Rubin Says US In a ‘Terrible Place’ on Deficit, Urges Tax Hikes
- Former Treasury secretary sees signs of concern in yield rise
- Rubin warns markets can sometimes correct ‘savagely’
Robert Rubin
Photographer: David Paul Morris/BloombergFormer Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin said the US is in a “terrible place” with regard to its federal deficits, and called for tax increases to address the deterioration.
“The risks are enormous and some of them are materializing already, like higher interest rates,” Rubin said Wednesday on Bloomberg Television’s Wall Street Week with David Westin. The roughly 3-percentage-point surge in longer-term Treasury yields in recent years is due in part to the fiscal outlook and its impact on inflation, he said.