May 13, 2011
That what readers of today’s column, “Let’s Go Caps!,” are asking. The article begins by telling readers that he is excited over the possibility that there may be a deal to address the “nation’s ruinous debt problem.”
This raises the obvious question of how he determined that the debt problem is “ruinous.” Is it the 3.2 percent interest rate on government bonds? That is certainly a much lower interest rate than we have seen through most of post-World War II era.
Is it because of the $110 billion (0.7 percent of GDP) in interest that the government paid out last year, net of the money refunded by the Fed to the Treasury? This is a much lower share of GDP paid out in interest than the average for the post World War II era.
There is no obvious event in the world that could justify calling the debt problem ruinous. The country does face a risk of exploding private sector health care costs, which is projected to lead to large budget deficits in the long-term. However it would be peculiar to call this health care problem a debt problem and if we fixed the health care system the deficit would be a non-issue.
Since there is no evidence in the world that would justify calling the debt problem “ruinous,” we can assume that this is just the sort of belief that was passed on to Brooks by his parents, in the same way that religious beliefs can be passed on. People can hold these views in a way that is not susceptible to logic and evidence in the same way as other beliefs might be.
Of course, there is also the alternative that Brooks may just be excited about the possibility that there will be cuts to programs that the elderly depend upon, like Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. Readers will no doubt be debating this question for some time.
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