Containing the Pandemic Public Debt

The public debt accumulated before the pandemic and the massive increment in response to it are daunting. Rather than agglomerating the massive, combined debt and cowering before its imposing size, the problem can be segmented. First, policy makers should start by tackling “the pandemic debt”: 1) the increment to the debt arising from the loss of revenue and increases in spending that would have resulted from the pandemic (even without the federal government’s policy response); and 2) the cost of that policy response. 

Why isolate, and then address, the pandemic debt? It is a definable and doable first step in addressing the totality of the debt and a clear indication of responsible intent to other nations and financial markets around the world.