Snuffel schreef:
CBO chief: Budget outlook 'daunting'
By Jeanne Sahadi, senior writerJune 30, 2010: 12:14 PM ET
WASHINGTON (CNNMoney.com) -- Douglas Elmendorf, chief budget cruncher for Congress, got to play the role of bad-news bear before the president's bipartisan fiscal commission on Wednesday.
Debt can sap growth: The larger the debt burden grows, the less money there will be for domestic investment. That, in turn, can suppress income growth and economic growth, which then reduces tax revenue.
The only way to bring the federal budget into better balance would be to sharply reduce U.S. spending, drastically increase taxes to rates never before seen in the United States or some less dramatic combination of the two, Elmendorf said.