美国和其他一些国家所出现的大部分公共债务并非源自于无节制的财政刺激政策，而是来自于本次衰退所引发的税收锐减（加上布什政府为最富有的那批人减税，经费不足的老年医疗保健药物财政补贴，还有靠借债维持的阿富汗和伊拉克战争都严重削弱了美国的远期财政前景 ） 。
Most of the public-debt increase in the US and elsewhere is not due to any kind of discretionary fiscal stimulus; it’s all about the loss of tax revenue that comes with a deep recession. (And the Bush administration’s tax cuts for the wealthiest, unfunded Medicare prescription benefit, and debt-financed wars in Afghanistan and Iraq have severely weakened the long-term fiscal outlook.)