7/ And learn more about the RAND Budget Model here: www.rand.org/education-em...

6/ There's much more to explore in our report, which is free to download: www.rand.org/pubs/researc...

5/ If we stay on the current path, more of our tax dollars will go to foreign countries than towards keeping Americans safe, responding to disasters, and delivering on all other national priorities.

➡️The bottom line: We tackled our debt burden in the past, and we can do it again.

4/ It will also require policymakers to build durable plans so that we can stay on track over the long time. Imagine a 30-year plan where policymakers came to a consensus on a general path to get to a fiscally sustainable place and a healthy economy.

3/ This study provides an achievable benchmark for fiscal policy in the future.

But the specific tradeoffs require policymakers to make tough choices. They will need to think beyond the ten-year planning window Congress currently uses to estimate impacts of legislation.

2/ My colleagues Vegard Nygaard, Akshaya Suresh and I examined the last 80 years of federal debt, including how the US:
🔹reduced the debt burden from WWII over 30 years
🔹piled on debt over the next 50 years
🔹can reduce this burden over the next 30 years
www.rand.org/pubs/researc...

1/ In September, the federal debt hit $30 trillion. That's over 100% of GDP—higher than at any point since WWII.

How did we get here? And what might help the U.S. reduce the debt burden to a manageable level?

Our new @rand.org report explores…🧵