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.
If economic growth increases faster than the deficit increases, the debt, as a p% of GDP, keeps getting smaller. A $20 trillion debt in a $200 trillion economy, is chicken feed. The economy can absorb that easily. This is just math folks.
economic growth is NOT increasing, it's DECREASING! How does it increase with more and more jobs being lost, especially the high paying ones and our economy depends on people having disposable income to spend? How? It doesn't. It's just math folks.
It's not my job to research Bernie's economic plans (which I'm sure are quite ghastly). I only hear empty phrases from Sanders fans, so I'd like to hear a detailed explanation for once. Saying that people and corporations "need to pay their fair share" over and over again is as bad as Trump saying "I'll just get it done".
Better to be an uninformed voter? Bernie is not shy. YT is absolutely full of clips of him speaking on every issue under the sun for the last 20 years. Punch in what you want to know and get educated.
BTW - If you don't make over $400,000 a year you probably won't have to worry.
What? A debt never paid isn't irrelevant, it is STILL owed! Are you saying that we can just keep borrowing money with no intentions of ever paying it back? Really? You do know that wars start over that right?
That's how Trump made his billions. Maybe there's something to it...
We never defaulted on the debt. I don't know what makes you think that we did.
But economic growth has made the WWII debt, of $220 billion, which was 120% of GDP at the time, completely irrelevant compared to the size of the economy.
You are word smithing. Money printed prior to 1971 was backed by real assets because each $ printed could still be redeemed for either silver (domestically) or gold (internationally). Furthermore GDP was calculated differently in 1945 than it is now so the comparison is for naught.
After Nixon defaulted on the debt in 1971, by halting owed gold redemptions (mainly to France) we went 100% fiat. It's just numbers in a computer now. This is why that 98% of the national debt has been run up since then. It's not mathematically impossible to pay back. When the interest on the debt exceeds the ability of the taxpayers to cover, is when the fun begins.
They will have to default on the USD represented by FRNs. They will have no choice.
(BTW, $220B of debt run up by 5 years of world war, now represents about 1/2 of government spending.)
What you seem to fail to understand that the servicing on the debt will continue to increase and in order to pay that so we DON'T default taxes will have to continue to increase while we lose more and more jobs and pay scale. THAT is how it ruins livelihoods. Pretty soon they will need 100% of everyone's money just to pay the debt payment.
You should look at the math.
If GDP grows at 3% per year and the deficit grows by 2% per year, then tax revenue, which is typically about 18% of GDP will always increase faster than the interest on the debt. Oh, by the way, even though debt has doubled interest is about the same over the last few years.
You are word smithing. Money printed prior to 1971 was backed by real assets because each $ printed could still be redeemed for either silver (domestically) or gold (internationally).
What makes you think that shiny metals have intrinsic values? Money is what people will give you in exchange for it. The whole world is willing to give products and services (real assets) for those dollars. They are acknowledging that our money has value. All is needed is the full faith and credit of the United States.
Moreover, the U.S. dollar floats on world markets and is priced in comparison to other currencies. That establishes how much the dollar is worth to foreigners. Also, no other currency is set to gold or silver anymore. That's an archaic method of valuing money.
Quote:
Originally Posted by WaldoKitty
Furthermore GDP was calculated differently in 1945 than it is now so the comparison is for naught.
That's unimportant. The U.S. still ran up $220 billion by the end of World War II when the GDP was less than that, however you calculate it.
Quote:
Originally Posted by WaldoKitty
After Nixon defaulted on the debt in 1971, by halting owed gold redemptions (mainly to France) we went 100% fiat. It's just numbers in a computer now. This is why that 98% of the national debt has been run up since then. It's not mathematically impossible to pay back. When the interest on the debt exceeds the ability of the taxpayers to cover, is when the fun begins.
It sure seems like the economy and people have done really well since 1971.
Quote:
Originally Posted by WaldoKitty
They will have to default on the USD represented by FRNs. They will have no choice.
The government has an unlimited ability to create money. As long as one has a sovereign currency, there is never a need to default.
Quote:
Originally Posted by WaldoKitty
(BTW, $220B of debt run up by 5 years of world war, now represents about 1/2 of government spending.)
Expenditures today are just shy of $4 trillion. $220 billion is not half of spending. In 1950, government spending was $44.8 billion so the debt of $220 billion was five times government spending. GDP was $300.2 billion.
How did we pay it off? We didn't. It's just that as GDP rose, $220 billion in debt was smaller and smaller compared to the size of the economy. It's something like someone who graduated college with a $5,000 student loan debt. That number might seem large compared to that person's first job, but as their income rises year-after-year, $5,000 becomes incidental.
It's not your "job". But you're asking a question that can literally be answered from 10 minutes of research.
I have yet to hear the answer either.. since you posted this a long, long time ago, far more than 10 minutes has gone bye, can you please provide us with the answer?
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.
