As a followup on Monday’s blog post – Australian government debt approaching $A1 trillion – who cares? Everybody it seems but me (August 24, 2026) – there is an additional aspect of the hysteria around government debt levels that was implicit in that post but bears more detailed discussion. What I am writing today is nothing that I haven’t written before but as the debt hysteria comes in cycles and then becomes more subdued once the more ridiculous predictions fail as time passes, the counter has to be regularly repeated. I am studying the Japanese language at present and as it becomes more complex (for me), repetition is the only way I can ingrain the written language and sounds. The point today is that the mainstream commentary, even from so-called progressive sources, takes as given a major institutional feature of the modern system that is totally unnecessary in a fiat monetary system. Further, that feature just happens to be imposed to advance the ideological interests of the elites, while it masquerades as a non-negotiable and natural requirement of a sustainable system. The implications of abandoning that feature is what I am discussing here today.