The federal government posted a $432.3 billion deficit in July, the biggest since March 2021, when then-President Joe Biden’s COVID-19 stimulus checks sent deficits, and then inflation, soaring. President Donald Trump does not have a global pandemic or a declared war to excuse this level of borrowing, and with our population aging, the deficit picture is inevitably going to get worse.

We are living beyond our means, borrowing money for everyday expenses, and it cannot last forever. It is, as former House Speaker Paul Ryan used to note a generation ago, the most predictable train wreck imaginable.