During the Obama years, “unexpectedly” appeared in so many headlines that it became a punchline — an expression of the journalistic class’s childlike wonderment in the world around them and their disappointment over their encounters with unmet expectations…This pattern of astonishment became a joke because conservatives were never as stupefied by the news as its chroniclers. The Obama administration’s efforts to catalyze an economic recovery ensured it would be sluggish, relying as it did on inefficient stimulus spending, counterproductive regulations of labor and financial markets, and marginal tax increases to cover existing federal obligations and a handful of pricey new obligations. The outcomes these policies produced were not “unexpected” to students of sound fiscal policy.
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“Federal deficit unexpectedly set to double this year,” read an Axios headline on Thursday. “The federal deficit is expected to nearly double this year, from about $1 trillion last year to $2 trillion for the fiscal year ending Sept. 30,” the report observed. “There’s no precedent for deficits this large, as a share of the economy — outside war, deep recession or pandemic.”
Axios cites Washington Post journalist Jeff Stein’s reporting, who joins the “Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget” in assigning the blame for this unfortunate circumstance to rising interest rates on America’s rapidly ballooning debt obligations and declining tax revenue. “A strong economy usually reduces the deficit,” Stein wrote. “Not this time.”
What is this “strong economy” you speak of? Mortgage rates could hit 8%, economists say, citing a worrying sign not seen since the Great Recession.
