Tax & Spend
Fed Payouts Add Another $100 Billion to Soaring Cost of US Debt
- Fed interest payments on reserves add about $100 billion net
- Fed activities once helped trim debt costs, now boost them
The US Capitol in Washington, DC.
Photographer: Sarah Silbiger/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
Interest payments by the US government are rising fast, according to the latest budget numbers published by the Treasury — and even faster in reality.
The Treasury shelled out some $861 billion in net interest on the national debt over the 12 months through July, the department’s latest release showed this week. That’s almost double what it was two years earlier.