It is meant as a metaphor for "a country with a developed economy". "whatever you think the budget should or should not be is irrelevant." Wow, that is an agg

It is meant as a metaphor for "a country with a developed economy". "whatever you think the budget should or should not be is irrelevant." Wow, that is an aggressive formulation. Most Western central banks are independent of their governments and don't routinely go on money-printing sprees. Given that with a larger debt, an ever rising portion of the budget goes towards interest payments, I certainly feel that the public debt is relevant for me. Money spent on interest cannot be spent on public goods which I and others would like to use.