Counterpoint

I should mention that there is an alternative point of view and in this alternative universe, the national debt is not a problem at all. I'm not going to fully explain it here, since there is a website dedicated to it, but I will express some concerns and thoughts here:

1. How can the Treasury Dept. issue dollars without the Federal Reserve involvement? I think that there would be practical and legal problems on doing this as the Federal Reserve seems to have a monopoly on issuing dollars. But the Fed pays some sort of tax to the Treasury to account for the seignorage, so doesn't this about have the same effect?

2. The claim can be made that printing an unlimited amount of dollars (or by doing the electronic equivalent) is not a problem at all as long as the country is in a recession. I think I could almost agree with this claim. But this raises a question: How are these newly-created dollars to be distributed? Are they to be lent to bankers at zero percent interest for them to lend out? Spent on pork barrel projects to benefit those who are politically connected?

3. The claim can further be made that if inflation ever does start to become a problem, it can be brought under control by issuing bonds at high rates of interest that will suck the excess money out of circulation. My objection is that the interest paid will at some point become a huge part of the national budget and will increase the national debt even more and will at some point become ridiculous (e.g. quadrillions).

What do you think, should we try it? The analogy I am thinking of is that we are on a train that is out-of-control, heading toward a bridge that is washed out ahead. Might it be possible to fire up the engines and pick up speed so fast that we can jump over the washed out bridge?