By Dan Murphy
In today’s political climate in Washington, D.C., with tax cuts prioritized on one side of the aisle and more government spending on the other, a reasoned and logical discussion about the national debt, which recently blew past $22 trillion, is a thing of the past.
But a few groups continue their efforts to educate the public, and our leaders in Washington. One of these groups is the Peter G. Peterson Foundation, named after Peter Peterson, who served as a secretary of commerce, made billions in banking and on Wall Street, then cofounded the Concord Coalition and the Peterson Foundation to try and warn Americans about the rising amount of government debt.
The Peterson Foundation writes, “As America marked the regrettable milestone of $22 trillion in national debt, Americans hold deep concerns about the country’s fiscal outlook, according to the Peter G. Peterson Foundation’s Fiscal Confidence Index. The February Fiscal Confidence Index, modeled after the Consumer Confidence Index, is 50 (100 is neutral).
“More than seven in 10 Americans say the national debt should be a top-three priority for the president and Congress, including wide majorities of Democrats (71 percent), independents (76 percent), Republicans (73 percent), and those between 18 to 34 years of age (71 percent). Nearly two-thirds of Americans (64 percent) say their level of concern about the national debt has increased over the last few years, including three in five younger Americans (61 percent).
“The vast majority of Americans across party lines, including younger voters, are calling on the president and Congress to take action on our national debt,” said Michael Peterson, CEO of the Peterson Foundation. “Key priorities for our future – from infrastructure to education to health care – are put at risk unless we begin to manage our debt. As we cross $22 trillion in national debt, lawmakers should hear this wake-up call loud and clear.”
The Fiscal Confidence Index measures public opinion about the national debt by asking six questions in three key areas: the level of concern and views about the direction of the national debt; how high a priority addressing the debt should be for elected leaders; and expectations about whether the debt situation will get better or worse in the next few years.
The survey results from these three areas are weighted equally and averaged to produce the Fiscal Confidence Index value. The Fiscal Confidence Index, like the Consumer Confidence Index, is indexed on a scale of 0 to 200, with a neutral midpoint of 100. A reading above 100 indicates positive sentiment. A reading below 100 indicates negative sentiment.
The February 2019 Fiscal Confidence Index value is 50. (The January value was 46, and the December value was 50.)
The current Fiscal Confidence Index score for concern about the debt is 49, indicating deep concern about the debt. The score for debt as a priority that leaders must address is 29, indicating that Americans want elected leaders to make addressing long-term debt a high priority. The score for expectations about progress on the debt is 73. The Fiscal Confidence Index is the average of these three sub-category scores.
The Peter G. Peterson Foundation is a non-profit, non-partisan organization that is dedicated to increasing public awareness of the nature and urgency of key fiscal challenges threatening America’s future, and to accelerating action on them. To address these challenges successfully, we work to bring Americans together to find and implement sensible, long-term solutions that transcend age, party lines and ideological divides in order to achieve real results. To learn more, visit www.pgpf.org.
