by
“The federal government will run a $3.8 trillion deficit this year and $2.1 trillion next year.
Those estimates, from a budget-focused think tank, don’t include what’s almost certain to be another multi-trillion-dollar stimulus package or two, or three, in the near future.
We’re all just guessing, but when this is all over – however you want to define that – it would not surprise me if the direct federal cost of Covid-19 is something north of $10 trillion.
I’ve heard many people ask recently, “How are we going to pay for that?”
With debt, of course. Enormous, hard-to-fathom, piles of debt.
But the question is really asking, “How will we get out from underneath that debt?”
How do we pay it off?
Three things are important here:
- We won’t ever pay it off.
- That’s fine.
- We’re lucky to have a fascinating history of how this works.”