Since 2007, government debt as a percentage of gross domestic product (GDP) has climbed from 35 percent to a projected 74 percent this year. Such growth was significantly affected by large-scale fiscal measures taken in response to the 2007-2008 financial crisis and Great Recession and by subsequent measures to curb the growing deficit. A recent Regional Economist article by Fernando Martin, a senior economist with the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, examined the overall fiscal response to the crisis and the implications of current budget projections for the next decade. The following tables show major components ... (full story)