And another reason to stop selling bonds is this: The federal debt is the total of outstanding bonds. No bonds = no debt = no more anguished breast-beating about the debt.
If the Treasury simply were allowed to stop creating and selling debt, the debt-hawks would see the debt decline every year until it was all gone, while the government could continue to spend as needed. How happy everyone would be.
Thomas Edison said just about the same thing: “If our Nation can issue a dollar bond, it can issue a dollar bill. The element that makes the bond good makes the bill good also. It is absurd to say that our country can issue $30 million in bonds, and not $30 million in currency. Both are promises to pay: but one promise fattens the usurer, and the other helps the people.”
And another reason to stop selling bonds is this: The federal debt is the total of outstanding bonds. No bonds = no debt = no more anguished breast-beating about the debt.
If the Treasury simply were allowed to stop creating and selling debt, the debt-hawks would see the debt decline every year until it was all gone, while the government could continue to spend as needed. How happy everyone would be.
Rodger Malcolm Mitchell
Best of all, the bond vigilantes would be out of a job.
Thomas Edison said just about the same thing: “If our Nation can issue a dollar bond, it can issue a dollar bill. The element that makes the bond good makes the bill good also. It is absurd to say that our country can issue $30 million in bonds, and not $30 million in currency. Both are promises to pay: but one promise fattens the usurer, and the other helps the people.”
Amazing, MMT has deep roots: http://www.michaeljournal.org/feddebunked.htm