Borrowing against the Future

I don't think Jeff Jacoby is correct that dollars will first be taken out of the US economy and then dumped back in (Remember, there's no free lunch, January 23, 2008). The borrowing will be undertaken offshore so there actually will be new money injected into the US economy.

Of course, the debt will have to be repaid and foreign debt may be more constraining that domestic debt. It is unfortunate that when the economy was booming we did not try to hold back the debt we have incurred to pay for the Iraq war. That debt too will come due. I hope the next President will have a plan to pay it down. It would be unconscionable to pass it on to our children and grandchildren.

Sent to Boston Globe