The GOP is suddenly concerned about deficits and the national debt. What happened? The executive and legislative branches are now in Democratic Party hands. Ronald Reagan taught us that Republican deficits and debts don't matter. But apparently Democratic deficits and debts do.
So should we be concerned about the effect of the $1.9 trillion COVID relief bill on the economy? Is hyperinflation just around the corner?
Look, what matters isn’t the absolute size of the national debt, it’s the ratio of the debt to GDP. That ratio was higher in the US in the years following WWII and hyperinflation didn’t happen then. But there are other reasons not to hyperventilate about the current national debt. I’ll let Kevin Drum explain:
“Japan has had massively higher debt than the US for the past two decades, and the price they've paid for this is . . . close to nothing. Japan, like the US, issues its own currency, which helps, and they have a culture of saving that supports their debt. The US, however, has not just its own currency, but the best, most desirable currency in the world. Also, our debt service is low; we have no trouble selling all the treasury bonds we want; and not only is inflation low, but inflationary expectations are low too. So, if anything, it seems we're even better placed than Japan to support a far higher debt load than we currently have.”
https://jabberwocking.com/the-national-debt-is-complicated/?fbclid=IwAR32mEvU7bf8B7SamRW9_6bHpNheTmgZEbfnWquZc8HB6EYh61qcOn3SlN8
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