The U.S. government’s budget deficit in 2024 was $1.8 trillion, which pushed the country’s overall debt to some $36 trillion. Some financial analysts suggest a debt load of that size simply isn’t sustainable, especially given the Trump administration’s legislative priority of making current tax cuts permanent and increasing spending on immigration enforcement—measures that would increase the deficit further.
What makes U.S. debt sustainable? Do international tensions increase the riskiness of U.S. debt? What would happen if the United States had a full-on debt crisis?
Those are just a few of the questions that came up in my recent conversation with FP economics columnist Adam Tooze on the podcast we co-host, Ones and Tooze. What follows is an excerpt, edited for length and clarity. For the full conversation, look for Ones and Tooze wherever you get your podcasts. And check out Adam’s Substack…
