U.S. debt-to-GDP ratio reaches 123% • Hacker News Board

Re: U.S. debt-to-GDP ratio reaches 123%

#91

Post by [deleted] » Fri, Jul 31, 2026, 4:38 PM UTC

chasd00 wrote: post #78

toomuchtodo wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Bailing out workers is okay. They are, by definition, the people who have done the work. Bailing out the wealthy, or tax cuts for them is not. Unless you are very wealthy, you are a worker, and unless you experience a lottery winning type event, will never be very wealthy. > Basically, America has an economy that is buoyed by AI development and infrastructure spending right now but is poised to pop and the national d…

> forcing the US government to raise taxes. it won't be the wealthy or cash-under-the-table classes paying these taxes, the increases will be in the income brackets. Which means paycheck receiving working stiffs ( middle and upper-middle class ) and retierees drawing from a 401k/IRA are the ones who will pay just like always.

[deleted]

Re: U.S. debt-to-GDP ratio reaches 123%

#92

Post by adamsmark » Fri, Jul 31, 2026, 4:38 PM UTC

bilsbie wrote: post #48

notfromhere wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem is that half the political system thinks you can cut taxes and grow revenues. Which is an intentional strategy to repeal social programs that they’d never get the votes to do so via legislation

[flagged]

Any sources on the $1.5M effects of yoga on goats study? Google nor ChatGPT could find anything.

Re: U.S. debt-to-GDP ratio reaches 123%

#93

Post by quickthrowman » Fri, Jul 31, 2026, 4:39 PM UTC

ericmay wrote: post #74

SoftTalker wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

True that the government spends a lot on stuff that it shouldn't, but these examples don't make much of a case. Single-digit millions are not even pocket change here.

But they're still wastes of money, and based on the one-line description provided by the OP, they are rather absurd. A few others I can think of: Government insurance/funding for homes destroyed by natural disasters - why am I bailing out Florida homeowners when their home is destroyed by a hurricane? At best you get the first one free and then you're on your own after that. Billions for highway construction that is…

Name a huge organization that doesn’t waste money. I’ll give you as much time as you need.

Re: U.S. debt-to-GDP ratio reaches 123%

#94

Post by Terr_ » Fri, Jul 31, 2026, 4:39 PM UTC

ericmay wrote: post #77

elteto wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You made a tiny mistake, you forgot the $800 billion for the military!

No you forgot the wasted spending on Social Security, Medicaid, and other subsidies! See, other people can throw in snide remarks too. There's room to debate military spending, but if you view the world as a dangerous place and that the US should not become isolationist, we have to spend the money and have equipment ready and capable whether that's in Europe or in Asia. Alternatively we can disband much of the milita…

> No you forgot the wasted spending on Social Security [...] See, other people can throw in snide remarks too.

No, snide and wrong is extremely different!

Social Security spending is already funded by a separate tax and currently running a surplus. It's what our legislators are are debt to when use the discretionary budget to let the President start a game of Battleship in the straight of Hormuz.

Re: U.S. debt-to-GDP ratio reaches 123%

#95

Post by ericmay » Fri, Jul 31, 2026, 4:41 PM UTC

elteto wrote: post #83

ericmay wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No you forgot the wasted spending on Social Security, Medicaid, and other subsidies! See, other people can throw in snide remarks too. There's room to debate military spending, but if you view the world as a dangerous place and that the US should not become isolationist, we have to spend the money and have equipment ready and capable whether that's in Europe or in Asia. Alternatively we can disband much of the milita…

Most of that money is wasted on keeping the military industrial complex fat and happy, it's not going into soldier's pockets. And I say this being pro-US and indeed seeing the world as a dangerous place. But let's not make some bullshit up about a million dollars wasted on some non-sense, when we have real problems with the DoW, which can't even audit itself, sucking up almost a trillion dollars.

> Most of that money is wasted on keeping the military industrial complex fat and happy, it's not going into soldier's pockets. And I say this being pro-US and indeed seeing the world as a dangerous place.

Hi former active duty soldier here - I'm all for generally increasing pay, but you're just making claims here without any basis for them. It cost a lot of money to maintain the industries capable of producing weapons. We can stop the spending, but then they go out of business and now that capability is lost. Look at Europe. Depends on the details. What specific waste are you talking about? Here's [1] an article that came out recently highlighting how much of our explosives and munitions manufacturing is reliant on just a few locations - cut the DoD budget, and then these are the kinds of things that happen.

Secondly, you have no expertise or authority to make claims as to whether we're spending the right amount of money - whether that's too little or too much, without additional specific logic or factual claims. When you say the DoD is sucking up a trillion dollars you're implying that it's all waste - sorry don't think that's true. And when you look at the performance of equipment that other countries provide versus the US, you know our stuff actually works as advertised. Maybe the US is actually spending too little, and other countries are spending proportionally much less on vaporware?

[1] https://www.wsj.com/world/europe/western-powers-race-to-brin...

Re: U.S. debt-to-GDP ratio reaches 123%

#96

Post by hvb2 » Fri, Jul 31, 2026, 4:41 PM UTC

ericmay wrote: post #77

elteto wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You made a tiny mistake, you forgot the $800 billion for the military!

No you forgot the wasted spending on Social Security, Medicaid, and other subsidies! See, other people can throw in snide remarks too. There's room to debate military spending, but if you view the world as a dangerous place and that the US should not become isolationist, we have to spend the money and have equipment ready and capable whether that's in Europe or in Asia. Alternatively we can disband much of the milita…

> No you forgot the wasted spending on Social Security, Medicaid, and other subsidies!

Most of that money ends up being spent in communities (grocery stores etc) and hospitals. So at least that money flows back into a local community.

There's plenty wrong with the US healthcare system, but since the vast majority gets their healthcare through their employer you'll have to come up with something for when they retire or unable to work. That's just an outcome of how the system was set up.

Re: U.S. debt-to-GDP ratio reaches 123%

#97

Post by eigenspace » Fri, Jul 31, 2026, 4:41 PM UTC

chasd00 wrote: post #86

eigenspace wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This idea is based on the fantasy idea of "it's fine because the US can just inflate away its currency to reduce its debts". This is also often used as an argument for why countries shouldn't join the Euro because they'd be giving up an important tool. The reality is that purposefully inflating your currency to reduce your debt burden is going to upset your creditors just as much as if you just defaulted on your debt…

currency manipulation seems to be working for China though. https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/sm751

1. Markets are aware of that and lend to China accordingly (the ones who are free to choose who to lend to).

2. Do you think Americans would tolerate having a government that purposefully suppresses their purchasing power through structurally low wages, and buying up foreign assets to supress the value of their own currency?

3. The part where China spends all their cash to buy US Treasuries to supress the value of their currency wouldn't really work as well for the USA when international trade is dollar denominated anyways, and the bulk of their GDP comes from domestic consumption.

4. The USA has a deficit. It'd need to borrow even more in order to finance the suppression of their currency, whereas China just redirects the money they earn from export surpluses.

Re: U.S. debt-to-GDP ratio reaches 123%

#98

Post by quickthrowman » Fri, Jul 31, 2026, 4:41 PM UTC

toomuchtodo wrote: post #58

joinjune wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Both can be true. The previous administration bailed out the unfunded pension funds of cities and state employees when they did Covid-19 bailouts despite it having nothing to do with Covid-19 and without requiring these local governments to properly fund these pensions moving forward. They bailed these pension programs out many times more than their financial support for restaurants they forced closed. Basically, Ame…

Bailing out workers is okay. They are, by definition, the people who have done the work. Bailing out the wealthy, or tax cuts for them is not. Unless you are very wealthy, you are a worker, and unless you experience a lottery winning type event, will never be very wealthy. > Basically, America has an economy that is buoyed by AI development and infrastructure spending right now but is poised to pop and the national d…

> Bailing out workers is okay. Bailing out the wealthy, or tax cuts for them is not.

Hell, between PPP and the OBBB tax cuts, rich people are getting $2T over from the YS Governemnt from 2020-2030. It’ll keep happening too, this country is an oligarchy now. Wish it wouldn’t but I don’t see a sea change coming, just further concentration of wealth and power.

Re: U.S. debt-to-GDP ratio reaches 123%

#99

Post by ericmay » Fri, Jul 31, 2026, 4:41 PM UTC

quickthrowman wrote: post #93

ericmay wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But they're still wastes of money, and based on the one-line description provided by the OP, they are rather absurd. A few others I can think of: Government insurance/funding for homes destroyed by natural disasters - why am I bailing out Florida homeowners when their home is destroyed by a hurricane? At best you get the first one free and then you're on your own after that. Billions for highway construction that is…

Name a huge organization that doesn’t waste money. I’ll give you as much time as you need.

"All organizations waste money, therefore organizations should keep wasting money and it's actually fine" doesn't sound very compelling to me.

Re: U.S. debt-to-GDP ratio reaches 123%

#100

Post by somenameforme » Fri, Jul 31, 2026, 4:42 PM UTC

pydry wrote: post #38

Taikonerd wrote: post #4

It always gives me an ominous feeling to see these headlines. It's like we're walking out further and further on a frozen lake. "Hey, it's OK, the ice hasn't cracked yet! Let's keep going!"

Total debt / GDP is the wrong metric for that. There's no limit to the serviceability of debt in a currency you print. It makes more sense to conceptualise it as the total size of a giant savings account run by the government. We are walking further out on the ice but that is measured more in other ways - with harder metrics like inflation, access to cheap energy, resources, industrial density and capabilities and ac…

Even if we just ignore inflation and other issues, there's still a hard limit because governments don't literally just print money, but sells bonds at market rates. As confidence in the economic stability declines the interest rates the government is required to offer on those bonds trends upward. So right now even 10 year treasuries are selling with just under 5% interest. As a result we're now paying $1.4 trillion per year in interest alone, and that number is going up far faster than the economy is growing. This [1] graph looks quite disconcerting. And it's a vicious cycle. The less confidence there is in the stability of this game, the more the government will have to pay to sell that debt. And the more they have to pay, the more debt they end up needing.

[1] - https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/A180RC1A027NBEA