“Ask me how much I love my grandkids” begs a bumper sticker. Maybe not so much. Federal government debt, which the grandkids will have to support, now amounts to at least $275,000 per household, headed to a projected $380,000 in 10 years, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

The problem lies in a powerful, fundamental principle of politics: Politicians like to do things for the voters (as in new spending), but not to them (as in new taxes to pay for the outlays). The tax package in the “big beautiful bill” is a prime example. When government revenue lost by tax cuts is not equaled by reductions in government spending, the default action is simply to “pay” for the difference with increased debt.

In his magisterial “The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers,” Yale University historian

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