Does the US National Debt freak anyone else out?

[Return of the Jedi]

I'm the farthest thing from a conservative, but I am a believer in math..and when you look at the numbers, our nation's debt is the most alarming short term threat to US prosperity:



Prager U is garbage but they actually put out a good video explaining this:


NY Times and CBO are reporting at this current rate, paying the interest on the debt (NOT the debt itself) will reach 1 trillion in within the decade..more than the DoD's entire budget. If we just scrapped the DoD entirely, no more military tomorrow, it would cut the deficit in half. That's how deep this hole is.

As Debt Rises, the Government Will Soon Spend More on Interest Than on the Military

I think the only way to fix this is to simultaneously cut the benefits social security, medicare, Medicaid provide AND raise their income..full on austerity...and it would likely have to happen with defense cuts and federal pension reform.

If we enter another financial crisis, we may not be able to spend our way out of it at this rate. We're way bigger than Greece; ain't nobody out there to bail us out. I don't wanna be in a world where China calls the shots, brehs. I wish our country's leadership could grow some spines and and deal with this.

 

[DEAD7]

Yes.

 

[AnonymityX1000]

Practically speaking what are other nations going to do to collect?
We have tremendous debt, our money is not backed by any commodity yet the American dollar is still one of if not the strongest world currencies. Why? The reason is why our debt doesn't matter.

 

[FAH1223]

No.

The deficit shouldn’t be as high as it is cause corporations and the rich should have their taxes increased by closing loopholes and all that.

At the same time, I have no problem running up deficits to build infrastructure, provide healthcare and other things that increase social well being.

 

[Strapped]

It means nothing , what happened to Libya's gold , they eyeing Venezuela's oil

 

[Berniewood Hogan]

I think the only way to fix this is to simultaneously cut the benefits social security, medicare, Medicaid provide AND raise their income..full on austerity..

fukk that and fukk you

 

[mastermind]

No one is going to ask for the money back because that would destroy that nation’s economy. We good.

And the debt should be ran up for social initiatives.

 

[Ciggavelli]

Yes. Remember when republicans were against increasing debt? Now their bullshyt tax cut for the wealthy has increased it even more.

These baby boomers and older folks don’t give a shyt, because they’ll be dead before it becomes a real problem. So, the younger generations have to pay the costs in the coming decades. These boomers also ruined the environment, which will not affect them, but will most certainly affect those younger than them.

History will look upon these boomers as reckless, selfish, and very short-sighted. fukk them.

 

[Return of the Jedi]

fukk that and fukk you

You just hate math bruh? Those 3 programs are half of the entire federal budget. With no changes, they'll be 75% of the nation's budget in the next 30 years. That's not fiscally possible man.

Only a quarter of our debt is held by foreign countries. The rest is money owed to programs like Medicare/Medicaid/SS.

 

[88m3]

the 1% and corporations have to pay, I don't give a fukk

 

[88m3]

You just hate math bruh? Those 3 programs are half of the entire federal budget. With no changes, they'll be 75% of the nation's budget in the next 30 years. That's not fiscally possible man.

Only a quarter of our debt is held by foreign countries. The rest is money owed to programs like Medicare/Medicaid/SS.

lol

 

[AnonymityX1000]

You just hate math bruh? Those 3 programs are half of the entire federal budget. With no changes, they'll be 75% of the nation's budget in the next 30 years. That's not fiscally possible man.

Only a quarter of our debt is held by foreign countries. The rest is money owed to programs like Medicare/Medicaid/SS.

If it is all internal we can just print the money owed.

 

[BoBurnz]

No, because it's just an imaginary number that we can change at a whim. Nobody is going to collect the US national debt, and we could literally cut it by 60% just by cashing in on the savings bonds we've given out as investments. This is what happens when money doesn't cycle through the system with unchecked capitalism. You end up ballooning the debt because the wealthy don't pay anything in or contribute to the "real' economy.

It's a non issue that is used to scare monger against initiatives that people need. Austerity doesn't work, it has never worked, it will never work. And those that propose it are monsters.

 

[Return of the Jedi]

lol

Good, substantive comeback bruh.

If it is all internal we can just print the money owed.

Triggering a massive spike of inflation which could cause the USD to fall off as the world's reserve currency, opening a myriad of other equally serious issues.

 

[BoBurnz]

Good, substantive comeback bruh.


Triggering a massive spike of inflation which could cause the USD to fall off as the world's reserve currency, opening a myriad of other equally serious issues.

It's a totally arbitrary number that only has value that's assigned too it, we could run it as high as we like and it doesn't matter, fiscal austerity is not going to solve the issue. A restructuring of the basic levels of society is not going to be danced around because of some irrational fear of defaulting on a debt that we don't even substantively "owe" anybody.

People deserve these services, they're basic amenities that all people are owed. No society worth saving cuts them in the name of some ridiculous notion of fiscal piety.