The wisdom of Adam Smith: public debt edition

With the recent news that the public debt of the United States has now surpassed $40 trillion (see here, for example), I want to take a moment to share my previous blog posts on Adam Smith’s thoughts on public debts: “The last chapter of The Wealth of Nations: *Of Publick Debts*“ “Adam Smith, father of public choice theory“ “The real reason why nations fail according to Adam Smith“ “Adam Smith on the social cost of public debts“ “Adam Smith’s new Utopia (and his epic smack-down of politicians)“