There are fashions in economics just as there are fashions in everything. Every couple of decades some economist stands up and gets attention by proclaiming that perpetual deficits and unbounded printing of money are just fine. And then a few countries try it, experience hyperinflation and the collapse of their currencies - leading to an import drought in basic goods - and we all forget about these trendy claims for another 20 years or so, which is long enough for most people to forget the last time that free money was said to be the panacea for all our problems. And then we get it all over again.