Months before the coronavirus shut down the country, economists sounded the warning bell on our impending debt crisis. Thanks to multitrillion-dollar deficits, our national debt ticked up to $22 trillion, reaching the highest debt-to-gross domestic product ratio since the aftermath of World War II. In a little more than a decade, debt was expected to blow past the World War II peak.

It’s expected that during times of crisis, the government steps in and deficits go up. But what has been unique is that we’ve racked up deficits in recent years despite living in an era of the lowest unemployment level in 50 years and in which the nation has been at relative peace. Now that an actual rainy day has come our way, we’re forced to expedite our debt crisis, compounding necessary emergency spending on top of decades of frivolously begotten debt.