There is no reason to worry about the national debt right now

Get ready for a bunch of baseless fear-mongering about the cost of the coronavirus response

Uncle Sam.
(Image credit: Illustrated | Wikimedia Commons)

The United States government is borrowing big time. The novel coronavirus pandemic has thrown tens of millions out of work and cratered tax revenue, while Congress passed a gigantic economic rescue package that was about twice as large as President Obama's Recovery Act, with more to come. The national debt — which had already risen sharply in recent years thanks to President Trump's tax cuts — is soaring.

As a result, we are already seeing the beginning of an austerity narrative in the elite media. Even in the pit of the worst economic crisis since the 1930s, reporters like Carl Hulse and Peter Baker at the The New York Times, and David J. Lynch of the The Washington Post, are starting to wring their hands over the debt.

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Ryan Cooper

Ryan Cooper is a national correspondent at TheWeek.com. His work has appeared in the Washington Monthly, The New Republic, and the Washington Post.