Interest rates have risen.
According to The Wall Street Journal, America is expected to spend $870 billion, or 3.1 percent of gross domestic product, this year on interest payments on the federal debt.
According to the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, the government will spend more on interest payments than on the entire defense budget.
When money is tight, as it is now, government borrowing competes with private borrowing, driving interest rates up for everybody.
ratio results in an increase in interest rates of two-tenths to three-tenths of a percentage point.
Organizations:
Wall Street Journal, Federal Budget, Social Security
Locations:
America