One of the less well-known economists of the Austrian School was Professor Antal Fekete who died in 2020. Fekete arguably had a much better grasp of monetary issues than many of his contemporaries. His works are still available on his website, and one in particular details why debt must necessarily grow exponentially in a fiat currency system.

Every year monetary authorities must create at least as much new money as needed to service outstanding debt, in order to keep the game of musical chairs going.

Governments have lost not only their option to reduce indebtedness but, more ominously, the option to balance their budgets. There is a new item in the budget that is never named, that is well-hidden, but that is increasing by leaps and bounds year after year: that part of government borrowing that is needed to provide cover for the increase of the monetary base.

The utterances of politicians about their resolve to eliminate the budget deficit is disingenuous – it cannot be done under the prevailing monetary regime on a net basis.

The Israeli finance ministry has been musing recently about limiting cash transactions and possibly criminalizing the holding of gold and silver. As heavily indebted governments like Israel begin to fear a loss of confidence in their ability to service those debts, they will look at measures to prevent citizens from finding a way not to be their creditor. Historically, this would not be the first time that a government barred the financial exit doors in a monetary system.

In addition to bailing out the Treasury, it’s likely that the Fed lowered interest rates in order to stem the losses on its own bond portfolio as well. Whichever aspect you focus on, none of it is good news.

The “higher for longer” policy only lasted eighteen months.

The U.S. budget deficit reached $1.897 trillion in the first eleven months of the 2024 fiscal year, and annual interest costs on the public debt topped $1 trillion for the first time….Furthermore, in its own projections, the Treasury expected an increase of $16 trillion in government debt between 2024 and 2034. The Congress Budget Office estimates that the implementation of the Harris economic plan will result in a further $2.25 trillion increase in debt.