Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
The average citizen only cares about something that directly impacts of affects them. With the national debt they will not care about the effects until it slaps them in the face and ruins their lives. They lose their jobs, their investment fund are reduced to 0, and the value of their house goes bye bye. Those things they do and will care about. Some national debt # on a piece of paper is meaningless conjecture and a political football until it all falls apart.
The average citizen only cares about something that directly impacts of affects them. With the national debt they will not care about the effects until it slaps them in the face and ruins their lives. They lose their jobs, their investment fund are reduced to 0, and the value of their house goes bye bye. Those things they do and will care about. Some national debt # on a piece of paper is meaningless conjecture and a political football until it all falls apart.
Unfortunately, the average citizen is severely lacking when it comes to having any math or critical thinking skills.
Interest on the debt is still somewhat manageable today. For 2016 it was about $240 billion, or a little less than $750 per capita. Of course if the debt keeps growing faster than the economy it WILL become an issue, perhaps in my lifetime.
While I'm not a proponent of big government, the social programs you mention seem necessary if we want to keep seniors from largely living on the streets and begging for food. Most people cannot or will not save anything, and so without a sea change in attitude it's hard to imagine what our country would look like without SS/Medicare. They do seem to be in need of continual reform, unfortunately, being the product of a political process and not an actuarial process. Higher taxes and thinner benefits seem inevitable, although how these are actually implemented remains to be seen.
With all that said, I personally think the Federal Government has grown much bigger than it needs to be, and bigger that it was intended to be. Defense is a necessity, but we need to stop being the world's policeman and get out of a lot of foreign countries. And today we have huge federal agencies that did not even exist when I was born, but are now deemed essential. As you describe, there is no motivation for cutting or eliminating everything. As long as there are no term limits, and effectively no limits on campaign contributions, I don't see anything changing much at all.
Will there be natural consequences that will arise regardless if the fed govt wants it to or not, such as hyper inflation or a brain drain of Xth generation americans. I mean how many engineers and scientists will stay in the USA if it means living on the streets?
Will there be natural consequences that will arise regardless if the fed govt wants it to or not, such as hyper inflation or a brain drain of Xth generation americans. I mean how many engineers and scientists will stay in the USA if it means living on the streets?
Hyperinflation takes more than simply creating money to satisfy the legitimate needs of the people and business. It takes a concomitant and massive national disaster, physical or governmental.
According to the screamers, hyper-inflation should have been here long ago. Then again, their record shows that they have been right far less often than the proverbial broken clock.
As for the public debt, it is important to remember at least that households lack both taxing and currency-issuing authority but do face a necessary time of reckoning due to death.
Carry on.
Will the debt catch up to us? Will it catch up to us in our lifetime? Or is it a case of worrying about nothing?
Does the average citizen really care about the national debt? No, but they should. The government bond rating has been AAA for 70 years and was downgraded to one notch to AA+ in 2011. It really only a matter of time before US Government bonds are down-rated again to AA, could be another decade, but I predict the bond ratings will fall at an increase pace with each downgarde, where at 70 years to fall from AAA to AA+, maybe 20 to 25 years to be downgraded from AA+ to AA, 12 years to AA-, 6 years A- and so on, until the bond ratings are a D rating.
So what; how does that affect me, John Q public. Well if the government can no longer borrow money to pay for budget obligations, they can either cut spending or print more money, From 1970 to 1997 the government budget operated in a deficit, there was a brief time from 1998 to 2001 where the US had a balance budget and in 2002 until 2016 the budget was in a deficit again. So for the last 47 years, the budget was only balanced for 3 years. What do you think the chances are the government will be able to balance the budget in the future? Not good I say, so they have to print money, which in turn will lead to serious inflation, and eventually hyper inflation. The buy power people have will be greatly diminished, life savings will be wiped out just to buy a loaf of bread. It's not be the end of the world situation, as some doomsayers predict. Several other countries have suffered hyperinflation and were able to recover, but it will cause great hardships and suffering for 100's of millions of Americans who are used to the government bailing them out with welfare and economic aid, which will not be available. Since the United States is such a large economy in the world, it will be affect the entire world, plunging it into a world wide depression.
Will it catch up to you in your life time, really depends on how old you are. If your in you 40's or 50's, chances are things will stay stable enough for you to retire and enjoy your retirement, but if your in your 20's, I say your chances are good things will get bad before you retire and your children will certainly suffer.
So what can you do to protect yourself. You need invest in something that holds it value, Gold and Silver are good choices, Diamonds are not, just remember that Gold and Silver have a horrible return on investment, so you shouldn't invest too much of your nest egg in them. When hyperinflation hits, the Stock market will also go into overdrive where a 2000% return daily will be considerate a low return on your investment.
Last edited by TechGromit; 11-03-2017 at 10:01 AM..
Does the average citizen really care about the national debt? No, but they should. The government bond rating has been AAA for 70 years and was downgraded to one notch to AA+ in 2011. It really only a matter of time before US Government bonds are down-rated again to AA, could be another decade, but I predict the bond ratings will fall at an increase pace with each downgarde, where at 70 years to fall from AAA to AA+, maybe 20 to 25 years to be downgraded from AA+ to AA, 12 years to AA-, 6 years A- and so on, until the bond ratings are a D rating.
So what; how does that affect me, John Q public. Well if the government can no longer borrow money to pay for budget obligations, they can either cut spending or print more money, From 1970 to 1997 the government budget operated in a deficit, there was a brief time from 1998 to 2001 where the US had a balance budget and in 2002 until 2016 the budget was in a deficit again. So for the last 47 years, the budget was only balanced for 3 years. What do you think the chances are the government will be able to balance the budget in the future? Not good I say, so they have to print money, which in turn will lead to serious inflation, and eventually hyper inflation. The buy power people have will be greatly diminished, life savings will be wiped out just to buy a loaf of bread. It's not be the end of the world situation, as some doomsayers predict. Several other countries have suffered hyperinflation and were able to recover, but it will cause great hardships and suffering for 100's of millions of Americans who are used to the government bailing them out with welfare and economic aid, which will not be available. Since the United States is such a large economy in the world, it will be affect the entire world, plunging it into a world wide depression.
Will it catch up to you in your life time, really depends on how old you are. If your in you 40's or 50's, chances are things will stay stable enough for you to retire and enjoy your retirement, but if your in your 20's, I say your chances are good things will get bad before you retire and your children will certainly suffer.
So what can you do to protect yourself. You need invest in something that holds it value, Gold and Silver are good choices, Diamonds are not, just remember that Gold and Silver have a horrible return on investment, so you shouldn't invest too much of your nest egg in them. When hyperinflation hits, the Stock market will also go into overdrive where a 2000% return daily will be considerate a low return on your investment.
The 2011 downgrade was due to political squabbling about the debt ceiling. And that could lead to a situation where debt interest is not paid or delayed due to politics and ideology, vs our Federal Gov't actually 'running out of money'. As we are monetarily sovereign, the Federal Gov't cannot inherently go BK. Sure we can inflate, but that is a different story. The world has known all along that our USD based national debt paper is the most secure in the world. It was in 2011, as it is today.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
