Alfred L. Malabre Jr.

Alfred L. Malabre Jr. is a former senior editor of the Wall Street Journal and the author of Beyond Our Means: How America’s Long Years of Debt, Deficits and Reckless Borrowing Now Threaten to Overwhelm Us, published in 1987 and excerpted here. In this viewpoint, Malabre argues that America is living “beyond its means” from overborrowing and overconsumption and will suffer economically. Here, Malabre accurately discounts the emergence of deflation or hyperinflation by the end of the 1980s and forecasts the recession of the early 1990s. Malabre stresses that the most likely long-term scenario for America is “a new era of intensifying governmental regulation over the economy.”

As you read, consider the following questions:

1. What warning does Malabre give about monetary debt owed to...