The gold standard monetary system is dead. Yet, all of our erstwhile leaders continue to make policy based on these outmoded rubrics. They don't know that we can't go broke, and that federal taxes don't pay for anything. A sovereign currency nation is not constrained by revenue to spend. Taxes are stabilizers for aggregate demand, not revenue. Same for borrowing. Nothing is bought with those funds.  Under a gold standard the US would have lost the second world War, still be in a depression, never ventured into space, Vietnam, or the age of technology.  Gold standard rubrics served as a constraints on Federal spending.  The real constraint is, and will always be the level of unemployment. The need for federal spending is higher when unemployment rates are high lower when UE rates are low.