Live data from Hacker News

The U.S. borrowed $50B a week for the past five months, the CBO says

fortune.com

1–10 of 20 posts

Re: The U.S. borrowed $50B a week for the past five months, the CBO says

#3
post #2

Linkbait headline. Without context, these figures mean nothing. You can see the debt-to-GDP ratios here: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/GFDEGDQ188S https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/GFDGDPA188S

Am I supposed to take away from these plots that we are all good since it's been steadily above the prior record in 1940 since 2020? Or is everything okay since it was really going up and it did course correct to a bit more of a straight line recently?

The article seems to be communicating that this rate of spending is not sustainable.

Re: The U.S. borrowed $50B a week for the past five months, the CBO says

#4
post #2

Linkbait headline. Without context, these figures mean nothing. You can see the debt-to-GDP ratios here: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/GFDEGDQ188S https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/GFDGDPA188S

mirror:

https://archive.ph/N4tZ9

Re: The U.S. borrowed $50B a week for the past five months, the CBO says

#6
post #2

Linkbait headline. Without context, these figures mean nothing. You can see the debt-to-GDP ratios here: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/GFDEGDQ188S https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/GFDGDPA188S

Am I supposed to take away from these plots that we are all good since it's been steadily above the prior record in 1940 since 2020? Or is everything okay since it was really going up and it did course correct to a bit more of a straight line recently? The article seems to be communicating that this rate of spending is not sustainable.

Japan debt/GDP is more than twice the US's.

https://economics.stackexchange.com/questions/11792/what-lev...

Not to say that it's okay, and Japan's economy certainly has issues with stagnation due to the debt load, but it's also not a "we have imminent hyperinflation" kind of thing either.

The concern with the past five months isn't so much the level of debt, it's the rate of change - we're increasing it faster than in the past... and this isn't a COVID-level crisis or a 2008-style deep recession either where Keynesian logic might make more sense.

Re: The U.S. borrowed $50B a week for the past five months, the CBO says

#7
post #2

Linkbait headline. Without context, these figures mean nothing. You can see the debt-to-GDP ratios here: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/GFDEGDQ188S https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/GFDGDPA188S

The article has more details than just the headline. For example:

> Maya MacGuineas, president of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget (CRFB), said that interest payments on the debt are expected to exceed $1 trillion this year, and will surpass $2 trillion by 2036.

That’s very concerning. There’s no plan to run balanced budgets and stop deficits. And no plan to reduce debt. And no plan on economic competitiveness against China. American politics is mostly dominated by irrelevant things that won’t fix the fundamental problems that will come to affect us in the future.

Re: The U.S. borrowed $50B a week for the past five months, the CBO says

#8
post #2

Linkbait headline. Without context, these figures mean nothing. You can see the debt-to-GDP ratios here: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/GFDEGDQ188S https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/GFDGDPA188S

The real question is what percentage of GDP is directly created (or continues to exist) because of the increased debt. When this metric was created the GDP was more authentic and not debt driven.
Post reply on HN