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'Anytime anyone expresses concern about the national "debt" as if it wasn't something Congress could wave away with a pen in 15 minutes, they're being ignorant
by penrod 13y ago
'Anytime anyone expresses concern about the national "debt" as if it wasn't something Congress could wave away with a pen in 15 minutes, they're being ignorant at best and disingenuous at worst.'
Whether Congress have the power to do this is not the issue. The issue is whether they can do it without serious negative consequences. I'm curious to know why Argentina had to institute currency controls if waving a pen is such a trifling matter.
- dragonwriter 13y ago> I'm curious to know why Argentina had to institute currency controls if waving a pen is such a trifling matter. Because Argentina's debt is largely foreign-currency denominated, not local-currency denominated, meaning that Argentina, lacking the ability to print, for instance, (non-counterfeit) US dollars, can't just monetize its debt. (And, because it can't just monetize its debt, its not in as good a position to negotiate restructuring of its debt as it would be if it could monetize it.)