US needs to address deficit

The US loves growth and right now it is throwing everything it has and borrowing a fair amount from ...

The US loves growth and right now it is throwing everything it has and borrowing a fair amount from the future to ensure it gets that growth. This is not a purely selfish desire. The US wants everybody else to grow too. American treasury secretaries have a long tradition of hectoring their European and Asian counterparts for failing to do enough to boost global demand, at times with great justification. But there is a danger that this policy of growth at all costs could become self-defeating. This is because, even as the recovery spreads around the world, the global economy is seriously...