Or we could label it the "private sector savings iceberg", because that's what the other side of the balance sheet records. Doesn't sound as scary then, partic

Or we could label it the "private sector savings iceberg", because that's what the other side of the balance sheet records. Doesn't sound as scary then, particularly not when you realise that when you spend savings, that causes tax and income, which causes more spending, tax and income and so in until all of the saving disappears in tax. And of course when the savings disappears in tax, then the debt does as well. Government debt is a store of taxation that retires the government debt. It's all there in the accounting. You just have to look at the left side, not the right. If Cato spent less time worrying about debt that isn't really debt and more time worrying about productivity, it might have an argument.