As U.S. citizens swiped their credit cards, took on bumper loans, and applied for mega-mortgages during the pandemic, the U.S. government did the same with COVID-19 stimuli; the potential repercussions of that pileup were far from top of mind.
But a recent outcry over public debt suggests the U.S. could be turning a bit more frugal, and, possibly, a bit more European.
U.S. panic
In the U.S., major voices in finance from Jamie Dimon to Jerome Powell have sounded the alarm on outsize levels of public debt.
The U.S. government has gone debt crazy since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, with Trump’s $2.2 trillion COVID stimulus and President Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act elevating national debt levels to record highs.
At the latest count, the U.S. was sitting on a debt-to-GDP ratio of 121%. The eye-watering $33.1 trillion figure means every American is in equivalent debt to the tune of $100,000.
As interest rates rise, that…
