Under President Barack Obama’s budget plan, the federal debt is exploding. To be precise, it is rising—and will continue to rise—much faster than gross domestic product, a measure of America’s ability to service the debt.

In this nine-chapter volume, the authors examine the challenges the Obama administration faces today, and in the foreseeable future, and the administration’s planned responses.

Is government spending the stimulus that keeps on giving? Or economic sleight of hand? By Robert J. Barro.