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Deficit hypocrisy
There’s something scary about big numbers. It’s one reason we in the media often like to put the biggest number we can find into a headline.
So it was no surprise that most media outlets went gaga over the Obama administration’s projection that the nation’s debt will grow by $9 trillion over the next decade. And sure enough, critics of the administration’s efforts to reform healthcare were quick to seize on that scary number as another reason to advocate doing nothing.
But without wading into the muck of the current debate over healthcare reform, it’s worth taking stock of just how much hypocrisy there is when it comes to the subject of government spending and those big bad deficits.
Let’s start with the Republicans. They talk a good game about reining in federal spending, but they bear as much responsibility as the Democrats for the nation’s $11 trillion in total debt.
Treasury yields not adding up
What is going on with U.S. Treasury yields? Can nothing nudge them from their current low-laying perch? Something seems very out of whack, but let’s just agree not to call it a conundrum.
There’s plenty out there that should be ratcheting up interest rates. The U.S. stock market has been on fire, with the S&P 500 still hovering near its best levels since October, the White House is projecting $9 trillion in debt over the next 10 years, the economy is showing signs of improvement (a bond very unfriendly development), and a flood of new debt is already washing over the U.S. Treasury market
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The Wall
