What is, and isn’t, worrying about 100% debt to GDP

(Neil Irwin – Axios) The United States has crossed a symbolic milestone: The national debt is now larger than its gross domestic product. But it’s not the level of that ratio that is alarming — it’s the trajectory. There’s nothing inherently unsustainable about a 100% debt-to-GDP level. What matters is why it got that high, the prospects for future borrowing, and the forecast for growth and borrowing costs. Across those dimensions, the U.S. fiscal outlook is exceptionally gloomy, in ways not reflected in much of the day-to-day political discourse. The Commerce Department last week reported $31.9 trillion annualized GDP in Q1. That surpasses the $31.4 trillion in debt held by the public on the last day of the quarter. – What is, and isn’t, worrying about 100% debt to GDP