:normal;font-size:20px;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;font-weight:400;text-decoration:none;word-spacing:0px;white-space:normal;box-sizing:border-box;background-color:transparent">Just keeping the federal debt at its current, historically high level, would require increasing taxes by 11 percent - $1,300 per household - or cutting spending by 10 percent.</p><p style="margin:0px 0px 19px;padding:0px;text-align:left;color:rgb(51,51,51);text-transform:none;text-indent:0px;letter-spacing:normal;font-size:20px;font-style:normal;font-variant:normal;font-weight:400;text-decoration:none;word-spacing:0px;white-space:normal;box-sizing:border-box;background-color:transparent">The heavy level of debt is already taking a toll on taxpayers. The report projects that government borrowing costs are on track to exceed the amount the government spends each year on social security.</p><br clear="all"><br>-- <br><div class="gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr"><div>   <div style="width:auto;height:auto">   <div> <div><div><br></div></div></div></div></div><div><div><div><div><div><div><div><font size="2"><span style="font-size:10pt"><div><span style="font-size:13.33px">A society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they shall never sit in. </span><br style="font-size:13.33px"><br style="font-size:13.33px"><span style="font-size:13.33px">-Greek proverb</span></div><div><br>
“Enlightenment is man’s emergence from his self-imposed immaturity. 
Immaturity is the inability to use one’s understanding without guidance 
from another. This immaturity is self- imposed when its cause lies not 
in lack of understanding, but in lack of resolve and courage to use it 
without guidance from another. Sapere Aude! ‘Have courage to use your 
own understand-ing!—that is the motto of enlightenment.<br>
<br>
--Immanuel Kant<br>
<br><br></div></span></font></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div>
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