Financial Repression Spun as a Good Thing

While this article details financial repression, it argues that it is a good thing for nations to rob their lenders. The article notes: "the average real short-term interest rate paid by U.S. government between 1945 and 1980 was -3.5 percent". If that was true when the US government was routinely running budget surplusses, what are the (real) returns now? Once adjusted for inflation, todays real returns are far worse and getting harder to hide all the time. Financial repression is not a sign of being civilized as Reuters argues, rather it is a sign of a corrupt and desparate civilization rotting at its governing core.
BREAKINGVIEWS-Financial repression is here and may be helpful | Reuters:: uk.reuters.com/article/2012/01/09/idUKL6E8C53OQ201...20109
http://chumly.com/n/f54d0f