This would be politically courageous, perhaps even dangerous, because of the superstitious fear of "deficit spending" and an "unbalanced" federal budget.
Neither should the fear of deficit spending stand in the way of the need to combat terrorism abroad and protect against terrorist attacks at home.
Given its troubled history, we can understand its fear of deficit spending and inflation.
The editorial declared that it was all about fear of deficits, and concluded, "When in doubt, bet on the markets".
However, never in the 35 years since Ronald Reagan managed to eradicate fear of deficits from the national psyche have we flirted so aggressively with potential fiscal disaster.
Those on my side of the aisle seek to move the argument through fear of deficits, inflation, terrorism, socialism and the loss of individual liberty; those on the left through fears of global warming, poverty, racism, depression.
"Fear of deficits of the magnitude being projected for the United States is largely overblown," said Stephen J. Entin, president of the Institute for Research on the Economics of Taxation, a conservative economic research group in Washington.
As Weisenthal points out, however, Gross's exaggerated fear of deficits was very widespread; it was, indeed, what all the Very Serious People were obsessing about, even as the real economy was falling apart.
In America especially, a rising stockmarket, the strength of the dollar and absence of a spike in credit-default swaps all suggest the recent bond-market sell-off is being driven by hopes for growth rather than by fear of deficits.In the coming year, however, a different dynamic may take hold.
Our fear of deficits, according to MMT, comes from a profound misunderstanding of the nature of money.
Yet most of the policy prescriptions addressed to Chancellor Angela Merkel have been unrealistic for a country with an aging, shrinking population and fears of deficit spending and inflation that are well grounded in history.
