With federal debt skyrocketing above $19 trillion, politicians and bureaucrats could get grabby in the future.
As the national debt clock continues to tick up — $19,539,841,772,036 and counting as of this writing — the Trump and Clinton campaigns aren’t proposing any serious plans to reduce it. They are instead arguing over which candidate’s fiscal policies will expand the federal budget deficit the most.
The next president will inherent a fiscal gap that seems destined to grow wider and more insoluble. The portion of U.S. debt held by the public soared from 38% of gross domestic product in 1999 to 76% in 2016. Publicly held debt will keep growing against the economy in the years ahead — to 141% of GDP by 2046, according to Congressional Budget Office projections.
The mounting government debt crisis raises fears that officials might one day resort to extreme measures to raise revenues, such as outright asset confiscation. Some precious metals investors fear in particular the prospect of gold confiscation.
