"We can always print more money!"

Is Eugene Robinson serious?  Or is he just joshin' with us?  Pulling our chain?

And no, I can't join the "we're all at fault" chorus. Absent the threat of willful default, a downgrade would be unjustified and absurd. And history will note that it was House Republicans who issued that threat.  There is no plausible scenario under which the U.S. would be unable to service its debt. If political gridlock were to persist, our government would be able to pay bondholders with a combination of tax revenues and funds raised by selling more Treasury bills.

And in the final analysis, as Alan Greenspan noted Sunday on "Meet the Press," the U.S. "can pay any debt it has because we can always print money to do that."

I know this kind of talk is horrifying to Ron Paul and others who believe we should be walking around with our pockets full of doubloons, but most of us find paper money more convenient.

Really, it's just such talk that makes rating agencies look askance at us.  Print more money? 

Is he trippin'?!