> It is also possible for the federal government to acquire zero-interest loans, given that everyone knows it has the magic printing press, so long as everyone

> It is also possible for the federal government to acquire zero-interest loans, given that everyone knows it has the magic printing press, so long as everyone is convinced that it will honor the bonds. And let's not forget that what Greenspan did, lend the government money with interest, then pay the interest to the treasury department is very different from interest free loans. VERY different I tell you ! VERY ! Well, not that different. > That is why it is able to force bond yields to extremely low levels, even during a major recession. Unfortunately that does mean that an ever increasing proportion of the effort and work of actual people goes to work that has no utility for society, and at some point it starts actually preventing people from doing useful work (because their income would be cut significantly compared to when they're doing useless work, paid by loaned money). And at some point ... people realize this is what's happening. Rapidly and suddenly. The worst of it is, despite > 4 TRILLION dollars injected in the economy by Obama (and a little by Bush and Trump), the economy is barely at the point it was before the crisis. By this I mean that there are important indicators that have more or less recovered (e.g. GDP), and important indicators that have not even recovered at all (e.g. Participation levels). But even the most positive indicators have recovered to the level the government claims it has. There has not, at all, been 2-3% average growth since 2009. At all. I don't understand why people believe that.