CNBC: NY Fed President Williams Says U.S. is not 'Anywhere Near' Its Limits to Run up Debt

Article by Jeff Cox in CNBC financial

Burgeoning levels of government debt are not posing a broader threat and have been necessary to battle the coronavirus pandemic, New York Fed President John Williams said Thursday.

Even with the federal IOU at $25.6 trillion and counting, the central bank official said there’s still plenty of room to spend more.

“I don’t think we’re anywhere near the limit to that,” Williams said during a webinar presented by Stony Brook University in Long Island. “The U.S. government is issuing a lot of debt right now, and global investors are gobbling it up.”

Total government debt has jumped $2.2 trillion since just before the crisis began, an increase of 9.4%, thanks in good part to the CARES Act that provides more than $2 trillion in rescue funds for an economy that could contract more than 40% in the second quarter.

Congress has been debating additional stimulus that could run to $3 trillion as states begin a tentative reopening of their shuttered economies.

The U.S. already had been on its way to a budget deficit in excess of $1 trillion that now likely will be closer to $3 trillion ...

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