"So the government can safely borrow money, but at some point it will accumulate so much debt that people begin to doubt its ability to pay it back." Currency

"So the government can safely borrow money, but at some point it will accumulate so much debt that people begin to doubt its ability to pay it back." Currency issuers can always pay any debt denominated in the currency that they issue. It is literally impossible for a currency issuer to be forced to default. "But decreasing revenue via tax cuts, and increasing debt accumulation, at a time when the economy appears to be booming doesn't appear to be responsible." That's a sane position, but the argument against a Federal Balanced Budget Amendment comes from the opposite case. You want the capability to deficit spend during recessions. The Federal Balanced Budget Amendment forces you to make the wrong decision of cutting spending during recessions, driving the nation deeper into recession. When factories are idle and unemployment is high, it is vicious to claim that the best policy is to choose to throw more people out of work. Federal spending should be explicitly countercyclical.