Yes it worries me. Only thing more troubling than it is climate change. At least one political party seems to care about the environment (sort of), no one in DC cares about the debt.
That's because the debt has never affected anyone, anywhere, except the people who use the big bad debt as investment - in which case they profit.Yes it worries me. Only thing more troubling than it is climate change. At least one political party seems to care about the environment (sort of), no one in DC cares about the debt.
Insufficient revenue isn't the problem. When the government makes any attempt at all to bring its spending habits into accordance with its revenue, I'll listen to plans for tax increases.
If all the government is gonna do is go to China or whoever else to get deeper into debt, I'd prefer the taxpayers keep as much of their income as possible. Lord knows they'll spend it more wisely than DC would.
That's because the debt has never affected anyone, anywhere, except the people who use the big bad debt as investment - in which case they profit.
All the debt is, is an accounting of how much currency has been injected into the economy. The economy only works if the people who live in it have access to it.
The problem isn't the number, but how that number got to where it is, and who gets to take part in the economy, and who has to live on the outside of it because of how it's been allocated.
It's called a "debt" because rather than the US government printing cash and spending it, as it very well could, it instead has the Federal Reserve Bank issue Treasury Bonds (debt) that people can purchase as investment because the bonds (debt) pays out interest on the initial base bond value. This system has a vested interest (pun intended) to keep interest rates in check.Then why is it called a debt?
It's called a "debt" because rather than the US government printing cash and spending it, as it very well could, it instead has the Federal Reserve Bank issue Treasury Bonds (debt) that people can purchase as investment because the bonds (debt) pays out interest on the initial base bond value. This system has a vested interest (pun intended) to keep interest rates in check.
I got a laugh emoji, instead of a response to what I said that you quoted, because the emoji-givers cognitive dissonance was cracked.
Since you're actually able to respond with words, let me ask you.
How as the deficit, or US Debt, ever affected you, or anyone on the planet? Please, no slippery-slope arguments about how it could affect you or anyone else if only X, Y, and Z happen.
How has it ever affected you or anyone else, ever?
So does the money have to be paid back or not?
No strawmen here. I have not said that the debt can be increased to any percentage of GDP and it not matter. I even stated in my first post that I am not arguing for some $10T helicopter dump of cash.So does the money have to be paid back or not?
Hey look, an asshole on the internet. Such a rarity.
It hasn't affected me, at least not in any way that I can recognize. But that's beside the point. Changes to the medicare system don't immediately affect me either, but it may some time in the future if its problems are left unaddressed.
If the national debt were to triple, or quadruple, or increase by just about any multiple, what would be the effect on the average citizen? Can it rise from 100% to 600 or 700% of GDP without any ill effect? Is it truly meaningless how high it goes?
I'm not an economist and don't pretend to know. But progressives seem to believe that it's wholly unimportant.
If all the government is gonna do is go to China or whoever else to get deeper into debt, I'd prefer the taxpayers keep as much of their income as possible. Lord knows they'll spend it more wisely than DC would.
I'm not an economist and don't pretend to know. But progressives seem to believe that it's wholly unimportant.
I mean I guess, but that’s only if you stretch the time line into infinity. US gdp will grow vastly larger during that time period, meaning that $120 trillion adds up to a few percent of GDP.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...es-have-128-trillion-in-unfunded-liabilities/
The national debt doesn't scare me because the majority of the U.S national debt is a war debt that's a consequence of being the world's superpower. We've spent roughly 20 trillion on wars over the last century. Take that out of the equation and we barely owe anything on the national debt.
Once we lose the reserve currrency status we won't be able to afford these wars and hence the debt will start to go down. We spend hardly anything on social services in this country compared to say, the next 20 countries ahead of us, so the chance of running into a financial catastrophe due to non-war related spending is pretty minor.
Vastly larger? Not likely, especially when the economy is essentially driven by consumer spending and debt.
The highest taxed are the people who work for a living. The poor don't pay taxes, and the wealthy find loopholes, or they put their wealth into tax exempt things like real estate. It's always the middle class who picks up the tax burden.
You could tax all sources. Would never be law though. The wealthy will make sure of that. When I taught in Asia the one huge benefit to me was I paid ZERO federal taxes. That's 22-30% on $52k. Tax free. It's why people were running oil trucks in Iraq for $100k a year. A very dangerous job, but the tax exemptions are amazing. That's extra money that you can invest, etc.
The wealthy are always going to rule America. If you can play their game on a smaller scale, I think that's the only way. Complaining about it isn't going to do anything. Just my opinion.
So to be clear you’re predicting a sustained slowdown or contraction in US GDP? When will this take place and to what extent?
Just looking for ballpark figures.
From what I know, the sustained slowdown started a decade ago. They've been creating more credit to deal with that, but the debt levels are too high.
In just eight years Obama took the debt from around $10 trillion and doubled it to about $20 trillion when he left office. About as much debt racked up by all prior admins combined there. We're still standing.
That was after GWB already doubled it. RR/GHWB more than quadrupled the debt-
https://www.treasurydirect.gov/govt/reports/pd/histdebt/histdebt.htm
Yes. They all spent too much, both sides got us into this situation. It is good to see the Democrats and Republicans can come together when it comes to kicking the can down the road.