Skip to content
Technology & Innovation

Uncle Sam Won’t Go Broke

“Panic among policymakers about the high level of government debt is misplaced. The real economic menace is budget-slashing,” say two economists for The Guardian.
Sign up for the Smarter Faster newsletter
A weekly newsletter featuring the biggest ideas from the smartest people

“The federal fiscal policy debate is being overwhelmed by a growing sense that America must slash its deficit now, before it is too late. Actually, the United States is in no danger of a treasury debt crisis and can carry far more debt than people believe without dire consequences. Unfortunately, many who argue for rapid deficit reduction base their case on a slew of misunderstandings and fallacious generalisations about the consequences of high public debt. In reality, nations vary sharply in their capacity to carry public debt.”

Sign up for the Smarter Faster newsletter
A weekly newsletter featuring the biggest ideas from the smartest people

Related
According to the debt-averse deficit hawk position fueling Republican budget proposals, we need to slash government spending to promote economic growth. That assumption relies on a 2010 research paper by two Harvard economists that we now know is studded with errors.
Depending on which economist has the stage, America’s economy is either experiencing slow growth, remains dismally flat, or stands ready to fall off a cliff. Nearly everyone agrees that the economy needs help. The nation’s debt and budget deficits are reaching, or have already reached, fiscal crisis levels. Historians will analyze someday how close the United States came during this period to reaching the economic breaking point as a nation. Truth be told, some fear that the breaking point may still occur.

Up Next