181–190 of 234 posts
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We need more inflation than 2% though. The fact that 211% is too high doesn't mean that 2% isn't too low. And the low inflation expectations leads to low interest rates which reduces the cost of money which is creating our financial sector inflation/bubble.
You should look up Wynne Godley and Sectoral Balances.
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Interesting definition of government debt, but those “paying back” the debt in future taxes are very unlikely to have any connection to those who incurred the costs to start with.
But they will have inherited the asset side of the debt from grandad won’t they. That’s the connection. Debt is really saving and when people spend those savings it eliminates the debt.
We owe a bit more than 1 year's GDP. Most families that own a house owe substantially more than 1 year's income. Last time we reduced the annual deficit to zero, the usual debt hawks all reversed their position and said "this is terrible". We've demonstrated in my lifetime that we can do this. The fact that "we" don't want to right now has more to do with Republican attitudes towards taxation than anything else. MMT…
> We owe a bit more than 1 year's GDP. And who is this money owed to? $24T is owed to US domestic entities, while $7T is foreign owned: * https://usafacts.org/articles/which-countries-own-the-most-u... Americans are mostly paying money to themselves.
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A lot of Democrats (not all, for sure) would be very happy to massively cut defense expenditure, which is a vast slice of federal expenditure. Alas, that has two problems: (1) US military spending is our own national version of socialism, in which we prop up communities by providing massive state subsidies, along with housing, healthcare, education and more to a large group of people (2) because of (1), it is hard to…
The active duty military vote is not actually a solid republican voting block, contrary to popular belief: in 2020, they swung +8 for Biden [1]. It’s the veterans who are solidly (2/3) conservative, currently, but even that’s lessening [2]. Unfortunately I don’t think a majority of either party wants to reign in military spending, considering every admin including Obama and Biden has increased it since Carter, even t…
What is true, however, is the most (not all) communities with a functioning US military base close by is a solid voting bloc for NOT cutting military expenditures, at least not insofar as they could lead to base closures (and specifically, their base).
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A lot of Democrats (not all, for sure) would be very happy to massively cut defense expenditure, which is a vast slice of federal expenditure. Alas, that has two problems: (1) US military spending is our own national version of socialism, in which we prop up communities by providing massive state subsidies, along with housing, healthcare, education and more to a large group of people (2) because of (1), it is hard to…
Cutting military alone wouldn't fix anything. Everybody has their own pet issues they want to cut. The reality is only broad taxes on the middle class or massive social spending can really change the long term situation. Not that cutting military spending wouldn't be smart.
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Our taxes cover entitlements, military, and debt. That's it. Everything else is coming from the deficit. The Republicans have cut taxes to an unsustainable level. No matter how big or small the rest of the government is, the tax base is too low to support it.
> have cut taxes to an unsustainable level Something like half of every dollar I make gets swallowed up by taxes of some sort, either directly or indirectly (by making products and services more expensive). A good portion of it just to fuck around in foreign countries against my wishes. How much more should they take?
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The government doesn't owe the debt, we the people do. We authorized & enabled the government to incur that debt on our behalf.
This is pretty non-mainstream macroeconomic point of view. It did not correspond to reality when latest sovereign debt default occurred in Greece. Then it was government, foreign banks who bought the debt and European Central Bank who was on the hook for restructuring, not citizens or general public.
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Don't know why you're being down voted, it's widely accepted that it only really works for currencies that are reserve currency status. It could also work if you were entirely self-sufficient with no exports/imports. All on the proviso that humans are quick to react to inflation, using perfect information, which we're not and which we don't have.
It works for all currencies. Some currencies have higher savings rates than other currencies. The problem is calling that saving 'debt' and then catastrophising about it.
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A lot of Democrats (not all, for sure) would be very happy to massively cut defense expenditure, which is a vast slice of federal expenditure. Alas, that has two problems: (1) US military spending is our own national version of socialism, in which we prop up communities by providing massive state subsidies, along with housing, healthcare, education and more to a large group of people (2) because of (1), it is hard to…
The active duty military vote is not actually a solid republican voting block, contrary to popular belief: in 2020, they swung +8 for Biden [1]. It’s the veterans who are solidly (2/3) conservative, currently, but even that’s lessening [2]. Unfortunately I don’t think a majority of either party wants to reign in military spending, considering every admin including Obama and Biden has increased it since Carter, even t…
The American military budget is mostly the "America guarantees everyone can do business with anyone else (but mostly America) so that we can be very wealthy" budget. Remember that we built and sailed the Great White Fleet before world war 1.
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Cutting military alone wouldn't fix anything. Everybody has their own pet issues they want to cut. The reality is only broad taxes on the middle class or massive social spending can really change the long term situation. Not that cutting military spending wouldn't be smart.
There are a lot of Ron Swansons out there, who simultaneously decry big government and make their living directly from government spending. > The reality is only broad taxes on the middle class or massive social spending can really change the long term situation. Why the middle class, which has mostly been taxed into not existing? How about the upper class? As Warren Buffett says, they've won the class war, and gone…
Because that's not how the American middle class died? The American middle class died when upper management sold your solid career to the Chinese for a quick buck, and spent all the windfall on enriching themselves for decades. It's amazing you cite Warren Buffet while saying that, who commonly calls for higher taxes on the wealthy.