Why can’t America quit flirting with financial ruin?
Nobody thinks defaulting on US sovereign debt is a good idea. And yet it prompts recurrent crises
FOR GOOD REASON, countries avoid defaulting on their sovereign debts if they can. Argentina, Greece and Lebanon can all attest to the pain of that experience. America is exceptional, however. Every few years, it ends up precariously close to a partial default, only to yield right before taking the country’s full faith and credit (and global markets) over the precipice. The precipitating events are never economic, but always political. The most recent flare-up of this self-destructive habit was particularly senseless. And it is almost certain to not be the last.
This article appeared in the United States section of the print edition under the headline “Groundhog days”
United States October 9th 2021
- Why can’t America quit flirting with financial ruin?
- The incomes of America’s poorest are growing faster than those of its richest
- Why the latest series of Facebook leaks is more politically potent
- America’s political scientists are worried about “lethal partisanship”
- Chicago re-examines its origin story 150 years after the great fire
- President Biden is weighing how extensively to use drones
- Disciplined Democrats look likely to pass Joe Biden’s domestic agenda
From the October 9th 2021 edition
Discover stories from this section and more in the list of contents
Explore the editionMore from United States
America really could enter a golden age
Donald Trump would need to build on its strengths, and subdue his own weaknesses
To end birthright citizenship, Trump misreads the constitution
It would also create huge practical problems
Donald Trump cries “invasion” to justify an immigration crackdown
His first immigration executive orders range from benign to belligerent
The new American imperialism
Donald Trump is the first president in more than 100 years to call for new American territory—including Mars
The beginning of the end of the Trump era
The new president is more confident, and radical, than ever—and also more accepted
Pam Bondi seems like a relatively safe pair of hands
But is America’s next attorney-general an independent operator?