I ’d like to think that God greeted Monty Hall after his death in late September by asking whether he’d like to choose the gift behind Pearly Gate No. 1 or Pearly Gate No. 2... Monty was the game show host who taught Americans to dress up like chickens on TV – no doubt leading the way to reality television and modern presidential campaigns. At some point, all of us have watched Let’s Make a Deal or a similar show and screamed at the contestant: “Don’t be stupid – take the money!” That’s what American citizens should have been screaming at the U.S. Treasury Department for the past 10 years.
Even though interest rates have hovered at historically low levels, the U.S. government has refused to issue super-long-term debt and lock in the remarkable low borrowing rates. The U.S. government borrows money by issuing bonds, bills, and notes. Lots of them. Between 2009 – when President Barack Obama moved into the White House – and 2017, the federal government racked up more than $9 trillion of debt. Prior presidents had together amassed about $10.6 trillion. We do not know how we are going to pay it back. And yet the world has been willing to lend us 10-year money at rates substantially below 3%, in some years, as low as 1.6%. And the
By Todd G. Buchholz
American Consequences | 29
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