The $40 Trillion Question: Can America Escape Its Debt Trap?
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The $40 Trillion Question: Can America Escape Its Debt Trap?
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The government is spending more on interest payments than on national defense. How did America get here? And why do politicians keep spending more than they collect in taxes?
On this episode of The Economist Next Door, host Paul Mueller is joined by AIER Research Fellow Tom Savage and Duke University professor Richard Salsman to explore the political economy of government debt. They examine how excessive borrowing affects inflation, interest rates, affordability, and economic growth; why neither tariffs nor faster growth are likely to solve the problem on their own.
The conversation also explores why both political parties have incentives to perpetuate deficits, whether bond markets can force fiscal discipline, and what reforms might help put government finances on a more sustainable path. I
s a debt crisis inevitable, or can America change course before the costs become even harder to ignore?