Abby McCloskey, Bloomberg Opinion, March 10, 2026

I recently went to the doctor about a minor health issue. “Is what I’m experiencing normal?” I asked her. “No, it’s never normal,” she said, “but it happens to almost everybody.” I thought: That pretty much sums up the problem of national debt.

After all, it’s been normal for America to run up the federal deficit since the mid-1980s. In fact, it’s become normal for almost every developed country to carry burdensome debt. But what’s considered normal should not be confused with how a healthy government should work.

We need a guardrail against things getting worse, lest the prognosis turn lethal.