Bipartisan failure

It's now glaringly obvious that neither the Democrats nor the Republicans in Washington have any intention of addressing the country's debt addiction. Look at the graph below:

Keith Hennessey explains:

The gap between the red and blue lines is the budget deficit. A deficit of 3% of GDP will hold debt constant relative to the economy. Under the President’s policies the deficit would dip in 2018 to 2.9%, and would otherwise forever be at or above 3%. Our government debt burden will increase forever.

In a crisis our economy can handle an enormous temporary budget deficit. Our deficit problem is that future deficits are large, sustained, and projected to grow forever. Our little yellow double-headed deficit arrow will grow into a monster and keep growing.

"Grow into a monster" because if interest rates rise just a little, the additional cost to the federal government on interest payments rises considerably leading to a debt spiral where it becomes extremely difficult to pare down the accumulated principal.

I know! Let's build a high-speed choo-choo!