There Is No Debt Or Deficit "Problem"

Short Takes: Tax CEO Pay; Overwhelming Support For $15-an-hour Minimum Wage Hike; Uber Bends A Bit

LONG TAKE

It’s those zombie voices again. The ones who rise up from the dead, or from a policy corner, to start the drumbeat of fear about “debt” and “deficits”, all in order to block progress for the people.

So top-line idea for this week: there is no debt or deficit crisis.

The U.S. has never had a debt or deficit crisis.

We have plenty of money in the richest nation in human history.

We should spend more right now, not less.

This is nothing new—I wrote a whole book long ago about the phony debt crisis with the subtle title, “It’s Not Raining, We’re Getting Peed On” (which by the way you can download the 2013 updated version for free here—the basic arguments and evidence are still relevant today, alas).

The idea that there is no debt crisis is important to spread to everyone right now because even folks who are all in favor of progressive policies get rattled by the chorus of “we should balance the government budget just like we do with our own checkbooks.”

But, to start off, that’s no…