Other Voices

By LEE H. HAMILTON

A few months ago, the federal debt we have accumulated over the past decades crossed the $22 trillion mark. That’s a record. And it’s surely not going to be the last.

According to Congressional Budget Office estimates, annual federal deficits over the next decade – the deficit is the annual figure for how much more Congress and the president opt to spend than the government takes in as revenue – are expected to average $1.2 trillion.

Overall, the debt held by the public amounts to about 78 percent of our gross domestic product.

That’s double what it was before the 2008 reces...