The Briefing Room
General Category => Economy/Business => Topic started by: LMAO on October 14, 2016, 12:33:27 pm
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Hey, Millennials, Do Deficits Matter?
By Jon N. Hall
Progressives have said that “deficits don’t matter.” Even a few conservatives have said as much. Some, however, like Speaker Paul Ryan, worry that the sharp recent rise in the national debt could lead to a “debt crisis,” a situation in which there are no painless choices, a situation where we must act, but all of our options will leave us weakened. Call it a fiscal “zugzwang.”
If one goes to the Debt to the Penny webpage at Treasury Direct, one can see what the debt is today. And if one looks at the “Go to page” box at the bottom of the chart, types in “39,” hits Enter, and then scrolls down a bit, one can see what the debt was on the day President Obama was first sworn into office, Jan. 20, 2009. On that day the Total Debt was $10.625T and on Oct. 5, 2016 it was $19.688T.
Read more: http://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2016/10/hey_millennials_do_deficits_matter.html#ixzz4N3uw5c7R
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Hey, Millennials, Do Deficits Matter?
By Jon N. Hall
Progressives have said that “deficits don’t matter.” Even a few conservatives have said as much. Some, however, like Speaker Paul Ryan, worry that the sharp recent rise in the national debt could lead to a “debt crisis,” a situation in which there are no painless choices, a situation where we must act, but all of our options will leave us weakened. Call it a fiscal “zugzwang.”
If one goes to the Debt to the Penny webpage at Treasury Direct, one can see what the debt is today. And if one looks at the “Go to page” box at the bottom of the chart, types in “39,” hits Enter, and then scrolls down a bit, one can see what the debt was on the day President Obama was first sworn into office, Jan. 20, 2009. On that day the Total Debt was $10.625T and on Oct. 5, 2016 it was $19.688T.
Read more: http://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2016/10/hey_millennials_do_deficits_matter.html#ixzz4N3uw5c7R
They do when you can no longer pay the interest out of tax revenues, and we are rapidly approaching that.
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For the Federal government they may not, at least not immediately. Your own personal debt wouldn't matter either if you could just print money to pay it off. That inflation is a huge side-effect does matter, that can be explained away, and China will end up willing eating inflation way.
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For the Federal government they may not, at least not immediately. Your own personal debt wouldn't matter either if you could just print money to pay it off. That inflation is a huge side-effect does matter, that can be explained away, and China will end up willing eating inflation way.
As long as they are willing for us to be the world's reserve currency. If they dump our dollar because of our fiscal and monetary irresponsibility, we are in for one world of hurt.
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For the Federal government they may not, at least not immediately. Your own personal debt wouldn't matter either if you could just print money to pay it off. That inflation is a huge side-effect does matter, that can be explained away, and China will end up willing eating inflation way.
As Jay Leno would say it, "Spend all you want, we'll make more."
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Millennials - "What's a deficit?"
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Thanks to all those who replied to this post and my one on the state of SS
The fiscal and economic situation we are facing, as many can tell, is a huge issue for me. I wish it was as big as an issue for the public at large but if the issue isn't a big deal to the elected and the current candidates, I suppose the average American will remain "blissfully ignorant." Even if/when the "SHTF" I wonder if the public will still understand?
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Nah, they'll just dump it on future generations the way we dumped it on them.
At least until we (well, they) can't borrow money to roll over the debt and create new deficits anymore. It's not like the gov't just prints money out of thin air, it has to borrow most of it first.
Many years ago I wondered about a future generation that simply says, "Nope, I didn't borrow this. Not my responsibility to pay it back". And they'd have a point.
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Wait a second, here. You're asking people who are going $100K, $200K in debt to get a degree in a field where they might be able to get a $35K job and with a spouse, maybe scratch enough together to get that $450-750K mortgage to buy a house?
What was the question?
Do deficits matter? No just credit ratings. Debt is eternal to them.
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Thanks to all those who replied to this post and my one on the state of SS
The fiscal and economic situation we are facing, as many can tell, is a huge issue for me. I wish it was as big as an issue for the public at large but if the issue isn't a big deal to the elected and the current candidates, I suppose the average American will remain "blissfully ignorant." Even if/when the "SHTF" I wonder if the public will still understand?
My parents were the first of the baby boomers. I remember a stpry he told me about how when he was ten years old, 1956, the first familiy in town with a TV would invite him in to watch The Lone Ranger (I think). That was also the last year the federal gov't didn't go deeper into debt. He's retired now. Throughout an entire working lifetime there were deficits. Same for me, though I'm not done working just yet.
So, to me, it's not surprising that most of the population doesn't see the problem. It's just the way things have "always" been, from the time of one B/W channel and rabbit ears to HD on a smart phone.
OTOH, it's so bloody obvious that this cannot continue forever that it sort of drives me crazier that people can't see it. It's like a game of musical chairs (or musical chair as I usually refer to it) where they keep on taking out chairs but never stop the music. Hello?
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Wait a second, here. You're asking people who are going $100K, $200K in debt to get a degree in a field where they might be able to get a $35K job and with a spouse, maybe scratch enough together to get that $450-750K mortgage to buy a house?
What was the question?
Do deficits matter? No just credit ratings. Debt is eternal to them.
But not all debt is eternal. Under Trump's proposed plan your example person would pay no more than $65,625 on those student loans, whether they're $100K, $200K, or more.
Hmm, I wonder what would happen to the cost of education in that case? And will the next generations have an incentive to save for college, take AP classes in HS, work during college, or just run up debt they know will be discharged?
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It all boils down to the day when we can sell no more snow to the eskimos. They aren't going to buy our debt if we can't pay the interest, and they aren't going to keep our dollar if they can't get a return off it.
Then there's the other problem. We've had a financially symbiotic relationship with China (and others) for quite awhile now. We buy their stuff, they buy our financial instruments. As the govt continues to erode our economic base, it will come to the point where that circular money flow isn't going to happen.
It will make it a whole lot tougher to borrow without that cash inflow. It will also be very hard to keep our dollar strong.
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Thanks to all those who replied to this post and my one on the state of SS
The fiscal and economic situation we are facing, as many can tell, is a huge issue for me. I wish it was as big as an issue for the public at large but if the issue isn't a big deal to the elected and the current candidates, I suppose the average American will remain "blissfully ignorant." Even if/when the "SHTF" I wonder if the public will still understand?
Keep posting. I'm reading. We are on the cusp of going down the tubes fast. Duetche Bank is the canary in the coal mine. China, Japan, Germany and Russia are circling the drain....and were next.