Don’t worry about the deficit—Part 2
Then why are they always saying it
The short answer is that it gets them what they want. When they come back to you with, “How are we going to pay for this?” Have you seen our deficit?” They use this particular gem to explain why someone’s hard working mom, dad, or uncle can’t have universal healthcare, decent social security payment or worse yet have their student debt paid off. This tactic has been used many times, usually accompanied by wide eyes and disturbingly curled lips. I have only seen this expression on politicians describing the “evils” of a deficit and on the faces of high schoolers studying flesh-eating bacteria for the first time. It is a fairly effective technique to get everyone behind the “belt-tightening” that will only be applied to social programs.
Go back a few decades (yes, get in your time machine and we’ll wait) and you will be able to hear neoliberals from the Reagan era start the call of, “If you make this large and immoral debt, then your children will receive an enormous bill in the future and they don’t deserve this!” No one has ever gotten a bill, of course, because this is simply theatre, folks.
In the neoliberal fantasy world, this is what would have been sent to you:
Dear Taxpayer
We’re so sorry that it has taken us 40 years to get this to you and quite honestly you can just give it to the youngest person in your household. We have warned repeatedly about the evils of letting us spend money that we claim to not have and now this has really, actually, happened.**
This is only a token bill but, frankly, if you decide that you want something in the future , like, say, parental leave or food stamps, then really, we’re gonna come by your house and collect.*
Thank you so much for your cooperation,
The Management
| <New Nited States of Amurika > | INVOICE : 1456823 | ||||||
| <1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW, Washington, DC 20500> | |||||||
| <(202) 456-1111 > | |||||||
| DATE-The Future | |||||||
| INVOICE NO. 2144656667 | |||||||
| *Payment terms (due on receipt, due in 365 days (sorta)> | |||||||
| BILL TO | SHIP TO | ||||||
| <Mr. Nameless Rabble > | <USA > | ||||||
| <ACME Corp. > | <TheFED > | ||||||
| <999 Jekyl Lane Leadwater MI 30953 > | Downdaroad > | ||||||
| <771-653-1123 > | <800-323-3232> | ||||||
| <Aftermecomesthe@deluge.com > | |||||||
| DESCRIPTION | QTY | UNIT PRICE | TOTAL | ||||
| Stuff before & Carter | 50000.00 | ||||||
| Reagan | 50000.00 | ||||||
| The first Bush | 700.00 | ||||||
| Clinton and Obama | 288,000.00 | ||||||
| The second Bush | 5,234,122.03 | ||||||
| Guilt payment for letting us spend so much | 1200.00 | ||||||
| Just in case you want anything in the future | 899,100.00 | ||||||
| Remarks / Payment Instructions: | SUBTOTAL | 6,523,122.03 | |||||
| DISCOUNT | 0.00 | ||||||
| SUBTOTAL LESS DIS-COUNT | 0.00 | ||||||
| TAX RATE | 0.00% | ||||||
| TOTAL TAX | 0.00 | ||||||
| SHIPPING/HANDLING | 0.00 | ||||||
| Balance Due | $ 6,523,122.03 | ||||||
*Please see note on invoice
**This threat only applies to social programs. Any debt incurred for the purposes of war (you know, we call it “defense”) or other stuff like bailing out the people who caused the last major recession doesn’t count. Don’t worry about it, we don’t.
Thanks again.
Conclusion
If this were a concern then you would see a very different graph. MMT tells us that this is not the end of the world as we have been told that it is, but I will get into MMT at a later date. Suffice it to say that we have carried deficits for a very long time (with one little blip in the middle) and it has not brought about the end of the world or a bill from the feds saying that your kids owe a dime.
