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The Least Bad of all Possible Worlds

In: The Public Debt Problem

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  • Pierre Lemieux

Abstract

Avoiding the looming debt crisis in America would require the federal government to increase taxes by 50 percent or reduce its expenditures by 33 percent, like right now (see chapter 5). If this is not feasible, the federal government has three options: (1) repudiating or otherwise defaulting formally on its debt; (2) defaulting stealthily through inf lation; or (3) doing nothing. Famous eighteenth-century philosopher Voltaire mocked the idea that everything in the world was for the best. His admonition applies to the present debt predicament, for there is no good option, only bad ones. Mind you, if there are only bad options, the least bad becomes the good one, just as a cost reduction is equivalent to a benefit. But what is the least bad option?

Suggested Citation

  • Pierre Lemieux, 2013. "The Least Bad of all Possible Worlds," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: The Public Debt Problem, chapter 0, pages 155-168, Palgrave Macmillan.
    • Handle: RePEc:pal:palchp:978-1-137-31302-7_11
    DOI: 10.1057/9781137313027_11
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