US Government Debt Different - Finance Department - University of ...

254 Direct and Indirect U.S. Government DebtOne answer is that the federal government would be doing the “rightthing.” 26 Another answer, perhaps more pragmatic, is that as theproblem of national-SPE debt becomes more publicly known, thefederal government will face reputation costs. Improving national-SPE accountability might then help the federal government savemoney. 2726 Query whether the federal government, at least under the current Congress,really wants to do the right thing. One wag observed at the conference that politiciansmight know what is right but they don’t seem to know how acting right canget them re-elected.27 Cf. The Use and Abuse of Special-Purpose Entities in Public Finance, supra note 17(observing a savings resulting from improving state-SPE accountability).