Boring but important

The federal deficit will exceed $1 trillion annually by 2020, the Congressional Budget Office said this week—two years sooner than anticipated, as tax cuts and spending increases signed by President Trump take effect. Government spending will exceed revenue by $804 billion in fiscal 2018, jumping sharply from an earlier forecast of $563 billion. Between 2021 and 2028, annual deficits will average 4.9 percent of GDP—higher than at any point since World War II, other than during the recession in 2008 and 2009. The total national debt will soar to more than $33 trillion in a decade, to 96 percent of GDP. The report is the first since Congress passed sweeping tax cuts and then a $1.3 trillion spending bill that dramatically increased military spending.