Why Austerity Took a Big Hit Yesterday

In the years following the financial crisis, America has been obsessed with debt. Hurting from the crisis, consumers and businesses have been busy paying off debt, while the federal government has ramped up its borrowing through a combination of stimulus spending and lower tax revenue. And of course all this new government debt — which has reached 73% of GDP and is expected to remain roughly at that level for the next decade — has many policy makers and citizens deeply concerned, to say the least.