Federal debt held by the public is on an upward trajectory, and CBO projects it will increase over the decade to 86 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), or about $23.8 trillion. That percentage is more than double the average over the past 50 years. In three decades, CBO expects that debt held by the public will spiral to 155 percent of GDP, “a higher percentage than any previously recorded in the United States.” To make matters worse, the term “debt held by the public” does not include all federal debt, including funds the government owes to government accounts, like the Social Security and Medicare trust funds.