TYBS - This Is New: Governments Ramp Up Borrowing In Anticipation Of A Slowdown
The business cycle has its stages, and they're usually both predictable and logical. For example, governments tend to generate a lot of tax revenue late in an expansion as more people get jobs and start paying income taxes and rising stock prices generate big capital gains. Meanwhile, less has to be spent on social safety net programs because everyone is working. Combine higher tax revenues with lower spending and you get shrinking deficits.
But not this time. Government borrowing soared around the world in 2018, even as economic growth, employment and stock prices peaked. Why