http://freebeacon.com/issues/cbo-debt-to-double-as-percent-of-gdp/

CBO: Debt to Double as Percentage of GDP Over Next 30 Years

AP

BY: Ali Meyer Follow @DJAliMeyer 
July 13, 2016 5:00 am

Federal debt held by the public will nearly double as a percentage of gross domestic product over the next 30 years, according to projections from the Congressional Budget Office.

Federal debt held by the public in 2008 was equal to 39 percent of GDP, and has risen to 75 percent of GDP today. The budget office predicts this debt will rise to 86 percent of GDP in 2026 and to 141 percent in 2046, which would be the highest ratio of debt to GDP ever recorded. The current high ratio of 106 percent was recorded just after World War II.

The debt is projected to increase because the government is spending outside of its means, especially on entitlement programs like Social Security and Medicare. The government is also paying increasing amounts of interest on its debt.

Social Security and Medicare spending alone is projected to account for about half of all federal noninterest spending in the next 30 years. “Federal outlays for those two programs made up almost 40 percent of the government’s noninterest spending, on average, during the past 10 years, compared with 16 percent 50 years ago,” the report states.

The budget office projects that the Social Security program will be insolvent in the next few years. According to their projections, the Disability Insurance trust fund will be exhausted in fiscal 2022 and the Old-Age and Survivors Insurance trust fund will be exhausted in calendar year 2030.

Federal spending on major health care programs such as Medicare, Medicaid, and the Children’s Health Insurance Program as well as health insurance purchased through the Obamacare exchanges will rise to 8.9 percent of GDP in the next 30 years, 60 percent higher than it is today. Medicare is the biggest driver of spending in this category as it accounts for about three-quarters of the increase in federal spending as a share of GDP.

The federal government’s net interest costs will lead to an increase in debt. “The first and most important [reason] is that interest rates are expected to be higher in the future than they are now, making any given level of debt more costly to finance, “ the report states. “The second reason is the projected increase in deficits: The larger they are, the more the government will need to borrow.”

Thile the budget office’s numbers are dire, they actually underestimate the growth of federal debt in the coming decades, according to an analysis from the Freedom Partners Institute.

The institute found that the Congressional Budget Office’s report overlooked intra-governmental debt that is earmarked to pay for Social Security and Medicare and excludes “gross debt” from its calculations, using “public debt” instead.

“Based on more accurate estimating techniques, we’ve determined that the gross federal debt will nearly double by 2030 (from $19.3 trillion to $37.8 trillion), reaching 116 percent of GDP,” Freedom Partners stated. “These debt projections show that we are on the path to bankruptcy—with an economic fate similar to debt-devastated countries like Greece and Argentina, and most recently, our own territory of Puerto Rico.”

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Scott Walker Calls for Major Changes at University of Wisconsin System

http://dailysignal.com/2015/02/08/scott-walker-calls-major-changes-university-wisconsin-system/?utm_source=heritagefoundation&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=morningbell&mkt_tok=3RkMMJWWfF9wsRolsqjNZKXonjHpfsX56uQlUaS%2FlMI%2F0ER3fOvrPUfGjI4EScpnI%2BSLDwEYGJlv6SgFQrLBMa1ozrgOWxU%3D

Scott Walker Calls for Major Changes at University of Wisconsin System

MADISON, Wis.—More than 35,000 public employees would be removed from state government rolls if Gov. Scott Walker’s budget proposal stays intact through the legislative process.

Walker’s 2015-17 budget proposal, which was introduced Tuesday, makes major changes to the operation of the state’s University of Wisconsin System. The second-term governor’s plan would split off the system into its own public entity.

By creating a separate authority for the University of Wisconsin System, it would no longer be under the direct management of the state.

According to Walker, University of Wisconsin System supporters have been asking for more autonomy for years, claiming it would help cut costs and better serve students. The Republican governor’s plan also includes a $150 million funding cut in each year of his biennial budget in exchange for the greater autonomy.

The annual reduction is equivalent to a 2.5 percent cut in total public funding. Opponents of Walker’s reform have claimed aid is being cut by 13 percent. That, however, only takes into consideration general fund spending from the state.

The 13 percent figure ignores nearly $5 billion in funding the University of Wisconsin System receives in federal, segregated and program revenues.

At a Wednesday stop in Stevens Point, Walker called the plan an “Act 10 for the UW System”—referring to his 2011 collective-bargaining reforms that have saved the state $3 billion to date.

“What I mean by that is that we actually give them reforms. For years, supporters of the UW System have said at campus after campus that if you got us out from under the thumb of the state government bureaucracy that they could do more to save money and put it back into the classroom to be more effective,” the governor said. “I believe our authority will do just that.”

The proposal would also extend a tuition freeze that was included in the last budget, keeping tuition at the same level for a total of four years.

University of Wisconsin System President Ray Cross hopes the final budget will include more state funding.

“This is a serious cut that will force each institution and campus within the UW System to make difficult decisions about its workforce and programming,” Cross said. “We are hopeful that we will be able to work with our partners in the legislature to mitigate and reduce this cut in the coming months.”

Many others in the state agree with Walker that funding should be cut.

During the 2013-15 budget process, legislators discovered the UW System had more than $600 million in surplus that was not clearly accounted for. This so-called “slush fund” led to the first two-year tuition freeze and eventually the University of Wisconsin System president at the time, Kevin Reilly, resigned.

Since then, the system has reduced reserves down to $175 million and has implemented policies to increase transparency.

Conservatives, including the governor, have also embraced the idea that professors should teach just one more class per semester to cut costs. According to a report from the University of Wisconsin at Madison, faculty taught two courses and had on average just 6.3 hours of direct contact with students per week in 2012.

And, University of Wisconsin at Madison Chancellor Rebecca Blank hinted in Thursday’s Wall Street Journal that number might get even lower.

According to WSJ, “[Blank] said that 15% of her professors last year received outside job offers, and as chancellor, she bids against those offers in part by cutting the course loads of researchers so they will stay.”

The state Legislature will take up Walker’s budget in the coming months and a final bill is expected to be signed by the governor in June.