As a percentage of GDP, the current federal debt is about where it was during Obama’s second term. In a word: high:
Then again, what matters most about the federal debt is how much it costs to service the debt - and that’s a matter of how much interest the feds pay on the debt as a percentage of GDP. Check it out:
Doesn’t look so bad anymore. As a portion of GDP, the cost of servicing the federal debt is around half of what it was in 1991. In other words, relative to GDP, the federal debt may be nearly twice what it was 30 years ago, but it is costing the feds half as much to service.* Not saying loads of federal debt is good - the US government shouldn’t make it a habit to spend more than it takes in. But the current level of federal debt is still manageable.
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* The same principle applies to housing affordability. Home prices have gone way up over the last 30 years, but mortgage rates are much lower than they used to be. The net result is that, as a percentage of income, monthly mortgage payments are about as affordable as they were in the 1990s, even though housing debt is much higher.
Note: The day after posting this, I came across a wonderfully informative piece on the federal debt by FactCheck.org. Some highlights:
While the Congressional Budget Office says the Trump tax cuts are worsening the nation’s debt, spiraling deficits and debt over the next decade were projected even before those tax cuts were enacted.
In FactCheck.org’s final installment of Obama’s Numbers, federal deficits were again on the rise as Obama left office.
The tax cuts enacted by Trump are contributing to the federal debt, but less and less as a percentage over time.
As the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget explains, that’s because “a large portion of the tax cuts are scheduled to expire and spending on health and retirement programs will continue to outpace revenue.” [my italics]
Reference:
“Buttigieg Gives Trump Too Much Blame for Debt” by Robert Farley/FactCheck.org January 30, 2020 https://www.factcheck.org/2020/01/buttigieg-gives-trump-too-much-blame-for-debt/