Firing Line: Maya MacGuineas & Robert Reich

Robert Reich, former secretary of labor under the Clinton Administration, and Maya MacGuineas, president of the committee for the federal budget, talked the $28 trillion of US national debt.

MacGuineas talked about how the biggest issue is that debt cannot be too high. Often times, the United States makes the mistake of borrowing when the economy is strong.

“You jeopardize your economy by having a debt that could be growing faster than the overall economy.” She said that this is currently happening right now.

Ideally, United States should be borrowing money during crises like COVID-19. However, if they continue to borrow debt, eventually they may not be prepared for the next crises.

Reich added to the conversation by saying that the important part of a debt is to make sure it is put into future investments. This can include infrastructure, education, and areas of research.

“Those kinds of public investments are appropriate. I’m not gonna worry that they make take 100, or 200, and 300 percent of the economy” he said.

MacGuineas brought up how Trump borrowed $5 trillion during his presidency. Normally, a country is to borrow money when the economy is weak and pay it back when it is strong. However, Trump’s belief was different.

“The approach there seem to be: borrow for everything single thing you can find,” she said.

Reich added to the important of what to do with the debt. He mentioned that the US cannot continue to add onto the debt forever. Instead, it is imperative to raise taxes for the wealthy and cut down the $720 billion budget from the Department of Defense.

“We’re spending more than the ten next biggest nations put together with regard to their spending on national defense,” he said.