Letters: Forget the debt

Re “Don’t blame the deficit,� Opinion, Sept. 5

Michael Kinsley is correct that current deficit spending is necessary to avoid further job losses and economic contraction, but he is wrong that the debt needs to be paid back to avoid massive inflation in the future. Inflation results from excessively loose monetary or fiscal policy (low interest rates or high deficits) in aiming for full employment.

Once the economy is rolling, all we need to do is cut the deficit, not pay back any actual debt. We never pay back debt; it just fades into insignificance as the economy grows. The nearly $2 trillion in debt that Ronald Reagan amassed seemed massive. We never paid it back, and it is now a small fraction of our economy.

Nayyer Ali

Huntington Beach

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