Coronavirus is going to be expensive. Too bad the government is already in massive debt.
Having failed to be fiscally responsible when it would have been relatively easier, our elected officials will now likely hike spending even further…
During Trump’s first three years in office, he’s signed off on spending plans that added at least $4.7 trillion to the national debt. The debt totals more than $23 trillion, a record high. When measured against the size of the economy, it is approaching the all-time record set during World War II. Annual budget deficits are expected to exceed $1 trillion for the rest of the decade, at least. The Government Accountability Office has called the nation’s fiscal trajectory “unsustainable.”
Trump said during the 2016 campaign that he’d be able to pay off the national debt in eight years. That was always a pretty laughable idea, but once in office, Trump was the one laughing off worries about overspending. “I won’t be here” when the national debt becomes a crisis, Trump reportedly said during one Oval Office discussion about the issue…
Any huge spending or tax cut in response to the coronavirus will only accelerate the nation’s ongoing budget crisis. If the deficit jumps, it may have knock-on effects that slow growth or hike interest rates on America’s borrowing—thus making the debt an even heavier burden. Having failed to be fiscally responsible when it would have been relatively easier, our elected officials now face an impossible choice: oppose politically popular deficit spending in response to the coronavirus outbreak, or try to stimulate growth by backing policies that will harm the country’s long term economic stability. They will almost certainly (with a few exceptions) choose the former…
In short: We will end up spending money we don’t have to solve a crisis that can’t be fixed by spending more money.