Item #1: Fiscal Deficits

U.S. fiscal deficits were huge in 2020 and 2021, but contracted in 2022 as most of the emergency programs dwindled.

However, by 2023, fiscal deficits began rising again , mainly due to increased interest expense. This is where fiscal dominance became rather sustained: the Fed’s interest rate hikes, which were meant to slow

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US fiscal deficits will remain structurally large for the foreseeable future (i.e. for any investment time horizon of relevance, such as the next decade).

I outlined six reasons for this in my September 2024 newsletter, and they were the following:

1. Unbalanced Social Security


2. High healthcare costs


3. High defense spending


4. High interest expense


5. Political

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-Most US spending on Social Security, Medicare, and Defense is unaffected by recent policy. All of this spending is sideways-to-up for the foreseeable future, which trickles into the consumer economy, the healthcare sector, and the defense sector.

-The two-speed economy is likely to remain in effect. High interest rates (even after some cuts),... See more