The idea that America is in debt is possibly the most widespread
misconception in our country. It is also probably the most
damaging, as it negatively affects government spending. Every
deficit dollar allocated by Congress is done so with fiscal
conservatives fretting about our ability to someday pay back all
of these “borrowed” dollars. Those fiscal conservatives are
idiots. The U.S. dollar is a fiat currency. Dollars can only be
created by the U.S. government (for simplicity, it helps to
think of the Fed, the Treasury, and the government as a single
entity, as they work in concert). All dollars are introduced
into the economy by deficit spending. When large amounts of
dollars are amassed, the people, banks, businesses, or countries
that hold them often choose to "invest" those dollars in federal
government bonds, as they earn a bit of interest, and are
basically non-risk places to park money. This is our "National
Debt." As you might have already figured out, it's not really
debt at all. It is more akin to