Osborne’s daft surplus idea.

George Osborne (the UK’s economically illiterate finance minister) wants government to run a surplus – more or less permanently. I’ve explained why that makes no sense in theory more than once on this blog.
 
But it’s nice to see the theory confirmed by a nice simple chart (see below). The chart shows US deficits (in orange) and surpluses (in blue) over the last 30 years or so. As you’ll see, surpluses are a rarity. And in total over that 30 years, they’re pretty much irrelevant compared to the total size of deficits.

 

Far as I know the sky isn't falling in in the US as a result of these more or less constant deficits.