, Columnist
How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Deficit
More countries should follow the U.S. lead and spend more than they take in.
Looking for a safe asset.
Photographer: Mike_Kiev/iStockphotoThis article is for subscribers only.
The U.S. budget deficit will hit $1 trillion in 2020, the Congressional Budget Office announced Wednesday, a big round number that has both Democrats and Republicans worried that the U.S. is on the road to fiscal ruin.
They shouldn’t be. In the current global environment, trillion-dollar deficits may actually decrease the odds of a major economic crisis. In fact, one of the main reasons the global economy has been so fragile over the last decade is that large free-market countries have been reluctant to borrow as much as they could.