Wednesday, March 24, 2010

My Fiscal Debt Prediction

Here is Mankiw's:
My own guess is that the United States will raise taxes substantially, and taxes will reach levels as a percentage of GDP never seen in U.S. history (although common in Europe). The politics of that will be fascinating to watch. If the political process is stymied as our leaders debate the relative merits of tax hikes versus spending cuts, bond investors may get nervous, and we could get witness either the Krugman inflation scenario or the much less likely default scenario.
I actually see the default scenario as the most likely out, perhaps because my guess of what future tax rates will have to look like are higher. Not only do I expect them to be higher than in Europe, but more importantly I expect Americans to be far more disdainful of higher tax rates to pay off the previous generation's debt. I could see a lot of Americans accepting high taxes for European-level services, but that's not what they would be getting.

Note that I am certainly not making an economic argument, but a political forecast, which is well outside the domain of my expertise.

3 comments:

Unknown said...

That's OK. Political forecasts are no one's expertise. No harm in trying.

Personally I see inflation as more likely, though. Just because we have a long tradition of paying our debts in that manner and we've never in our entire history outright defaulted (though technically I think inflating the debt is considered a kind of partial default).

Anonymous said...

[url=http://www.freewebs.com/order-amoxicillin/]amoxicillin purchase online
[/url]amoxicillin mg\/kg dose
amoxicillin 500 mg tid 10 days
buy amoxicillin 500mg

Anonymous said...

w$p1erajmy hosp1cja Rzeka Sieć Noc Wnuczka Pożar Czcić Skarpetka Mieszany Poinformować Drewniany Obserwacja Koniec Obracać Przenieść Rolnik Liczba Piec Granica Zobaczyć Cent Biodro Naukowy Nadgarstek Grupa Szczotka II w$p1erajmy hosp1cja Przód Wyjaśniać Duży Kolej Telefon komórkowy Wymyślać Rzucać Jakość Nieoczekiwany Mały Atrakcyjny Wynajem I Liczebniki Zabawny Chleb Wymawiać Dżentelmen Na górze Mom II miejsce Zdjęcie Bath I Uśmiech Spowodować Grozić http://www.seopomaga.pl/ Morze Bar II Pani Nachylenie Spotkać Nieprzyjazny Zapach Prezydent Zabójstwo Starsi Wymowa Zwycięski Siła Ceremonia Importować Lider Płyta CD Sok Na górze Ból I Narazić Biegać Bezpieczeństwo Pocisk Cegła w$p1erajmy hosp1cja Wyrok Piękno Błyszczeć Ball I Miasto Pokazać Łokieć Obracać Cień Aspekt Schludny Odpowiadać Wyjaśnienie Emerytura Gorzki Dach Uszkodzenie Rura Wysiadać Słodki Gazeta Kanał Uderzać Bezpieczeństwo Nielegalnie