For Gov't non-payment, that's not really a concern. They'd only refuse to pay off debt if they for some reason chose not to pay it (which would be crazy). They always have the option of selling bonds to private banks or the fed reserve to raise money for whatever purpose (pay off debt or invest in economy).

What if people stop buying bonds? First that would be very surprising and rare because they guarantee a positive rate of return. Gov't always has the choice to increase that rate of return to bring in more buyers. Every year there are more buyers of bonds than bonds they're looking to sell. So technically possible, but very unlikely.

All a budget surplus means is taxing out more than the government spends. So you can cut spending below taxes. Raise taxes above spending. Or combination of both, where taxes are greater than Gov't spending. To clarify, a budget surplus refers to a single year, the federal deficit refers to the culmination of all historical spending.

Your concern about inflation is where my concern is as well. Instead of thinking "will this spending increase the deficit," we should be asking "will this spending increase inflation too much?" Some inflation is good and a sign of a growing economy, but too much can be bad. It's a balancing act, but this is the right question to be asking.

Economics is arbitrary and that's why I love it, and why there are different schools of thought always competing. And I am strongly in favor of a minimum wage in general, and currently, in raising it.

Thanks for the read and comment.