The national debt has just surpassed $34 trillion for the first time.Paul Krugman, Nobel laureate in economics,New York Timescolumnist, distinguished professor at the City University of New York Graduate Center, and the author of (now in paperback)Arguing with Zombies: Economics, Politics, and the Fight for a Better Future(W. W. Norton & Company, 2020), explains how that happened and where inflation may be headed in 2024.