One of my biggest rational fears of this next four years is that spending won’t get under control. We have one party in control of Congress and the White House. The last four years haven’t exactly done anything to make me feel comfortable about their spending habits. So, the question is whether the deficit really matters, or if the country will deal with it fine until we right the ship again.

Brad DeLong offers this primer on why this deficit matters. Today at lunch I was thinking about another potential problem, though down the road somewhat. What are the odds that countries might switch from using the dollar for trade to using the euro instead? In other words, is there a possiblity that one day demand for the dollar would come down dramatically? Would such a switch be smooth and gradual or a shock, say, when the first country switches? Well, coincidently, the Washington Post has a related article today that goes through some of the current situation.

Found via Josh Marshall.