At the moment, the United States Treasury can borrow at a real interest rate of zero for five years – and shove the entire five-year inflation risk onto the lender. Time preference means that the $600 billion addition to the debt today, which Barro sees as the cost of stimulus, is not nearly as burdensome as a demand to pay $600 billion now would be.
最后，巴罗假设 2009-10 年的高支出会导致随后的税收增加，宣称：“未来的征税时机没什么大不了。”但其实税收的时间点非常重要。现在，美国财政部可以零利率借贷 5 年 —— 将整个 5 年的通胀风险推给了借贷者。时间表明，今天的 6000 美元的债务，也就是巴罗看做的刺激方案的支出，不是未来需要偿还相同数额。