Essays

  During the last U.S. presidential election, American voters insisted that the economy was issue number one, but neither candidate campaigned on managing the national debt, or even mentioned it. Now the experts all agree that the government’s $37 trillion debt is unsustainable, a scary thought, given that, since 2001, and for each of the last 24 years, the government has spent more than it took in and borrowed trillions to cover the difference. It’s safe to assume that the country won’t be living within its means anytime soon. But the economists don’t tell us what will happen when that which is not capable of being sustained is sustained no longer? I am not an economist. I majored in English literature and never took a business or finance course. I barely understand how treasury bonds work, but I’m told that it’s how the government borrows money from investors to pay the interest on debt that it borrowed from other investors, so a little like a credit card balance transfer of $37 trillion? I remember juggling credit cards like this when I was young and foolish and completely broke. Is the government foolish and completely broke? Should I believe the other […]