The fiscal red ink is a corrosive. It won’t tank the economy next year or even a decade from now, but it will steadily diminish it. Because a big deficit means the government must borrow heavily to pay its bill, all borrowers need to pay higher interest rates than they would otherwise. Businesses find it is more expensive to finance their operations, weighing on their hiring and investment. This may not matter much in any given year, but over the years it means the economy will be meaningfully smaller than it would have been otherwise.