On his 40th birthday, Derek Thompson takes a step back and looks at how his thinking on the national debt has changed. Back when he first covered fiscal policy, concern about government borrowing was mostly a conservative position, with many liberals arguing it was overblown.
That’s starting to shift.
The U.S. now spends far more than it brings in, and the gap is still growing. For the first time, interest payments on the debt have surpassed military spending. And deficits that once rose during crises like the Great Recession and the COVID pandemic haven’t really come back down.
So what changed, and how worried should we be?
Derek is joined by economist Justin Wolfers to walk through the basics of the federal budget, the evolving debate around the national debt, and why more economists are starting to take persistent deficits seriously.
Host: Derek Thompson
Guest: Justin Wolfers
Producer: Devon Baroldi
Additional Production Support: Ben Glicksman
Visit https://www.uber.com/safety to learn more.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
