Home prices are reasonable in the US. The ratio of home price to household income is a little high, but much lower than 2007: https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-CxAYOEkHwSs/WbgZo0mKLBI/AAAAAAAAs...
(these numbers are inflated by growth in a few high-cost regions, where HN readers might perceive a bubble)
The US debt to GDP ratio has increased, but several European countries have experienced the same. Turns out a monetary policy which is tuned to be tight but tolerable for the German economy is a disaster in other parts of the continent. If you are going to increase your debt to GDP ratio, you might as well accomplish something and reduce human suffering. That is, increasing the denominator with stimulus, instead of decreasing it with austerity.
I don't think US policy is perfect - we could have used even more monetary stimulus, and the fiscal stimulus could have been delivered in a more organized and consistent fashion. The incoming corporate tax cuts when the economy is already hot make no sense. We are in a good position to reduce the debt load if policy makers just hold steady.
The US debt to GDP ratio has increased, but several European countries have experienced the same. Turns out a monetary policy which is tuned to be tight but tolerable for the German economy is a disaster in other parts of the continent. If you are going to increase your debt to GDP ratio, you might as well accomplish something and reduce human suffering. That is, increasing the denominator with stimulus, instead of decreasing it with austerity.
I don't think US policy is perfect - we could have used even more monetary stimulus, and the fiscal stimulus could have been delivered in a more organized and consistent fashion. The incoming corporate tax cuts when the economy is already hot make no sense. We are in a good position to reduce the debt load if policy makers just hold steady.