CBO's 2011 Long-Term Budget Outlook

Abstract

This Congressional Budget Office (CBO) report presents the agency's projections of federal spending and revenues over the coming decades. Under current law, an aging population and rapidly rising health care costs will sharply increase federal spending for health care programs and Social Security. If revenues remained at their historical average share of gross domestic product (GDP), such spending growth would cause federal debt to grow to unsustainable levels. If policymakers are to put the federal government on a sustainable budgetary path, they will need to increase revenues substantially as a percentage of GDP, decrease spending significantly from projected levels, or adopt some combination of those two approaches. In keeping with CBO's mandate to provide objective, impartial analysis, this report makes no recommendations.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Jun 01, 2011
Accession Number
ADA545162

Entities

Organizations

  • Congressional Budget Office

Tags

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Baby Boomers
  • Commerce
  • Demography
  • Economic Analysis
  • Economic Impact
  • Employment
  • Families (Human)
  • Federal Budgets
  • Health Care
  • Health Services
  • Investments
  • Law
  • Medical Personnel
  • Monetary Policy
  • Money
  • National Security
  • Revenue

Readers

  • Economics
  • Public Financial Management and Budgeting