Massively higher U.S. spending driving up government’s interest rate

In the first years of the Clinton administration, James Carville famously said, “I used to think if there was reincarnation, I wanted to come back as the president or the pope or a .400 baseball hitter. But now I want to come back as the bond market. You can intimidate anyone.” Well, it seems like the bond market is intimidating everyone once again, or should be.

There’s been a sharp increase in the interest rate the government must pay on the bonds it’s selling this week, which has prompted expressions of concern from the Wall Street Journal and the Atlantic’s Megan McArdle.