Program and guests
A Bloomberg Television special, linked together by a host’s narration, featuring interviews with Yale Budget Lab co-founder Natasha Sarin and former House Speaker Paul Ryan. Their interview segments run throughout the program. Original English title: The $40 Trillion Problem Washington Won’t Talk About.
Key points
- U.S. national debt has climbed above $40 trillion, and the scale of government borrowing is a major suspect in the rise in long-term interest rates. 0:12
- Higher borrowing costs will not remain confined to the government; they will feed through to the costs households pay for mortgages, car loans and other borrowing. 1:35
- Sarin notes that U.S. mortgage rates are approaching 7%, partly because government borrowing costs are closely linked to household lending rates. 3:20
- Ryan believes the United States is heading toward a debt crisis unless it changes course by reforming Social Security and other benefit spending, but there is still a window of time to act. 6:00
- Sarin warns that the next president will face the depletion of the Social Security trust fund during their term and that, without action, across-the-board benefit cuts will be unavoidable. 7:37
- A proposal by Sarin and her colleagues holds that tax reform and measures to close tax leakages can raise revenue without sacrificing growth, but revenue increases alone cannot keep pace with spending. 9:48
Background and notes
This article covers only the interview segments featuring Sarin and Ryan. The program includes narration by the host and runs 12 minutes and 02 seconds; all views are paraphrased from the original program subtitles.