My high school history teacher, back in 1989, asked our class to name the single biggest problem facing the United States. We wrote our answers anonymously, and he tallied the results. When he read mine aloud — “the federal government’s debt” — he rolled his eyes, as if I’d said something idiotic.

I didn’t name debt nearly 40 years ago just because I think borrowing is bad. I named it because elected officials were already pretending deficit spending wasn’t a problem — and because no one seemed willing to hold the government accountable for it.

The more the Fed prints, the weaker the dollar becomes. The weaker the dollar becomes, the more the world doubts it.

Almost four decades on, nothing has changed. The problem has only grown — as every neglected problem does.

In 1989, the budget

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