Rep. Thomas Massie, a Republican from Kentucky, wears a homemade national debt clock pin on Capitol Hill in January.
Photo: Ting Shen/Bloomberg NewsThroughout the Covid-19 pandemic and then Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, both the U.S. and Europe borrowed heavily.
Now with those emergencies in the rear-view mirror, a divergence has emerged: Even as the U.S. continues to let deficits rip, Europe’s are on track to narrow significantly.
This is in contrast to a decade ago, when deficits in the wake of the global financial crisis pushed some members of the euro area to the brink of default.
The lessons of that episode, coupled with eurozone rules, have served to impose discipline on European governments that for now is entirely absent in the U.S.
Persons:
Thomas Massie, Ting Shen
Organizations:
Republican, Bloomberg, U.S
Locations:
Kentucky, Ukraine, Europe, U.S