Congress is not a user of currency. Congress is an issuer of currency.

If you could legally print money in your attic, why would you balance your budget?

Q1: For taxpayers, is our “national debt” really a burden that must be repaid?
A1: No. For taxpayers, it is not a real debt. It’s a “Debt In Name Only”, a “DINO”-*

THE DINO IS NOT NOW AND NEVER WILL BE A BURDEN FOR TAXPAYERS. It is not the taxpayers but rather the buyers of newly-issued bonds who, in a virtual rollover, pay for redemption of mature bonds. In every auction, more bonds are demanded than are available. Auction winners get the safest, most liquid US dollar instruments; the losers are stuck with bank risk. If it were ever necessary, the Fed, with cost-free keystrokes, could increase the demand for bonds by buying a large slice of the DINO in the market.

THE DINO WILL NEVER BE REPAID AND SHOULD NEVER BE REPAID. Only a budget surplus can reduce the DINO. Since Truman, no President has reduced the DINO and no annual budget surplus is now in sight. To supply enough bonds, the ONLY risk-free securities used for trade collateral, insurance, pensions, bank reserves, etc., the DINO MUST GROW with the economy! Our world needs the DINO!

Every federal dollar spent and not taxed is saved by the private sector. Yes! DEFICITS = SAVINGS! The Treasury has a “national debt” and the private sector has a “national asset”! The bad “Debt Clock” is also the good “Asset Clock”. Since, with our trade deficit, we export money, deficit spending is our economy’s SOLE source of savings! In fact, if large budget deficits don’t soon replace our vanishing cash, deflation will freeze our economy solid. Who would spend a dollar today if it would buy more tomorrow?

Our economy is suffering from acute anemia. Our (DINO + total bank deposits) / GDP ratio is less than half of China’s figure. Our M2 (money supply) / GDP ratio is half of Switzerland’s ratio and one fourth of Hong Kong’s ratio. To become and stay prosperous, we need to DOUBLE the DINO / GDP ratio to return it to the World War II level that was followed by 35 years of prosperity without harmful inflation.

Inequality worsens the anemia. Most of the paltry money supply circulates among the Rich who corrupt Congress for estate laws to stay rich to buy Congress for laws that enrich the Rich to buy Congress…..etc.
Wealth is power and inherited wealth is inherited power: aristocracy, always the enemy of meritocracy!

Q2: Won’t the annual debt interest expense explode the budget?
A2: Bond-holders’ taxes return about 20% of their interest income. New bond issues finance the rest. As no physical resources are consumed and the money supply does not change, there is NO INFLATIONARY EFFECT. About 80% of the interest is added to the DINO, which is good. For those reasons, CBO budget economists deal only with the “primary” budget, which excludes the annual debt interest expense.

Q3: Could savers make a “run” on US Treasury bonds?
A3: Yes, when savers can get risk-free returns from the Wall Street casino or from GM bonds, Illinois bonds, or Detroit bonds. Safety is not everything. Safety is the ONLY thing! That’s why the whole world relies on US bonds.

Q4. Could savers stop buying US Treasury bonds?
A4. Yes, indeed! SAVERS WILL ALWAYS WANT THE SAFEST BONDS for trade collateral, insurance, pensions, bank reserves, etc. Now, almost two thirds of the world’s reserve currencies are in US dollars and almost half of all US Treasury bonds are held by foreigners. But if China’s infrastructure and productivity become better than ours, its bonds could become safer than ours and we could then lose our bond-buyers. And that could happen if US voters let their DINO concerns stop the renewal of falling bridges, failing schools, creaking railroads, leaking sewers, etc. Money can be printed, but infrastructure has to be built with real resources over time, which has no substitute.

Q5: Won’t we need higher income tax rates to pay for infrastructure?
A5: Congress NEVER asks the Treasury if can pass a spending bill. In effect, Congress writes a check that Treasury NEVER bounces. To finance a deficit, the Treasury auctions new bonds created out of thin air with keystrokes.

The only rational reason to restrict deficit spending is the onset
of harmful inflation. Until then, Congress can
finance both the DINO’s annual interest payment and our much-needed infrastructure. Every day, you fill your sink with water AND you prevent it from overflowing. Why can’t Congress fill our economy with money by building infrastructure AND prevent harmful inflation? China builds 24/7 without harmful inflation. Why can’t we do that?

While a bank holding too many bad loans can certainly hold too many maturing CDs, our non-lending Treasury cannot hold too many maturing bonds unless its deficit spending causes harmful inflation. And that happens ONLY in a war or emergency requiring rationing. It NEVER happens during a recession. During prosperity, banks are ALWAYS the main cause of inflation, creating over $6 of credit for every $1 of deficit spending. To curb inflation, regulate the banks before stopping work on infrastructure projects!

Q6: How much should Congress tax and spend?
A6: Ideally, Congress should tax just enough to prevent harmful inflation and should spend almost enough to cause full employment (and therefore harmful inflation). Result: prosperity with low inflation.

Instead, bribed by Wall Street, Congress taxes as little as possible, enriching the rich, and spends as little as possible, impoverishing the rest of us by restricting deficits / savings. Just as quacks killed George Washington by bleeding his “bad blood”,

Congress is destroying our younger generations by reducing (possibly to zero!) our annual budget deficits / private sector savings increase / consumer demand. And, by bribing Congress to pass austerity budgets, the Wall Street charlatans are deliberately nursing a huge army of unemployed labor to suppress the wages and working conditions of the shrinking middle class.

Q7: How should one vote?
A7: Vote only for someone who NEVER EVER worries about the DINO and who ALWAYS worries about people looking for work and drawing benefits instead of building infrastructure for their grandchildren.

Q8: “I have to balance my budget. Why doesn’t Congress balance its budget?”
A8: If you could legally print money in your attic, why would you balance your budget? Congress only needs to balance full employment against harmful inflation. Why is something so simple so hard to see?

To stay ahead of China, please help me convince voters that deficit spending on infrastructure is limited ONLY by harmful inflation (nowhere in sight). Please copy and distribute this message where possible.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
*The Q & A dialogue above is based on works by: (books cost about $10)
Frank N. Newman, former Deputy Secretary of the US Treasury, recipient of the Treasury’s annual “Alexander Hamilton” award, author of “Freedom from National Debt” (Two Harbors Press);
Francis X. Cavanaugh, US Treasury economist for over 30 years, author of: “The Truth about the National Debt”: Five Myths and One Reality” (Harvard Business School Press);
Warren Mosler, economist, author of “Seven Deadly Frauds of Economic Policy” (Oxford U. Press);
Dr. Stephanie Kelton, Chair of the UMKC Economics Department, at NewEconomicPerspectives.org.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
© 2014 Marvin Sussman All Rights Reserved. Permission granted only to copy entirely.

Spoken like a true Democrat:
Since no one will touch your Summary of our National Debt Expose' and why not to worry; allow me explain to you the other side of the story. For the most part what you say is accurate to a point and that point is now but will change drastically in a blink of the eye when you hear eight words which are as follows. " The dollar is no longer the Reserve Currency." That will change everything you have described. The printing of money in the attic will bring this nation down and in that blink of a eye, will create massive inflation and reduce overnight our standard of living in the U.S. by 25%. There are powers that are working on this now and have been for years due to the fact that is not a change that is accomplished overnight. The last meeting had six major countries discussing the change and we were not invited. China, Japan, and Russia to name a few. Bottom line, the printing of money, as we are doing, is something we promised not to do when we went off the gold standard. Another broken promise. We are the only country on Earth that can print money without backing due to the fact that we are the Standard now. Everyone on Earth has to have U.S. Dollars now but when we lose the Reserve Status, new ballgame and we are screwed and your scenario is nothing but dribble of a world past.
STYMIE - All Rights Reserved but you may tell whomever will listen.

Spoken like a true Democrat:
Since no one will touch your Summary of our National Debt Expose' and why not to worry; allow me explain to you the other side of the story. For the most part what you say is accurate to a point and that point is now but will change drastically in a blink of the eye when you hear eight words which are as follows. " The dollar is no longer the Reserve Currency." That will change everything you have described. The printing of money in the attic will bring this nation down and in that blink of a eye, will create massive inflation and reduce overnight our standard of living in the U.S. by 25%. There are powers that are working on this now and have been for years due to the fact that is not a change that is accomplished overnight. The last meeting had six major countries discussing the change and we were not invited. China, Japan, and Russia to name a few. Bottom line, the printing of money, as we are doing, is something we promised not to do when we went off the gold standard. Another broken promise. We are the only country on Earth that can print money without backing due to the fact that we are the Standard now. Everyone on Earth has to have U.S. Dollars now but when we lose the Reserve Status, new ballgame and we are screwed and your scenario is nothing but dribble of a world past.
STYMIE - All Rights Reserved but you may tell whomever will listen.

Congress is not a user of currency. Congress is an issuer of currency.

If you could legally print money in your attic, why would you balance your budget?

Q1: For taxpayers, is our “national debt” really a burden that must be repaid?
A1: No. For taxpayers, it is not a real debt. It’s a “Debt In Name Only”, a “DINO”-*

THE DINO IS NOT NOW AND NEVER WILL BE A BURDEN FOR TAXPAYERS. It is not the taxpayers but rather the buyers of newly-issued bonds who, in a virtual rollover, pay for redemption of mature bonds. In every auction, more bonds are demanded than are available. Auction winners get the safest, most liquid US dollar instruments; the losers are stuck with bank risk. If it were ever necessary, the Fed, with cost-free keystrokes, could increase the demand for bonds by buying a large slice of the DINO in the market.

THE DINO WILL NEVER BE REPAID AND SHOULD NEVER BE REPAID. Only a budget surplus can reduce the DINO. Since Truman, no President has reduced the DINO and no annual budget surplus is now in sight. To supply enough bonds, the ONLY risk-free securities used for trade collateral, insurance, pensions, bank reserves, etc., the DINO MUST GROW with the economy! Our world needs the DINO!

Every federal dollar spent and not taxed is saved by the private sector. Yes! DEFICITS = SAVINGS! The Treasury has a “national debt” and the private sector has a “national asset”! The bad “Debt Clock” is also the good “Asset Clock”. Since, with our trade deficit, we export money, deficit spending is our economy’s SOLE source of savings! In fact, if large budget deficits don’t soon replace our vanishing cash, deflation will freeze our economy solid. Who would spend a dollar today if it would buy more tomorrow?

Our economy is suffering from acute anemia. Our (DINO + total bank deposits) / GDP ratio is less than half of China’s figure. Our M2 (money supply) / GDP ratio is half of Switzerland’s ratio and one fourth of Hong Kong’s ratio. To become and stay prosperous, we need to DOUBLE the DINO / GDP ratio to return it to the World War II level that was followed by 35 years of prosperity without harmful inflation.

Inequality worsens the anemia. Most of the paltry money supply circulates among the Rich who corrupt Congress for estate laws to stay rich to buy Congress for laws that enrich the Rich to buy Congress…..etc.
Wealth is power and inherited wealth is inherited power: aristocracy, always the enemy of meritocracy!

Q2: Won’t the annual debt interest expense explode the budget?
A2: Bond-holders’ taxes return about 20% of their interest income. New bond issues finance the rest. As no physical resources are consumed and the money supply does not change, there is NO INFLATIONARY EFFECT. About 80% of the interest is added to the DINO, which is good. For those reasons, CBO budget economists deal only with the “primary” budget, which excludes the annual debt interest expense.

Q3: Could savers make a “run” on US Treasury bonds?
A3: Yes, when savers can get risk-free returns from the Wall Street casino or from GM bonds, Illinois bonds, or Detroit bonds. Safety is not everything. Safety is the ONLY thing! That’s why the whole world relies on US bonds.

Q4. Could savers stop buying US Treasury bonds?
A4. Yes, indeed! SAVERS WILL ALWAYS WANT THE SAFEST BONDS for trade collateral, insurance, pensions, bank reserves, etc. Now, almost two thirds of the world’s reserve currencies are in US dollars and almost half of all US Treasury bonds are held by foreigners. But if China’s infrastructure and productivity become better than ours, its bonds could become safer than ours and we could then lose our bond-buyers. And that could happen if US voters let their DINO concerns stop the renewal of falling bridges, failing schools, creaking railroads, leaking sewers, etc. Money can be printed, but infrastructure has to be built with real resources over time, which has no substitute.

Q5: Won’t we need higher income tax rates to pay for infrastructure?
A5: Congress NEVER asks the Treasury if can pass a spending bill. In effect, Congress writes a check that Treasury NEVER bounces. To finance a deficit, the Treasury auctions new bonds created out of thin air with keystrokes.

The only rational reason to restrict deficit spending is the onset
of harmful inflation. Until then, Congress can
finance both the DINO’s annual interest payment and our much-needed infrastructure. Every day, you fill your sink with water AND you prevent it from overflowing. Why can’t Congress fill our economy with money by building infrastructure AND prevent harmful inflation? China builds 24/7 without harmful inflation. Why can’t we do that?

While a bank holding too many bad loans can certainly hold too many maturing CDs, our non-lending Treasury cannot hold too many maturing bonds unless its deficit spending causes harmful inflation. And that happens ONLY in a war or emergency requiring rationing. It NEVER happens during a recession. During prosperity, banks are ALWAYS the main cause of inflation, creating over $6 of credit for every $1 of deficit spending. To curb inflation, regulate the banks before stopping work on infrastructure projects!

Q6: How much should Congress tax and spend?
A6: Ideally, Congress should tax just enough to prevent harmful inflation and should spend almost enough to cause full employment (and therefore harmful inflation). Result: prosperity with low inflation.

Instead, bribed by Wall Street, Congress taxes as little as possible, enriching the rich, and spends as little as possible, impoverishing the rest of us by restricting deficits / savings. Just as quacks killed George Washington by bleeding his “bad blood”,

Congress is destroying our younger generations by reducing (possibly to zero!) our annual budget deficits / private sector savings increase / consumer demand. And, by bribing Congress to pass austerity budgets, the Wall Street charlatans are deliberately nursing a huge army of unemployed labor to suppress the wages and working conditions of the shrinking middle class.

Q7: How should one vote?
A7: Vote only for someone who NEVER EVER worries about the DINO and who ALWAYS worries about people looking for work and drawing benefits instead of building infrastructure for their grandchildren.

Q8: “I have to balance my budget. Why doesn’t Congress balance its budget?”
A8: If you could legally print money in your attic, why would you balance your budget? Congress only needs to balance full employment against harmful inflation. Why is something so simple so hard to see?

To stay ahead of China, please help me convince voters that deficit spending on infrastructure is limited ONLY by harmful inflation (nowhere in sight). Please copy and distribute this message where possible.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
*The Q & A dialogue above is based on works by: (books cost about $10)
Frank N. Newman, former Deputy Secretary of the US Treasury, recipient of the Treasury’s annual “Alexander Hamilton” award, author of “Freedom from National Debt” (Two Harbors Press);
Francis X. Cavanaugh, US Treasury economist for over 30 years, author of: “The Truth about the National Debt”: Five Myths and One Reality” (Harvard Business School Press);
Warren Mosler, economist, author of “Seven Deadly Frauds of Economic Policy” (Oxford U. Press);
Dr. Stephanie Kelton, Chair of the UMKC Economics Department, at NewEconomicPerspectives.org.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
© 2014 Marvin Sussman All Rights Reserved. Permission granted only to copy entirely.

True, but the important point is the word "when" which is similar to "if", "could" and "maybe". Currently, and as far as anyone can predict with reason, the US currency is the standard. Until the time comes when investors begin to question it, it is still the standard and they still can't get enough of it. They continue to line up to buy more US debt, lowering the yield. The point is to protect and maintain that status. That is why Boehner, Cantor, Ryan and Paul have committed to never again threaten it which is the same as threatening the full faith and credit of the United States. If they do, they will get the wrath of the financial industry. They now see how ridiculous a political strategy that was. They should be taking actions to strengthen it, not to threaten it. That has been a traditional conservative value and I don't understand the contemporary conservative strategy to depreciate it.

True, but the important point is the word "when" which is similar to "if", "could" and "maybe". Currently, and as far as anyone can predict with reason, the US currency is the standard. Until the time comes when investors begin to question it, it is still the standard and they still can't get enough of it. They continue to line up to buy more US debt, lowering the yield. The point is to protect and maintain that status. That is why Boehner, Cantor, Ryan and Paul have committed to never again threaten it which is the same as threatening the full faith and credit of the United States. If they do, they will get the wrath of the financial industry. They now see how ridiculous a political strategy that was. They should be taking actions to strengthen it, not to threaten it. That has been a traditional conservative value and I don't understand the contemporary conservative strategy to depreciate it.