In the second half of the twentieth century, strategic and economic conditions compelled the U.S. government to start running budget deficits on a permanent basis. A new role of global leadership in containing communism required a robust military establishment. The federal government overwhelmingly relied for general revenue on an income tax code that also could not impede economic growth. And general revenue increasingly funded transfer payments in an expanding entitlement state. Fiscal o...

The United States has had a tumultuous monetary and banking history. The bitter Bank War during Andrew Jackson’s presidency meant that the country never developed a central bank in the 1800s. The pre–Civil War monetary standard was deflationary until the fortuitous California gold discovery. Political turmoil erupted later in the nineteenth century over whether the government should freely coin silver. Meanwhile, Congress imposed a banking system that virtually drove bank reserves into sto...