The US could end up running a deficit of more than 10 per cent of gross domestic this year (adding the cost of the stimulus package to the Congressional Budget Office's optimistic 8.3 per cent forecast). Today's born-again Keynesians seem to have forgotten that their prescription of a deficit-financed fiscal stimulus stood the best chance of working in a more or less closed economy. But this is a globalised world, where unco-ordinated profligacy by national governments is more likely to generate bond market and currency market volatility than a return to growth.
到今年年底，美國的赤字可能會超過國內生產總值的10%（在國會預算辦公室(Congressional Budget Office) 8.3%的樂觀預測上，加上財政刺激計劃支出）。如今重生的凱恩斯主義者似乎已經忘記，他們開出的赤字型財政刺激藥方，最有可能在多少有些封閉的經濟環境下起作用。但如今是一個全球化的世界，各國政府間不協調的恣意揮霍更有可能導致債券和外匯市場動蕩，而非經濟重新增長。