{"id":144444,"date":"2024-12-12T16:39:34","date_gmt":"2024-12-12T21:39:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/?p=144444"},"modified":"2024-12-16T15:52:46","modified_gmt":"2024-12-16T20:52:46","slug":"ucf-economist-doge-or-dodge-ball-something-has-to-change","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/ucf-economist-doge-or-dodge-ball-something-has-to-change\/","title":{"rendered":"UCF Economist: ‘DOGE or DO(d)GE Ball? Something Has to Change.’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Faced with an ever-mounting national debt, UCF economist Sean Snaith welcomes “dramatic changes” to federal spending.<\/p>\n

But he’s skeptical about the incoming administration’s Department of Government Efficiency, or “DOGE,” to usher in needed reforms, Snaith writes in his\u00a0latest quarterly U.S. economic forecast<\/a>, out this morning.<\/p>\n

“I suspect it will turn into a Beltway version of dodgeball, with the bureaucracy and its supporters frantically running around, trying to avoid getting hit by the ‘DOGE ball,'” he says. “Just like in any elementary school PE class, there’ll be lots of shouting and chaos. But in the end, most of the systems and spending will remain intact.”<\/p>\n

Ultimately, the rapidly rising national debt\u2014now approaching $36.2 trillion\u2014and the increasing burden of servicing that debt add to the air of uncertainty surrounding the U.S. economy’s outlook, Snaith says.<\/p>\n

“Every trillion dollars in debt service is money that can’t be committed to infrastructure, helping the impoverished, healthcare for seniors or national defense\u2014something has to change,” he says.<\/p>\n

Additional highlights from Snaith’s four-year quarterly U.S. economic forecast are:<\/p>\n