Quote from: TDoS on Apr 20, 2026, 05:46 PMIsn't this what the government has been doing already, for the $30+ trillions we've already borrowed? We print money, hand it out, and put it on the countries tab?

No, not really.

When the FSoA wants to borrow money, it goes to Da Fed (a theoretically separate corporation, not a department of Da Goobermint) and asks for it, like you would ask for a loan at the bank.  To get that loan, you have to offer up collateral, which are the USTs.  What are they worth?  To find out, you sell them on the open market.  You've heard of treasury auctions, right?  What they sell for determines the interest rate, the price runs inversely to the yield.  The lower the price, the higher the interest.

When a big holder of USTs (like the Chinese) starts selling their supply, the interest rate goes up.  If they flood the market, the sky's the limit there.  The risk in holding them to maturity has gone up so there are not enough buyers.

At this point, the only option is for Da Fed itself to buy the USTs,  without any collateral.  Now nobody knows what the USTs are really worth, or by extension what the dollars they back are worth.  The more you print this way, the less they trade for, until they're worthless.  AKA, Hyperinflation.

RE