According to the latest Monthly Treasury Statement, the federal government posted a $367 billion monthly deficit last month, up 16 percent from a year ago.
This was slightly higher than the consensus estimate of $353 billion.
Outlays rose 13 percent year over year while revenues increased 9 percent.
The budget deficit is more than $624 billion for the fiscal year to date, up 64 percent from last year, meaning the United States is currently borrowing $10 billion per day.
Medicare ($129 billion), Social Security ($125 billion), and health ($80 billion) were the largest spending items in November.
Net interest costs accounted for the fourth-largest budgetary item, totaling $79 billion.
Cumulatively, net interest charges have totaled $160 billion. Interest on the debt is so vast that it represents more than half of individual income tax collections.
Treasury projects interest payments will exceed $1 trillion in fiscal year 2025.
On a 12-month rolling basis, the budget deficit is approximately $2.1 billion, says the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, an independent policy organization. This is about 7 percent of the GDP.
‘I Am Sorry’
In one of her final outgoing interviews, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen apologized that the current administration could not do more to improve the U.S. government’s fiscal health.“I am concerned about fiscal sustainability. And I am sorry that we haven’t made more progress,” Yellen said. “I believe that the deficit needs to be brought down, especially now that we’re in an environment of higher interest rates.”
Yellen has previously dismissed fiscal sustainability concerns, disagreeing with Moody’s downgraded outlook on U.S. debt in November 2023.
“The American economy is fundamentally strong, and Treasury securities remain the world’s preeminent safe and liquid asset,” Yellen said following the announcement.
Additionally, Yellen has noted that she pays more attention to net interest costs as a percentage of GDP.
In 2023, it was at a 23-year high of 2.4 percent.
Others have acknowledged that growing the economy could be the best way out of America’s record debt levels.
“The way out is by outgrowing them,” Amazon founder Jeff Bezos said at The New York Times’ DealBook Summit last week. “We need a growth orientation in this country. This is the most important thing: a growth mindset.”
“If you can increase growth, you can change the trajectory,” Bessent said in October.
The incoming administration has proposed a deregulatory strategy to bolster growth prospects. Trump recently vowed to give “fully expedited approvals and permits” to companies or individuals investing at least $1 billion in the United States.
“Get ready to rock,” Trump wrote in a Dec. 11 Truth Social post.
Last month, the national debt topped $36 trillion for the first time, a little more than three months since unlocking the $35 trillion milestone.