Does Anybody Know How to Solve an American Debt Crisis?
May 19, 2026 · 1 hr 1 min
On his 40th birthday, Derek Thompson takes a step back and looks at how his thinking on the national debt has changed. Back when he first covered fiscal policy, concern about government borrowing was mostly a conservative position, with many liberals arguing it was overblown.
That’s starting to shift.
The U.S. now spends far more than it brings in, and the gap is still growing. For the first tim…
