America Isn't Going Broke

There are sometimes good reasons to be worried about the U.S. national debt. The debt has to be serviced, and that requires collecting taxes, which distort the economy. If government debt gets so large that the only way to avoid a default is to hold down interest rates forever, those low rates can eventually have negative effects on the economy. In the worst-case scenario, investors can lose their confidence in a government’s ability to repay its debt, forcing the central bank to print money to fund the government, which raises the risk of inflation.

However, the U.S. is nowhere near this point. The national debt is modest and sustainable, and the federal government’s borrowing has been remarkably responsible.