Despite the surge in federal debt to the public during the past 18 months—to $8.6 trillion from $5.5 trillion—inflation and long-term interest rates, the typical symptoms of fiscal excess, have remained remarkably subdued. This is regrettable, because it is fostering a sense of complacency that can have dire consequences.
It's quite a remarkable paragraph, essentially saying the dire things that should have happened have not happened making the dire things more likely. Or something.
In any case, those dire things are... still not happening.