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Total US Debt Is over $75T; Debt-to-GDP Lower Than in 2008

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Re: Total US Debt Is over $75T; Debt-to-GDP Lower Than in 2008

#11

Post by charlesdm »

LUmBULtERA wrote: post #9

That is an amazing amount of public and private debt. It's an interesting thought that I have had $0 of private debt for at least 10 years, which means someone else is picking up a lot of slack for me. Reminds me of an old Square One TV episode that talked about the average number of donuts eaten by Americans -- and I concluded that someone (or multiple someones) must have seriously been picking up my slack there as…

There is good and bad debt, though. If you can borrow $1m to buy an asset that generates you $250k a year.. then debt is great.

Re: Total US Debt Is over $75T; Debt-to-GDP Lower Than in 2008

#13

Post by tonyedgecombe »

NTDF9 wrote: post #10
Armisael16 wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

First: that debt will be repaid. The people who own those T-bonds will redeem them and get their money. This is an important distinction; you buy T-bonds because you know they’ll be paid back. The total value of the debt is an almost meaningless number. As long as people keep buying US debt, we’ll have the money to pay the debt off. (Strictly the US could just print the money it needs to pay the debt right now - the…

Let's just say something breaks and we're in a recession (declining GDP, declining immigrants, declining production, declining population). What happens then?

Turn on the printing press. As long as the debt is in your own currency it isn’t a problem.

If you don’t control your currency (think of Greece in the Euro) then it’s another matter. The same if you borrow in a foreign currency.

Re: Total US Debt Is over $75T; Debt-to-GDP Lower Than in 2008

#14

Post by tonyedgecombe »

Four_Star wrote: post #3
commandlinefan wrote: post #2

It seems pretty clear that this debt will never be repaid, and will just keep growing - how big can it grow before it just doesn't get to grow any more?

Judging by Japan's example, a lot more. Though you never really know. It's like trying to predict just how much snow will cause an avalanche. All you can really do is look at it and say 'that looks dangerous.'

Japan is unusual in that most of its debt is owned by its own population. This makes it difficult to inflate away.

Re: Total US Debt Is over $75T; Debt-to-GDP Lower Than in 2008

#16

Post by faileddev »

tonyedgecombe wrote: post #13
NTDF9 wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Let's just say something breaks and we're in a recession (declining GDP, declining immigrants, declining production, declining population). What happens then?

Turn on the printing press. As long as the debt is in your own currency it isn’t a problem. If you don’t control your currency (think of Greece in the Euro) then it’s another matter. The same if you borrow in a foreign currency.

>Turn on the printing press

This is nothing more than a form of taxation.

Re: Total US Debt Is over $75T; Debt-to-GDP Lower Than in 2008

#17

Post by mlevental »

charlesdm wrote: post #11
LUmBULtERA wrote: post #9

That is an amazing amount of public and private debt. It's an interesting thought that I have had $0 of private debt for at least 10 years, which means someone else is picking up a lot of slack for me. Reminds me of an old Square One TV episode that talked about the average number of donuts eaten by Americans -- and I concluded that someone (or multiple someones) must have seriously been picking up my slack there as…

There is good and bad debt, though. If you can borrow $1m to buy an asset that generates you $250k a year.. then debt is great.

lol where does there exist such an asset

Re: Total US Debt Is over $75T; Debt-to-GDP Lower Than in 2008

#18

Post by Mikeb85 »

mlevental wrote: post #17
charlesdm wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is good and bad debt, though. If you can borrow $1m to buy an asset that generates you $250k a year.. then debt is great.

lol where does there exist such an asset

Profitable restaurants generate more than that.
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