A large decrease in revenues and a large increase in spending have led the Congressional Budget Office to estimate a deficit of $737 billion in April 2020.
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, elected leaders have asked the American people to stay at home and have forced businesses to close to mitigate the spread of the virus.
The official unemployment rate was 4.4 percent in March 2020, up from 3.5 percent in February. That increase was the largest of any month since January 1975.
High healthcare spending is not necessarily a bad thing, especially if it leads to better health outcomes. However, that is not the case in the United States.
As the United States borrows a significant amount of money to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic, let’s take a closer look at a few key characteristics of Treasury borrowing that can affect its budgetary cost.