There are structures in our laws that prevent the government from printing money. Changing that would require legislation. First would be to eliminate the debt limit. The other would be for there to be a method for the government to spend money it does not have. The Treasury might print currency but it does not create digital dollars and I think is required to have those dollars to pay bills. I don't know the actual law that requires it.

I think we are practicing MMT in more ways than just QE. Essentially the Fed creates dollars anytime they buy U.S. Treasury debt. If the Fed bought every bill and bond the Treasury issued undercutting the markets by bidding yields down to zero then the Treasury could issue unlimited debt, roll over any principal and never pay any interest. All this would require would be to lift the debt ceiling and an agreement that the Fed would buy enough of the U.S. debt to keep the interest rate at zero. As far as I know there is no limit to the Fed's balance sheet.

What is often missed in the discussion of MMT is how important it is, what the money is spent on. If the money is spent on infrastructure, education and healthcare in ways that make our economy and society more efficient then you would not see inflation but if it is spent on disposable items or make work projects like bridges to no where then that would cause inflation.

TEK