(129%), Which I think is a minor pleasant surprise. With spiking interest rates and an expected recession, I don’t think too many people expected that measure to improve this year. So, in truth, not a record in terms of the measure that matters. But the problem is the trajectory. SS and Medicare are built in balloon payments - really doesn’t matter much what else we do unless we fix that. On top of that, we’re really staring down the barrel at war with China very soon. We’ve barely begun to prepare for that - hopefully, for deterring it, but we’ve got heavy investments in front of us to do that.

If we fixed the entitlement cliffs, we’d be able to afford those (probably unavoidable) spikes in defense spending. I don’t really think the threat is 153% of gdp by 2053. Who knows - almost everyone was 180 degrees wrong just about the 12 mths ended 12/31/23. We need to rediscover our ability to compromise, first and foremost, to stop the bleeding of international faith in our creditworthiness. It’s not a hemorrhage - mostly cuz their ain’t better options than the greenback and US Treasuries - but if we continue this drumbeat of brinksmanship, we could ultimately reduce that relative attractiveness compared with all the other options out there.