I submitted this comment to Thom Hartmann (at https://hartmannreport.com/p/the-debt-ceiling-is-just-two-santas/comments). Please read it before you read my comment below. It's an excellent analysis, but the core issue has not been addressed: the "national debt" itself is being treated as if it were the same as debt by state or local governments, or household debt, or corporate debt. It is (as Monty Python would say) "completely different." ONLY THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT CAN ISSUE OUR CURRENCY. Congress (contrary to the "common sense, bipartisan" consensus) neither has nor hasn't any money to "spend." It creates new funds at will, with every appropriation, under our current fiat system. It does not have to tax or borrow before it "spends;" it can always create all it needs, by fiat. Every Congressional appropriation, rather than causing a deficit, is deleted from the national spreadsheet and added to the accounts of the recipients of those appropriations for a net-zero balance. It does not cause inflation with this process. Inflation can only become a hazard when the created money is spent, in excess of productive capacity. Federal taxes never "pay for" anything, they are deleted on receipt to shrink the money supply to control inflation and for other purposes. Until these facts become common knowledge (and are accepted as "common sense") to the general public (and progressives like Thom Hartmann), the kleptocrats who invented the "two Santas" and "debt ceiling" scams will continue to use them to get the 99% to consent to deadly "austerity" budgets in the name of "fiscal responsibility" (which magically never applies to military budgets). For a sharper view of how our modern money system actually works, as opposed to the confusion and myths promoted by almost everyone in politics and the mass media, see realprogressives.org.
