Citadel CEO Ken Griffin is one of many people growing increasingly concerned about America’s $40 trillion national debt burden, and the budget deficits that add to it year after year. But Griffin has an alternative perspective to some of his peers: This isn’t an issue that can be solved in Washington D.C. alone, he says.
The feathers of debt hawks have been ruffled further over the past few days following the Treasury’s confirmation that it ran a $2 trillion deficit for the fiscal year 2026. More than half of that deficit came from interest rate payments to service the debt.
Economists have a range of ideas on how to improve the U.S. fiscal picture. Some call for policies supporting economic growth to better balance government borrowing versus income. Others say spending needs to be cut to shave budget deficits down as a portion of GDP.
Griffin suggests the matter also requires impetus from U.S. allies—namely, them needing to grow their own economies.
Speaking at the Citadel Securities Future of Global Markets event in New York yesterday, Griffin said “our fiscal house is clearly not in order.”
When asked where he would begin, the Citadel CEO said “we really need to play the productivity card as hard as we can.” He added: “In order of what priorities need to be, grow the damn economy.”
But the U.S.’s allies also need to be growing, Griffin added, “you actually want the Europeans to grow their economy.” He explained: “The tariff war with Europe’s a fiasco because at this moment we should use all of our political capital. Europe. You want us to pay for your defense? Guess what? You’re going to go back to work.”
“In France, there are strict limitations on how many hours you can work a week, strict limitations. It’s ridiculous. Like the French want the Americans to provide the defense for Europe, and they don’t want to go to work. This just doesn’t work for the American people.”
France does indeed have labor laws to ensure workers don’t work for more than 48 hours a week, or 44 hours per week on average over a period of 12 consecutive weeks. A break of at least 20 minutes is also legally mandated for every six hours of work, to be taken within or immediately after that period.
The French nation is also famous for a cultural—but not legal—break that many workers take in July or August.”Les grandes vacances” refers to the phenomenon of workers taking a month out of their five weeks of annual leave to escape busy city hubs and enjoy the countryside. Workers in service industries and essential services often continue working.
However, Griffin’s suggestion that more hours worked will equal more economic growth is perhaps oversimplified. A working hours study from Charlie Giattino, Esteban Ortiz-Ospina, and Max Roser for Our World in Data showed that in 2023, Norway’s GDP per capita was close to $99,000 for annual hours worked of 1,412. The U.S., by contrast, has GDP per capita of a little under $73,000 for an average of 1,789 hours worked per employee every year.
Griffin’s comments perhaps refer to the debate over defense spending among the G7 countries, a point which President Trump has forcefully made since returning to the White House. The U.S. spends approximately 3.1% to 3.4% of its GDP on defense, with the Pentagon awarded more than $1 trillion in funding earlier this year.
France’s military budget, per Politico, will be increased to €63.4 billion ($71 billion) for 2027, and tends to be roughly 2% of its GDP.
Further measures
Of course, the U.S. fiscal picture can’t be improved on the actions of allies alone. And Griffin has plenty of other ideas for what to look at next: “We need to make sure that data centers are built in America. But we need more oars in the water, we need more focus on nuclear fusion … we need more focus on robotics. We need more focus on the technologies that will unleash productivity for the next 20 years. Like that should be the singular focus of our administration from an economic policy perspective.”
“Grow our economy and push our allies to engage in meaningful reforms that grow their economies. The entire Western world is in the same boat together … We’re not going to get out of these waters by torturing each other. We’re going to get out of these waters by making the pie bigger for all of us.”
Improving education is also key to unlocking growth, Griffin said, as well as getting immigration policy right: “Every single brilliant person around the world. I want them to live in America.”