Fox News
Expand
Browse All Video
Watch Live

You're watching...

How long would it take to pay down US debt?

Details

  • Description

    Because You Asked: Chipping away at $15 trillion

  • Duration 3:27
  • Date

Clips

Also in this playlist...

Latest News

Auto-advance: ON

Auto-advance
View All

Transcript

This transcript is automatically generated

We will be cutting indiscriminately just like they're doing in -- We have a moral any legal obligation.

To budget.

To show how we will prevent this debt crisis this most predictable crisis from coming.

And that's Republican Paul Ryan detailing how his proposed budget attack of the debt crisis the US you know is drowning in red -- Our national deficit ballooning past fifteen trillion dollars and that brings out there.

-- -- Thank draft the following Randy -- writes how long would it take to pay down the debt if our economy returned to its mobile most robust year.

And spending stated current well you got that's even more.

Wall Street Journal Stephen good morning to you and I doubt it's a little tricky now see here is.

Here is the basis of the rationale for the answer that we arrived yet -- -- if you took the best year in the history of America.

Based on surplus the year 2000.

Right under Bill Clinton we took in 236 billion dollars if the dead at fifteen and a half trillion does not change.

For 66 years.

You would then achieve.

The accomplishment of paying down debt.

That's if we don't go any deeper than fifteen and a half trillion and if you get a surplus is that a record high for 66 years.

That's phenomenal.

Well bill -- say that's that that's dot absolute best case scenario that you could possibly come up with because -- number.

We we are facing about ten trillion dollars of additional debt.

Over the next ten years to your kind of assuming that we were -- would remove from much billion dollar deficit to -- to.

Hundred billion dollar surplus overnight.

Not very likely to happen and I think it's well and that's how you that is all hypothetical by the lack of course you just on the track to -- right now it's not gonna happen.

I think right emphasizes how deep hole on no question about it and my point was -- that it's a lot worse than even your statistics indicate -- a couple reasons one is.

For its gonna take a long time just to get to a balanced budget I mean remember in the last forty years I think there's only been three or four years we've had a balanced budget under the scenario that you lay out we have to have what would you say 6766.

Year record.

-- yeah I'll record surpluses that's kinda hard to imagine.

There's another risk factor here that I think people should be paying attention to.

You know we're the largest gathering the world we have the record low interest rates right now we have two or 3% interest rates on these -- Imagine what happens bill we start to see a hundred -- duo 200 basis point increase in interest rates that the debt the debt situation gets a trillion dollar.

Worse for every one percentage point increase in the in the interest rates so.

You know you're not in bottling it's not making me feel any better -- -- What I'm saying is -- it's not gonna happen in your life ahead -- -- lifetime.

But religion -- the main thing is let's think this one step at a time I would be overjoyed though if we could just get to a balanced budget so there -- now we're not.

Because remember sometimes people get the deficit in the -- next up.

The deficit is the amount we have to the data every year so if we can at least balance the budget -- at least we wouldn't be adding that it that year after year as we've done for the last you know last ten years.

Stephen thank you thank you sound mind boggling question I had to get my calculator out I mean these are big number.

About rebel there's twelve zeroes and a 10000000000120.

And we're young at heart but we're not -- six -- it and it is David or maybe our grandchildren want perhaps.

Good luck to them from the --

Load More