Comment by zaphar

    as long as we keep inflation in check

That's the trick though isn't it? MMT discourse tends to gloss over or ignore the dangers of runaway inflation and act as if you can borrow all you want with no consequence. But that part that you put in parentheses above is precisely why you can't do that. What you borrow for your budget has to be payed back later. If you just print money to do it because you borrowed more than you could afford then you inflate your currency. If inflation happens too quickly you have serious problems. It's not free money.