By L. Randall Wray
This blog is based on the testimony I provided to the US House of Representatives. My written statement will be published in the Congressional Record (a version is also at the Levy Economics Institute: http://www.levyinstitute.org/publications/statement-of-senior-scholar-l-randall-wray-to-the-house-budget-committee. The full statement was co-authored with Yeva Nersisyan.
I will argue that the Federal Government’s deficit and debt are not so scary as we are led to believe.
Neither the deficit nor the debt ratio is on an unsustainable path. In some sense, chronic deficits and a rising debt ratio are normal.
They are not due to out of control spending—now or in the future. They serve a useful public purpose. In any case they are largely outside the control of Congress.
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