Deficits link to politics

“The Deficit Myth: Modern Monetary Theory and the Birth of a People’s Economy,” Kindle Edition (accessed 4/26/2023)

Of course voters are terrified! How could they not be? Unless you manage to steer clear of all political discourse, it’s virtually impossible to get through the workweek without encountering some form of hysteria over fiscal deficits and the national debt. Newspaper headlines scream of record indebtedness and looming disaster. A debt clock towers over pedestrians on West 43rd Street in New York City, delivering the daunting numbers in real time. Political cartoonists depict the federal debt as a hungry T-Rex eating its way through city streets or as an ever-expanding balloon on the verge of exploding. Bookstores are replete with bombastic titles featuring anxiety-inspiring words like Endgame, Red Ink, and Fiscal Therapy. Social media circulates breaking news alerts to report the latest dire projections from the Congressional Budget Office. Talk radio plays alarming audio of former secretary of state Hillary Clinton warning that “our rising debt levels pose a national security threat.” Even ordinary citizens, like the one who put the sticker of a broke Uncle Sam on the bumper of her SUV, have become messengers of doom. It’s a wonder we’re not all holed up in a bunker, bracing for Armageddon. The end is always near.