The Federal Debt Takes a Hard Left.

• Author: Northwall, William H.

"This is the same crowd that fervently believes in Keynesian theory and they have a name for their belief, Modern Monetary Theory ... For this group, all government problems can be solved by printing money"

BASICALLY, the Left believes that the Federal debt does not matter; they could not care less if the spending increases go on forever. All they want is to remain in power as for long as possible. They love their gravy-train life within the Washington bubble. As the years go on, though, and the debt continues to pile up, there will come a day when it does matter... a great deal.

The current course of running up the debt eventually will cause rising interest rates and runaway inflation. Then, the value of the dollar will collapse, and the economy will tank, like during the Great Depression--only worse. Yet, we have a bevy of Democratic presidential hopefuls touting everything from free health care to college debt forgiveness. Of course, there always will be politicians willing to say anything to get elected, and those already securely in office, no matter how wise their ways in the past, are an ever-present threat to become corrupted.

Following Franklin Roosevelt's four-term presidency, the Constitution was amended to limit chief executives to two terms. Why not term limits for Congress as well? Constitutional amendments can begin either in Congress or start in state legislatures. It is time that citizens put pressure on their state legislatures to demand amendments for term limits and a mandatory balancing of the Federal budget.

Now, as hard as it is to watch politicians so blithely dismiss our deficit woes, it is equally difficult to hear a large body of academics who also profess that government debt is not a matter of concern. This is the same crowd that fervently believes in Keynesian theory, and they have a name for their belief, Modem Monetary Theory (MMT). For this group, all government problems can be solved by printing money. If you are looking for the down-the-road result of such lunacy, look no further than Weimar Germany or present-day Venezuela.

These academics and left-leaning politicians cite the World War II experience where the country ran budget deficits of 20% of gross domestic product without inflation, but they fail to mention the need to use rationing, wage and price controls, and financial repression.

More relevant to today is the experience of the 2008 monetary crisis. The government budget deficit ballooned. First...