61% THE STAY.

In the last quarter entirely before the Covid pandemic, the fourth quarter of 2019, the federal government made interest payments of $564 billion on an annualized basis. Interest rates are much higher now than they were in 2019, and the federal deficit is larger as well, so more borrowing at higher rates will mean higher interest payments. Sixty-one percent - the amount by which the federal government's interest payments increased between the fourth quarter of 2019 and the second quarter of 2023, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis. [Extracted from the article]