Federal spending has been stable for 30 years, making the debt problem worse

A new analysis finds that the amount of money the US government chooses to spend each year has stayed flat for three decades. This means the national debt problem is actually worse than official government forecasts suggest.

The US government's budget process was designed 50 years ago to be structured. This paper shows that process has eroded. This means annual spending decisions do not actually respond to the country's economic output. It also means official projections about the national debt are likely too optimistic.