Interest payments as a percent of the federal budget

Here I plot interest costs as a percentage of the federal budget, and also plot debt as a percentage of GDP.  A high growth economy is 1990 - 1998, in which federal interest expenses are 14% of the budget.  Our problem in returning to that norm is that debt to gdp has nearly doubled. All things being equal, one expects interest payments to be about 28% of the federal budget during high growth, and it has never been done. Something has to give.

Things are different today than in Clinton's time because we rollover about 25% of GDP in debt management, and our rollover interest payments go with the average length of maturity.  The average length of maturity has been increasing as we accommodate a doubling of the debt.

Congress is trying to roll a turd way to big, there is no growth solution that balances interest payments and taxes.  It is as if the economy is choosing DC bankruptcy as the least costly way out of the mess.