The federal deficit = savings bonds.

It's as simple as that.

Savings bonds are mostly owned by US individuals and institutions who want a risk-free return. Some are owned by foreign individuals and institutions who want a risk-free return denominated in dollars.

The bigger the deficit is, the more savings there are in the hands of the private sector. Woo scary.

To pay off those savings bonds, the federal government issues dollars. It pays off a dollar denominated debt instrument that pays interest with dollars that don't pay interest. It does this by changing the numbers in your savings account. There's no actual printing. If this kind of seems like a scam, it is. The point is the government can't run out of money, it is the printing press.

Theoretically, if the deficit is high enough we might get inflation. We haven't had much inflation in decades and the deficit is plenty high already, but basically, that's the excuse the 1% give when they spend all the money on toys for themselves and need to pretend there's nothing left for basic life essential needs.