Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Thursday said the swelling national debt is manageable as long as it stays around where it is relative to the rest of the economy.
In a CNBC interview, Yellen also noted that high interest rates are adding to the burden as the U.S. manages its massive $34.7 trillion debt load.
“If the debt is stabilized relative to the size of the economy, we’re in a reasonable place,” she told CNBC’s Andrew Ross Sorkin during a “Squawk Box” live interview. “The way I look at it is that we should be looking at the real interest cost of the debt. That’s really what the burden is.”
During the 2024 fiscal year, net interest costs on the debt have totaled $601 billion — more than the government has spent on health care or defense and more than four times what it has laid out for education.
Multiple Congressional Budget Office reports have warned about the soaring costs of debt and deficits, cautioning that over the next…
