Richard D. Wolff

Any number projected for 6 years from time of projection is just a estimate based on how things will evolve over the next 6 years; no one knows. So this CBO projection (one of many it will be making in the months and years ahead) is based on what the staff at the CBO thinks are estimates of federal tax revenues in relation to estimates of federal spending. So, for example, if they estimate that Trump will get his corporate tax cuts (he has promised that but no one knows for sure whether he will or what size if he does) while spending a large sum on an expanded military (he has promised that) and on infrastructure (he has promised that), then 1 trillion has been the size of the resulting deficit (the gap between what Washington raises in taxes and what it spends). It is "due to capitalism" in the sense that politicians, to keep or build their support among business, the rich (which they need for money) and the masses (whom they need for votes), tend to spend to please these groups while not taxing them (rto avoid displeasing them) with the result of deficits.