The United States is bankrupt; Social Security is insolvent, so the doomsayers tell us. As Werner Hetzner wrote recently, "Here is the inconvenient truth: The country is bankrupt," ("The real truth is our country is bankrupt," May 12). And to this I answer: Not so much.
So many believe our government spends from taxes. It does not. They assume we need to balance what comes in with what goes out. It does not, even should not. They assume the government must be run as a household. The government — creator of currency — is not a household. And thank goodness. We are not revenue-constrained.
That doesn't mean the government can just print its way out of any problem. How we spend is largely due to political decisions: How best to spend our money? Military? Health care? Education?
The limitation to spending is not from tax receipts or the Department of the Treasury but from the resource side of the ledger. We could easily spend trillions more with 20 million unemployed and underemployed without a nibble of inflation. But we have people claiming austerity will magically fix our ills. With a wave of the wand, we'll employ more, profits will increase along with private spending, and the GOP will be able to scream, "We told you so."
To those slightly knowledgeable regarding macroeconomics, that last part will seem like a silly child's dream; good, because that is all it ever was and ever will be.
Jonathan Lloyd
Valley Falls