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Notes -
Private savings don't have to be in T-Bills. To the extent the market is flooded with them, they crowd out private investment and savings in private instruments.
Still, the real reason government deficits are bad is that the bulk of government spending is bad. Transfer programs for the poor and elderly, government schools, subsidies for corn farmers, etc. When you spend money on these things you are buying fairly useless products, employing people in positions where they would be better for the country if they were employed elsewhere, etc. So even if some amount of T-bill generation each year is actually good, it would be best achieved by funding courts and police and setting taxes near to zero.
There's no crowding out there, it's just a price effect. The government sets the risk-free rate, and others price risk premiums on top of that. Finance is infinitely available: price not quantity.
That's exactly right, that's why we fight (politically) for our preferred outcomes. It's just a mistake to say the deficit has anything to do with the size of government or what we prioritize doing in the public sector. The size of the government deficit & debt have to do with the savings desires of the populace. So it's just the wrong target to look at.
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