America’s relationship with government debt is what the psychologists call co-dependency. We can’t live with it; we can’t live without it. We know it cannot last forever, but we love the benefits of government debt so much that we can’t leave it behind.
After six decades helping families and business owners manage their liabilities and money, I can tell you the first rule of debt: It is future consumption delivered in today’s dollars. Every borrowed dollar lets us live better today by agreeing to live on less money tomorrow unless we earn more. That rule applies to any borrower, including the U.S. government.
For a nation to earn more, it must either increase taxes or increase productivity. That’s tough to do because debt…