What Does America’s Future Look Like?

Today we’re going to discuss America’s…future. What does it look like? Is there much of one — given the profound pessimism most Americans feel? The lessons, too, apply to many countries — so think about your own if you’re not American. Lately, the <a href="https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwir462XmKX_AhXdUqQEHf2QDgsQxfQBKAB6BAgHEAE&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.bbc.com%2Fnews%2Fworld-us-canada-65744615&usg=AOvVaw2RI8jos-8oUxX0WDfUiDLg" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">national debt’s</a> been a big story in America. The Democrats and Republicans finally hammered out a deal, and so America won’t…default. That’s better than nothing, but the deal also means a lot of pretty bad things, like student debt gets reactivated, etcetera. Why does this matter? Economics shapes the future of nations, like it or not. And America’s? It’s a story of colossal fiscal mismanagement, which is…well, let me explain. This dry subject of public finances, which, actually, is one of the world’s great untold stories. How did America’s debt get so high? It recently crossed about 100% of GDP, which is usually a danger signal, a red zone, the point at which financial markets pull back. It’s less of a big deal for America, because of course it’s still the world’s richest country, even though people are effectively poor, it holds the reserve currency, etcetera. But it’s still a Big Deal, make no mistake. Why? Well, let’s go back to the question. America’s debt got this high for a handful of reasons, and you can see them literally on the chart, if you just think about recent history. Wars cost it a pretty penny — and I’m not making a political or moral judgment like “war is bad,” I’m just observing the reality of the cost. Tax cuts incurred a huge cost too — you can see the literal cliff edge of the Trump era tax cuts. <a href="https://eand.co/what-does-americas-future-look-like-dff1a2ed53d2">Read More</a>