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Contra Yellen, the Debt Isn't Sustainable
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America’s financial health is in trouble, and while government spending continues unabated, most Americans, including politicians and others, seem too preoccupied to care.
America’s financial health is in trouble, and while government spending continues unabated, most Americans, including politicians and others, seem too preoccupied to care. The country’s national debt is currently 35 trillion dollars, or over $100,000 per person. And despite recent reassurances by Janet Yellen, the Secretary of the Treasury, that the “debt is sustainable,” sustainable debt makes our society less so, with the United States having a debt-to-GDP ratio of 122%, one of the highest in the world.
In the strictest sense, Yellen’s statement is correct. Yes, the United States government can afford to pay the interest on the debt given the current economic environment, but it is also wrong given the fact that the debt is making our economic well-being less sustainable by suppressing the rate of growth necessary to maintain the debt-to-GDP ratio. Economic growth occurs through investments in capital, infrastructure, and technology. Investments in large scale government projects, if spent wisely, can boost economic output, but the government can’t afford to invest as much as it could when 870 billion dollars each year go to paying the interest on the debt. How does that affect you and me? Interest on the debt is money that is dead to the economy. That dead money cannot help you get where you want to go when you are stuck in traffic, or build you a faster internet, or lower your energy bill. In each case, there is a loss of productivity. So why should we accept this outcome? More broadly, when did our society become OK with servicing such a large debt load?
Politics
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Liberal Democracy Reexamined: Leo Strauss on Alexis de Tocqueville
This article explores Leo Strauss’s thoughts on Alexis de Tocqueville in his 1954 “Natural Right” course transcript.
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Long Distance Migration as a Two-Step Sorting Process: The Resettlement of Californians in Texas
Here we press the question of whether the well-documented stream of migrants relocating from California to Texas has been sufficient to alter the political complexion of the destination state.
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Who's That Knocking? A Study of the Strategic Choices Facing Large-Scale Grassroots Canvassing Efforts
Although there is a consensus that personalized forms of campaign outreach are more likely to be effective at either mobilizing or even persuading voters, there remains uncertainty about how campaigns should implement get-out-the-vote (GOTV) programs, especially at a truly expansive scale.
Decadent Ideology, Decaying Fraternity
Richard Reinsch reviews Prosperity and Torment in France by Chantal Delsol.
DC and LA Failures Play Into Trump’s Hands
Although clearly violating America’s long-standing federalist principles, Trump’s incursions are being justified by the incompetence of most blue-city leaders.
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Remembering Ed Banfield's “The Unheavenly City"
Banfield’s most valuable work describes phenomena we have all recently noticed: the easy transition from student to activist to revolutionary to criminal.
Will State Attorneys General Allow Their Cities to Make Energy Policy?
The effort to apply state law to redress climate injuries has been spearheaded not by state officials eager to protect their home turf, but by international non-profits, NGOs, and out-of-state private law firms frequently representing local governments.
