Take Our Money, Please!

Amidst all the gloom and doom in Europe it may have escaped your attention that the US can now borrow money at less than zero percent. Adjusted for inflation. Yes, that’s right. People are paying the US to take their cash off their hands. This is an extraordinary moment. The US, which has an old infrastructure, rotten trains, potholed roads, dilapidated schools, overused subways, and bridges in constant danger of falling down, can now borrow as much as it likes, free of charge, to rebuild all those things. The opportunity is enormous. We have the chance to fix everything and leave future generations with the world’s best infrastructure. It will give them a leg up on the competition. It will ensure future prosperity. It will create all sorts of business opportunities. It will boost profits. It will provide a massive injection of job creation. It will, in short, be a sure thing.

So, naturally we won’t do it.

Instead we will spend our election season mired in a sterile debate about how to cut borrowing.

Which means turning away free money.

Of course we could always borrow new free money and pay off older more expensive money and thus save ourselves a boat load of interest costs. that wouldn’t be too bad.

We won’t do that either.

Because.

Our elite has decided that we need to pay off debt.

No matter how cheap.

Stupid. Asinine. And utterly destructive.

But, that’s where our great leadership is.

Oh my. What a mess we find ourselves in.