WASHINGTON -- The national debt held by the public would double over
the next decade if President Barack Obama's budget is enacted into
law, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office projected Friday.

The U.S. government would run budget deficits approaching $1 trillion
every year for a decade under Obama's budget, the CBO said.

Deficits and debt that big are unsustainable over the long term,
economists agree. They'd threaten to send inflation spiraling upward,
threaten the nation's creditworthiness and the value of the dollar -
China's prime minister publicly voiced concern about the safety of
U.S. debt last week - and force up interest rates, as investors come
to see the United States as a risky, debt-ridden economy. They'd
saddle future generations with a debt payable only by cutting federal
spending or raising taxes sharply.