The long-term effects of World War 2 on Germany are also relevant to the US today

Lots of people ask why the US can't deal with the budget deficit and national debt. <br><br>The answer is that the US can, and will. The question is what happens as part of the process of dealing with it. <br><br>You can do things like raise taxes and cut public spending. This helps you in the future, by no longer accruing debt, but it doesn't deal with the debt that is already present.<br><br>Raising taxes doesn't help you unless you're persistently raising taxes. Higher taxes mean less debt is being accrued, but there isn't a path to paying down existing debt with it. <br><br>This means you need to do something more drastic, like printing lots and lots of money, and enforcing price controls. <br><br>Lots of people are very worried by the idea of hyperinflation, but hyperinflation is only inflation of money by something like 50% per month. The US inflation rate is currently about 1% per month. It would need to increase a lot, *five times over*, to be "hyperinflation", and to get any serious printing done. <br><br>Hyperinflation is also no big deal, historically. Germany was hyperinflationary in the 1920s. <br><br>This should be fun.<br><br>EDIT: this is also not deflation. Deflation is when money is destroyed. Printing more money is not deflationary. Neither is printing money inflationary if it's balanced by money being destroyed elsewhere in the economy. Hyperinflation can coexist with deflation.