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My EV notion was for each car to have two battery packs that could charge independently.  I had a strong feeling this was wrong, but somehow couldn't quite get it, for overly long.

Yes, the debt HELD BY THE PUBLIC would be higher (unless the Fed was forced to be more aggressive), and the overall debt would be .... the same.

The debt held by the Fed is ... bizarre, to me.  

Office Space: I'm Gonna Have to Disagree With You There (youtube.com)
Office Space: I'm Gonna Have to Disagree With You There (youtube.com)

To me, the critical parameter is overall debt.  I still view the SSTF and the Fed as separate entities.  I'm probably wrong.  

To me, the critical parameter is overall debt.  I still view the SSTF and the Fed as separate entities.  I'm probably wrong. 

Here I disagree because they are one and the same from the perspective of who is on the hook for their liabilities:

Yes, completely different. The corporations would be on the hook for repaying the SSTF, not American taxpayers or increasing US debt.

Likewise, if they invested it in foreign debt. It would be foreign taxpayers or foreign governments that have to repay it, not American taxpayers or increasing US debt. Which is why some foreign sovereign wealth funds invest in T-Bills--because it's AMERICANS on the hook for repayment, not their own citizens/companies.

Or if they invested it in index funds. They would then have assets in the form of stocks that they could sell to draw down the SSTF, meaning that the buyers of those stocks, pay, not American taxpayers or by increasing US Debt.

Or if they bought a bunch of gold bullion and could sell it off to draw down the SSTF. That would not be repaid by American taxpayers or increasing US debt.

All of these completely and totally change the entire situation.

It seems to me this is about accounting and how things are enumerated, not reality.  That's why I look at total debt, not "debt held by the public".  And of course if nothing is done with the SSTF, that contribution will disappear by 2035 or so, so we'd be back to zero, except the Fed.  

If the Fed hypothetically assumed ALL the public debt, they could zero it out, but in my view, the total debt would still exist and be horrible.  It's not as if that would make everything kosher.

My GUESS is at some point, the Fed will somewhat quietly have to assume more and more of the debt because lenders will become more and more worried and the T bills won't  be viewed as the safest investment in the world.  Then we could experience really serious inflation of course, which would increase interest rates, which would contribute to really really serious inflation ...

The unfettered ability to "print money" is scary, to me.

I don't really follow the hypothetical, so I don't know.  

I guess my real question is why does any of this really matter?  I look at the total debt picture myself.  That's the amount that ostensibly has to be paid back at some point (by borrowing more these days).