These Congressmen, especially my Senator Rick Scott, are ignorant of the macroeconomic insights of Modern Money Theory. They think a federal budget is just like a household's or corporation's, neither of which can tax, set interest rates, or print money.With our fiat currency, we can always pay our debts, unless boneheaded Congressmen refuse to allow it. Which would be catastrophic for all the reasons Yellen stated in this article.We are not in the same situation, suffering the same constraints, as Greece, Argentina, Venezuela, or Weimar Germany -- and never will be.Our national debt is just "a record of the money that the federal government has added to people's pockets without taxing them away" (Stephanie Kelton). She says that we don't need to fix our debt; we need to fix our thinking: Most of us don't understand how our federal budget operates, its strengths, advantages, and uniqueness. So when we see a big number attached to the word debt, we panic.When a government, say, builds a national highway system, that investment pays for itself. In short, as long as government investing is done wisely -- where there is a legitimate need that helps America and Americans -- that money is very well spent.But we do need to pay for whatever we have already bought. And we can always do that with fiat currency. Yes, we can overprint, but all money printed is useful if it is resourced carefully, not brainlessly, like a bridge to nowhere. And we can tax away excess currency.

These Congressmen, especially my Senator Rick Scott, are ignorant of the macroeconomic insights of Modern Money Theory. They think a federal budget is just like a household's or corporation's, neither of which can tax, set interest rates, or print money.With our fiat currency, we can always pay our debts, unless boneheaded Congressmen refuse to allow it. Which would be catastrophic for all the reasons Yellen stated in this article.We are not in the same situation, suffering the same constraints, as Greece, Argentina, Venezuela, or Weimar Germany -- and never will be.Our national debt is just "a record of the money that the federal government has added to people's pockets without taxing them away" (Stephanie Kelton). She says that we don't need to fix our debt; we need to fix our thinking: Most of us don't understand how our federal budget operates, its strengths, advantages, and uniqueness. So when we see a big number attached to the word debt, we panic.When a government, say, builds a national highway system, that investment pays for itself. In short, as long as government investing is done wisely -- where there is a legitimate need that helps America and Americans -- that money is very well spent.But we do need to pay for whatever we have already bought. And we can always do that with fiat currency. Yes, we can overprint, but all money printed is useful if it is resourced carefully, not brainlessly, like a bridge to nowhere. And we can tax away excess currency.

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