Printing Dollars

Of course, since U.S. debt is payable in dollars, and the U.S. government controls the printing of dollars, it is not clear what a downgrade could even mean. As long as the U.S. government knows how to print dollars, it will always be able to make the interest and principal payments on its debt.

-- Dean Baker, Co-Director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research, Statement on the S&P Downgrade (8 August 2011)