The NY Times published a story last week titled “Even Progressives Now Worry About the Federal Debt.” The timing of this story, about 10 days into the new Trump administration, was not coincidental. Have you heard any progressives worrying about the federal debt when Biden was in office? Me either.
…with the debt having tripled as a share of economic output over the past 25 years and interest rates on the 10-year Treasury yield at 4.5 percent, there’s not much “fiscal space” — a nebulous term that basically equates to Washington’s willingness to spend money without courting disaster — in the event of another downturn.
That’s downplaying the problem a bit. In fact, we’re at a point now where we’re paying more for interest on the debt than major expenses like defense.The defense budget in 2024 was about $841 billion.
In 2024, interest costs on the…
