$16 trillion fucking dollars in debt??

[EdwardBaiamonte]

He strictly posts dogma.

too stupid but perfectly liberal!!! dogma can be correct or incorrect. Which is it and why, as if you would have any idea!!

 

[GreatDay]

Fuckin' Republicans could fuck anything up:


“The most recent projections from OMB and CBO indicate that, if current policies remain in place, the total unified surplus will reach about $800 billion in fiscal year 2010, including an on-budget surplus of almost $500 billion. Moreover, the admittedly quite uncertain long-term budget exercises released by the CBO last October maintain an implicit on-budget surplus under baseline assumptions well past 2030 despite the budgetary pressures from the aging of the baby-boom generation, especially on the major health programs.

These most recent projections, granted their tentativeness, nonetheless make clear that the highly desirable goal of paying off the federal debt is in reach and, indeed, would occur well before the end of the decade under baseline assumptions. This is in marked contrast to the perception of a year ago, when the elimination of the debt did not appear likely until the next decade. But continuing to run surpluses beyond the point at which we reach zero or near-zero federal debt brings to center stage the critical longer-term fiscal policy issue of whether the federal government should accumulate large quantities of private (more technically, nonfederal) assets.

At zero debt, the continuing unified budget surpluses now projected under current law imply a major accumulation of private assets by the federal government. Such an accumulation would make the federal government a significant factor in our nation's capital markets and would risk significant distortion in the allocation of capital to its most productive uses. Such a distortion could be quite costly, as it is our extraordinarily effective allocation process that has enabled such impressive increases in productivity and standards of living despite a relatively low domestic saving rate.”


“Returning to the broader fiscal picture, I continue to believe, as I have testified previously, that all else being equal, a declining level of federal debt is desirable because it holds down long-term real interest rates, thereby lowering the cost of capital and elevating private investment. The rapid capital deepening that has occurred in the U.S. economy in recent years is a testament to these benefits. But the sequence of upward revisions to the budget surplus projections for several years now has reshaped the choices and opportunities before us.
Indeed, in almost any credible baseline scenario, short of a major and prolonged economic contraction, the full benefits of debt reduction are now achieved well before the end of this decade--a prospect that did not seem reasonable only a year or even six months ago. Thus, the emerging key fiscal policy need is now to address the implications of maintaining surpluses beyond the point at which publicly held debt is effectively eliminated.”


Testimony of Chairman Alan Greenspan
Current fiscal issues
Before the Committee on the Budget, U.S. House of Representatives
March 2, 2001

 

[Norman]

No, it's about four billion dollars a week and that's down from the $5B/week in '08.

Then again, that was back when T-bill interest rates were about 50 times what they are today. That means when rates go back up to where they were in '08 we'll be paying more like a quarter of a trillion in interest every week.

This is serious. When rates go back up to '08 levels the gov't will be paying over eleven trillion dollars in interest annually.


Anyway you look at it, democrats are nucking futs.

when rates go up the Fed will have to print money and then the end game will start.

Not necessarily and probably not the likely next step. What will happen is the federal government will default on its payments. That means any promise of payment they have, military salary, public worker salary, pensions, SS, medicare, welfare, etc...will all stop being paid out. Probably in increments.

It's a lot easier to print a bunch of money and blame it on capitalism and bad weather.

 

[Rshermr]

Does anyone have the figures on the annual costs of a peacetime government?

Do we really need to have military bases all over the world protecting liberty abroad while it is eroding here at home?

Does anyone have the figures on the annual costs of mental illness?

Ask Nova. He has enough direct experience to answer that question.

 

[EdwardBaiamonte]

when rates go up the Fed will have to print money and then the end game will start.

Not necessarily and probably not the likely next step. What will happen is the federal government will default on its payments. That means any promise of payment they have, military salary, public worker salary, pensions, SS, medicare, welfare, etc...will all stop being paid out. Probably in increments.

It's a lot easier to print a bunch of money and blame it on capitalism and bad weather.

yes printing money is easy, it does not require popular approval and has little consequences for politicians.

The simple solution to our fiscal problems is to make Democrats in effect illegal by making deficits illegal with a Balanced Budget Amendment