Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

US national debt reaches a record $37T, the Treasury Department reports

apnews.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

131–140 of 169 posts

Re: US national debt reaches a record $37T, the Treasury Department reports

#131

Post by Rury »

bithive123 wrote: post #30
2OEH8eoCRo0 wrote: post #19

How do you guys see this ending? I don't see this ending well but I can't imagine what happens. Seems unsustainable but nobody wants to deal with it.

On a long enough timeline we're all dead. In the near term, expect a lot of stupid decisions and huffing and puffing based on an ideological framing of what the national debt is. I am not an economist or finance guy, but I have noticed a lot of debt hysteria from people who don't seem to understand basic accounting. That is, one party's asset is another party's liability. You cannot have buying without selling, and s…

I don't understand.

> I have noticed a lot of debt hysteria from people who don't seem to understand basic accounting. That is, one party's asset is another party's liability.

This is correct, but... let me ask you, would it concern you, if my asset is your liability? I mean, would it concern you if you had to pay for my house? How about everything it is I do? How would this not be a concern? If it is not, then why don't you publicly disclose your credit card?

Re: US national debt reaches a record $37T, the Treasury Department reports

#132

Post by Terr_ »

OgsyedIE wrote: post #25
tencentshill wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Current treasury head is Scott Bessent, previously of Soros Fund Management and Key Square Group. He's far too qualified to be part of this administration. Expect him gone soon.

He's said on Fox Business today that on the basis of whatever agreements have been made in Alaska the US now considers the public and private holdings of its European allies + Japan to be part of an American sovereign wealth fund that can be expropriated whenever some cash is needed. Either he's lying about that or he has guaranteed a position as Trump's number one favourite after Lighthizer.

I expect most other countries are making vague long-term promises, hoping that:

1. The issue will become moot in a few years.

2. Trump is motivated to misinterpret promises--especially if they involve big numbers--since he's an idiot, and eager for "wins" to brag about.

3. After Trump's emotionally invested into his New Clothes, none of his advisors will want to tell him they aren't there.

Re: US national debt reaches a record $37T, the Treasury Department reports

#133

Post by dh2022 »

nunez wrote: post #113
dh2022 wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think between 5-10 years US will run into a deficit spiral: US will not be able to control its deficit. When that time comes make sure you will not need any additional credit and you have enough savings for 6 months to a year of expenses. In the shorter term I predict that next summer Trump will replace Jerome Powell with someone else who will bring short term interest rates to close to 0%. This will allow the US a…

Pardon my ignorance, but wouldn't there be negative follow-on effects from the Fed deciding to reduce interest rates to zero because they can? If not, then wouldn't they have done that already or, better, simply kept it at zero?

Oh, there will be bad effects from that -like inflation spike. The reason the interest rates are not zero is because the Fed still has some political independence. This independence will go away next summer when Trump will replace Powell with same tool of his liking.

Re: US national debt reaches a record $37T, the Treasury Department reports

#134

Post by cosmicgadget »

mindslight wrote: post #125
cosmicgadget wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Doesn't kayfabe require that they not be naive to his lies?

No? People used to get mad when someone said wrestling was fake. It wasn't because they were in on it and pretending to be mad, but rather because they wanted to believe. A very similar dynamic to Trumpism, come to think of it.

Huh. My understanding of the definition is that both parties realize it is fiction and agree to pretend it is not.

Re: US national debt reaches a record $37T, the Treasury Department reports

#135

Post by bovinejoni »

msgodel wrote: post #106
defrost wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Did you catch the part where Trump repeatedly claimed to reduce the debt once in office and has since done the opposite (despite the smoke and mirrors called DOGE).

So you're saying that if we want something we should vote for the opposite?

Had Kamala instead campaigned on curing cancer and making all Americans billionaires, you would have voted for her instead?

Re: US national debt reaches a record $37T, the Treasury Department reports

#136

Post by mrtksn »

OgsyedIE wrote: post #25
tencentshill wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Current treasury head is Scott Bessent, previously of Soros Fund Management and Key Square Group. He's far too qualified to be part of this administration. Expect him gone soon.

He's said on Fox Business today that on the basis of whatever agreements have been made in Alaska the US now considers the public and private holdings of its European allies + Japan to be part of an American sovereign wealth fund that can be expropriated whenever some cash is needed. Either he's lying about that or he has guaranteed a position as Trump's number one favourite after Lighthizer.

>public and private holdings of its European allies + Japan to be part of an American sovereign wealth fund

That's like striking a deal with a mr.Beast and consider the public and private holdings of YouTube part of your own net worth.

I mean I would love EU to be in such a position to be able to do such deals even if I don't support such a deal but that's not the case. Maybe Poland can send money I don't know but in Europe overall there's no other consolidated pro-USA power.

Maybe Bessent talks to provoke a reaction or induce something in their electoral base?

Re: US national debt reaches a record $37T, the Treasury Department reports

#137

Post by jeff_carr »

cosmicgadget wrote: post #118
stogot wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Which ones are those again? Because both parties are doing the opposite

One party has done considerably better at reducing the deficit in recent history.

Ridiculous claim. Both parties are exactly the same on this issue. It's politics and nothing more. No one has any idea what to do about it.

Well, mathematicians do, but nobody listens to us.

Re: US national debt reaches a record $37T, the Treasury Department reports

#138

Post by orwin »

jeff_carr wrote: post #137
cosmicgadget wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One party has done considerably better at reducing the deficit in recent history.

Ridiculous claim. Both parties are exactly the same on this issue. It's politics and nothing more. No one has any idea what to do about it. Well, mathematicians do, but nobody listens to us.

I mean, he's kinda right, historically in the US, only one party ever balanced the budget, and left his successor a surplus said successor immediately used to cut taxes on wealth, right before starting the two most expensive wars US has been part of since WW2.

That the man who did it was a sex pest and should be in prison is unrelated to his success on that particular policy.

Re: US national debt reaches a record $37T, the Treasury Department reports

#139

Post by ponector »

epolanski wrote: post #35
kamikazeturtles wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Yes, I know GDP is a flawed measure, but as long as its flaws are consistent over the years it is useful for scaling. I don't think they can be considered consistent over the years. 20% of our GDP is healthcare and that's only going to grow as the population ages. I don't know what percent of the GDP is financial services but that'll probably also grow until we get something akin to 2008 again. Including healthcare…

> Including healthcare and financial services in GDP figures feels out of place and unproductive You reminded me of something: a nurse in San Diego sleeping through her entire shift is more productive than half a dozen nurses in many third world countries working hard, because the way economists measure productivity is the $/hour output. People doing nothing in America are much more productive than people doing a lot…

Taxi driver in USA is 5 times more productive than taxi driver in Indonesia!

Re: US national debt reaches a record $37T, the Treasury Department reports

#140

Post by AndrewDucker »

jeff_carr wrote: post #137
cosmicgadget wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One party has done considerably better at reducing the deficit in recent history.

Ridiculous claim. Both parties are exactly the same on this issue. It's politics and nothing more. No one has any idea what to do about it. Well, mathematicians do, but nobody listens to us.

If they're the same, then why does the deficit direction look very different for each of them?

https://ic.pics.livejournal.com/dbroussa/553166/241096/origi...

Post reply on HN