Public debt is set nearly to double from 2011 to 2022 and increase by $9.358 trillion.  Yet, by 2022, the government expects to pay interest rates on the public debt that are less than they paid on the total U.S. debt in the 1990s.

You may notice a slight difference between the interest rate in the table above and the interest rate shown in 2011 on the chart below.  Unlike the table above, the chart below measures average interest rates on the federal debt outstanding, so it includes intergovernmental debt interest.  The interest rates on the intergovernmental debt brought the average up from the table above to the chart below.

The differences, however, are slight.  The 1990s still had significantly higher interest rates in the 1990s than Obama projects, even for 2022:

You might be thinking that the government plans on the Federal Reserve buying up Treasuries to keep Treasury rates low.  Well, maybe, but the government only projects the “GDP chained price index” to range from 1.6%-2.1% from 2011 to 2022.  Needless to say, unless banks, as a whole, are deleveraging throughout the whole period, the Federal Reserve’s intervention in the Treasury market would create more than 2.1% price increases.

But wait, that can’t be because if the banks are deleveraging, then it’s really unlikely the economy is going to be growing as strong as Obama projects.  From 2012 through 2018, Obama projects the economy will grow between 2.7%-4.1% YOY in real terms.  Then the real growth rate drops off to 2.7%-2.5% from 2019-2022.  For comparison’s sake, the economy grew in the 2%-4% range from 2003-2006 during the boom times.

So, then, where is the $9.358 (minus whatever amount has been borrowed so far in fiscal year 2012) trillion at 1.94%-4.36% going to come from if not the Federal Reserve?  Pick you choice: a) the free market in the U.S. b) China c) Japan d) not going to happen.  I would provide an answer key for this question, but I don’t want to insult your intelligence.

So, if the government does plan on borrowing this much, assuming it can get it from somewhere other than the Fed, what happens if interest rate levels rise to rates similar to those found in the 1990s and 1980s?  Well, fortunately, in my book The Debtor’s Ultimatum: Defy, Debase, or Default I’ve done the research.  By the way, the following chart doesn’t even include the interest on the additional interest that would develop over this time from higher interest rates.

Here’s the Hypothetical Average Interest Rate Paid on the Public Debt Alone:

Government Numbers for both the chart above and below are sourced from the Midsession Review 2012, so the data are a little bit different from the data mentioned previously that is from the 2013 budget.

Here’s the Net Interest on Public Debt Alone in Billions of $:

Yeah, and there’s even more.  The government receipts projections are incredibly optimistic.  Part of that optimism is due to projected increase in economic growth and part of it is due to Obama’s proposal to let the Bush tax cuts finally expire.  We’ll see if either of those possibilities comes to pass.  I have my doubts about both.

Rather than pontificate, I’ll let you look at the 2013 budget data yourself.  The following are federal receipts, in trillions of dollars.  2012-2017 are estimates:

Did you notice that crazy jump from 2012-2013?  The government is expecting some pretty big economic growth.  We know those increases in receipts are not due to inflation, because the government expects hardly any at all.

Funny, in the 2012 budget, the government had the following data with only 2010 being a non-estimate:

Notice the big jump from 2011 to 2012 they projected and compare it to the jump from 2011-2012 in the 2013 budget table.  They’re really counting on that surge of receipts, and if they’re off by a year, they’ll just delay the surge another year or so.

Take a look at the 2011 budget.  Only 2009 is a non-estimate year:

Yep, once again, the projected jump from 2010-2011 was far less than actually occurred.

The President’s budget assumes no increase in nominal dollar spending from 2011-2022, interest rates to stay in the 2%-4% range despite needing to borrow around $9 trillion over the next decade, the Fed to not be a major player in buying that debt, because inflation numbers are low, and expects revenues to get a sudden boost, even after being wrong about his revenue predictions over and over again.  And to top it all off, all of these predictions come from a President who has increased the total U.S. debt by over 45% in his first term of office.  Oh, yes we can’t!