Is the US national "debt" an illusion?

Mar 11, 2015
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I tend to agree with many of the forward-thinking viewpoints that are shared on political message boards. However, I feel there is misinformation being circulated regarding the US national debt. The core question that must be answered: What is the national wealth?

Private wealth in the US is almost $80 trillion. But dig deeper: What is the mineral wealth in our national parkland? What are the Rocky Mountains, Mendocino County, and ANWR worth? What is the aggregate oil wealth in US public lands? What is the value of the US military in the jungle of international relations?

I argue that the $18 Trillion national debt pales in comparison to the national wealth of the United States. There is no better example of this than the revenue generated from Obama's successful energy exploration campaign.

When you take a look at the massive swaths of valuable land held by the federal government, it becomes clear that the total federally-owned real estate, oil, minerals, etc. within the borders of the USA could be valued in the quadrillions of dollars.

One thing has become increasingly clear to me: the United States HAS debt, but it is really not IN debt.

The purpose of the Federal Reserve is to govern the people through the money supply. The threat of hyperinflation or deflationary depression is exaggerated. The resource wealth of the United States - as well as the large, rich, taxable population - provides a backstop that keeps our currency strong, even in expansionary environments.

I believe this backstop is far more valuable than prior generations' use of precious metal reserves. I concede gold and silver are more tangible, but defining the national wealth by reserves of scarce metals is nothing more than a form of social brainwashing intended to keep resource-rich Americans feeling poor.

Conspiracy theorists and John Birchers who measure the national debt against gold reserves are engaging in monetary child's play. However, the Federal Reserve's ability to spend the past decade in crisis while hiding the money supply (M3) from the American public is brilliant. A brilliant scam that must come to an end in the United States, as it has in central banks throughout Europe and across the globe.

The strength of the dollar in FOREX markets in the wake of QE3 invalidates many conspiracy theories. As a market student and participant, I believe the dollar is legitimately strong and would remain strong through QE4, QE5, and QE6.

Is it time to end the myth of false scarcity? Is the easy answer - a dramatic increase in the debt ceiling to fund the Small Business Administration, Farm Service Agency, and regional banks - the best path for the US economy?

Recently an interesting statistic was released. The USA has fewer corporations today than 40 years ago, despite having three times as many citizens. If "corporations are people," do we just need more "people?"

Or is a multi-decade Japanese-style depression a better way to break the will of American men, break the daughters of the revolution into prostitution, seize American's weapons, and ultimately rejoin the British Crown and join the New/Old World Order?

I ask that question only half-sarcastically, because that appears to be the the intent of the current world order, and the path the United States is headed. Especially if either Hillary "Forester de Rothschild-RHODam" Clinton, or Jeb "Lehman is now Barclays" Bush are elected president.

This is serious business.

Sure, a new monetary system would be nice. But is a total revolution possible? Perhaps it is time to submit to reality, and finally admit that Reagan was right.

Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of a new hashtag.

Matthew Libman
Charleston, SC
 
I tend to agree with many of the forward-thinking viewpoints that are shared on political message boards. However, I feel there is misinformation being circulated regarding the US national debt. The core question that must be answered: What is the national wealth?

Private wealth in the US is almost $80 trillion. But dig deeper: What is the mineral wealth in our national parkland? What are the Rocky Mountains, Mendocino County, and ANWR worth? What is the aggregate oil wealth in US public lands? What is the value of the US military in the jungle of international relations?

I argue that the $18 Trillion national debt pales in comparison to the national wealth of the United States. There is no better example of this than the revenue generated from Obama's successful energy exploration campaign.

When you take a look at the massive swaths of valuable land held by the federal government, it becomes clear that the total federally-owned real estate, oil, minerals, etc. within the borders of the USA could be valued in the quadrillions of dollars.

One thing has become increasingly clear to me: the United States HAS debt, but it is really not IN debt.

The purpose of the Federal Reserve is to govern the people through the money supply. The threat of hyperinflation or deflationary depression is exaggerated. The resource wealth of the United States - as well as the large, rich, taxable population - provides a backstop that keeps our currency strong, even in expansionary environments.

I believe this backstop is far more valuable than prior generations' use of precious metal reserves. I concede gold and silver are more tangible, but defining the national wealth by reserves of scarce metals is nothing more than a form of social brainwashing intended to keep resource-rich Americans feeling poor.

Conspiracy theorists and John Birchers who measure the national debt against gold reserves are engaging in monetary child's play. However, the Federal Reserve's ability to spend the past decade in crisis while hiding the money supply (M3) from the American public is brilliant. A brilliant scam that must come to an end in the United States, as it has in central banks throughout Europe and across the globe.

The strength of the dollar in FOREX markets in the wake of QE3 invalidates many conspiracy theories. As a market student and participant, I believe the dollar is legitimately strong and would remain strong through QE4, QE5, and QE6.

Is it time to end the myth of false scarcity? Is the easy answer - a dramatic increase in the debt ceiling to fund the Small Business Administration, Farm Service Agency, and regional banks - the best path for the US economy?

Recently an interesting statistic was released. The USA has fewer corporations today than 40 years ago, despite having three times as many citizens. If "corporations are people," do we just need more "people?"

Or is a multi-decade Japanese-style depression a better way to break the will of American men, break the daughters of the revolution into prostitution, seize American's weapons, and ultimately rejoin the British Crown and join the New/Old World Order?

I ask that question only half-sarcastically, because that appears to be the the intent of the current world order, and the path the United States is headed. Especially if either Hillary "Forester de Rothschild-RHODam" Clinton, or Jeb "Lehman is now Barclays" Bush are elected president.

This is serious business.

Sure, a new monetary system would be nice. But is a total revolution possible? Perhaps it is time to submit to reality, and finally admit that Reagan was right.

Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of a new hashtag.

Matthew Libman
Charleston, SC

Do you have any links to back up your numbers?
 
I tend to agree with many of the forward-thinking viewpoints that are shared on political message boards. However, I feel there is misinformation being circulated regarding the US national debt. The core question that must be answered: What is the national wealth?

Private wealth in the US is almost $80 trillion. But dig deeper: What is the mineral wealth in our national parkland? What are the Rocky Mountains, Mendocino County, and ANWR worth? What is the aggregate oil wealth in US public lands? What is the value of the US military in the jungle of international relations?

I argue that the $18 Trillion national debt pales in comparison to the national wealth of the United States. There is no better example of this than the revenue generated from Obama's successful energy exploration campaign.

When you take a look at the massive swaths of valuable land held by the federal government, it becomes clear that the total federally-owned real estate, oil, minerals, etc. within the borders of the USA could be valued in the quadrillions of dollars.

One thing has become increasingly clear to me: the United States HAS debt, but it is really not IN debt.

The purpose of the Federal Reserve is to govern the people through the money supply. The threat of hyperinflation or deflationary depression is exaggerated. The resource wealth of the United States - as well as the large, rich, taxable population - provides a backstop that keeps our currency strong, even in expansionary environments.

I believe this backstop is far more valuable than prior generations' use of precious metal reserves. I concede gold and silver are more tangible, but defining the national wealth by reserves of scarce metals is nothing more than a form of social brainwashing intended to keep resource-rich Americans feeling poor.

Conspiracy theorists and John Birchers who measure the national debt against gold reserves are engaging in monetary child's play. However, the Federal Reserve's ability to spend the past decade in crisis while hiding the money supply (M3) from the American public is brilliant. A brilliant scam that must come to an end in the United States, as it has in central banks throughout Europe and across the globe.

The strength of the dollar in FOREX markets in the wake of QE3 invalidates many conspiracy theories. As a market student and participant, I believe the dollar is legitimately strong and would remain strong through QE4, QE5, and QE6.

Is it time to end the myth of false scarcity? Is the easy answer - a dramatic increase in the debt ceiling to fund the Small Business Administration, Farm Service Agency, and regional banks - the best path for the US economy?

Recently an interesting statistic was released. The USA has fewer corporations today than 40 years ago, despite having three times as many citizens. If "corporations are people," do we just need more "people?"

Or is a multi-decade Japanese-style depression a better way to break the will of American men, break the daughters of the revolution into prostitution, seize American's weapons, and ultimately rejoin the British Crown and join the New/Old World Order?

I ask that question only half-sarcastically, because that appears to be the the intent of the current world order, and the path the United States is headed. Especially if either Hillary "Forester de Rothschild-RHODam" Clinton, or Jeb "Lehman is now Barclays" Bush are elected president.

This is serious business.

Sure, a new monetary system would be nice. But is a total revolution possible? Perhaps it is time to submit to reality, and finally admit that Reagan was right.

Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of a new hashtag.

Matthew Libman
Charleston, SC

The national debt could go away tomorrow if the government wished to do so. Simply repudiate the debt. Anyone holding US treasuries is simply shit out of luck. Another large portion is inter-government debt, money the government owes to itself, at least on paper. The prime examples are the so called Social Security and Medicare Trust Funds. The government can't and won't ever make good on these glorified IOU's, so eliminating this portion of the national debt has no effect other than destroying government propaganda concerning these programs.

What won't go away is the economic distortions created by the deficit spending in the first place. There would be a great reckoning. Businesses would fail and bad investment would have to written off.

Sustaining deficit spending will only increase the economic distortions until another bust occurs. It makes no difference what the untapped wealth of the US is, inflation is a policy that cannot last. Deficits do matter, just not in the way most people think.
 
If the US government repudiated its debt, the global economy and financial markets would collapse. It would make 08-09 look like a picnic.

No, not really. Most US Treasuries are held by foreign governments and the Federal Reserve. Those losses would be less than in '08. Those losses ('08) didn't go away, the were eliminated with money creation, just as these losses would be. What would make it worse would be the end of deficit spending by the USG. Of course, the USG could simply offer a new series of US Treasuries, though, most likely, no one outside of the Federal Reserve would have any incentive to purchase them. The Federal Reserve would essentially be monetizing deficits at that point, but it would be business as usual. The Federal Government would resume deficit spending and creating economic distortions, same as it ever was.
 
The entire monetary and financial system is based in Treasuries. The financial system would - literally - stop working and collapse because Treasuries are the collateral used in the repo markets to fund cash needs amongst financial institutions.

It would collapse currencies all around the world, including the dollar, because Treasury holdings are used to backstop central bank assets.

There would be a capital strike as foreigners would not get paid and our capital account that foreigners finance would collapse.

Interest rates would soar, causing borrowing costs to skyrocket and bankruptcies would go through the roof.

Stock markets would crash because all financial markets are priced off Treasuries.

The Treasury market is $13 trillion. $2.5 trillion is held by central banks. $6.2T is held by foreigners. The rest - $4.3T, or a quarter of GDP - are held as savings in the US, either by banks, insurance companies, individuals or mutual funds. That would all be gone.

It is absolute insanity to think that repudiating Treasuries in any way is a good idea. It's not a serious comment.
 
The entire monetary and financial system is based in Treasuries. The financial system would - literally - stop working and collapse because Treasuries are the collateral used in the repo markets to fund cash needs amongst financial institutions.

It would collapse currencies all around the world, including the dollar, because Treasury holdings are used to backstop central bank assets.

There would be a capital strike as foreigners would not get paid and our capital account that foreigners finance would collapse.

Interest rates would soar, causing borrowing costs to skyrocket and bankruptcies would go through the roof.

Stock markets would crash because all financial markets are priced off Treasuries.

The Treasury market is $13 trillion. $2.5 trillion is held by central banks. $6.2T is held by foreigners. The rest - $4.3T, or a quarter of GDP - are held as savings in the US, either by banks, insurance companies, individuals or mutual funds. That would all be gone.

It is absolute insanity to think that repudiating Treasuries in any way is a good idea. It's not a serious comment.
The entire monetary and financial system is based in Treasuries. The financial system would - literally - stop working and collapse because Treasuries are the collateral used in the repo markets to fund cash needs amongst financial institutions.

It would collapse currencies all around the world, including the dollar, because Treasury holdings are used to backstop central bank assets.

There would be a capital strike as foreigners would not get paid and our capital account that foreigners finance would collapse.

Interest rates would soar, causing borrowing costs to skyrocket and bankruptcies would go through the roof.

Stock markets would crash because all financial markets are priced off Treasuries.

The Treasury market is $13 trillion. $2.5 trillion is held by central banks. $6.2T is held by foreigners. The rest - $4.3T, or a quarter of GDP - are held as savings in the US, either by banks, insurance companies, individuals or mutual funds. That would all be gone.

It is absolute insanity to think that repudiating Treasuries in any way is a good idea. It's not a serious comment.

Racking up the debt in the first place was insanity. Sooner or later the debt will be repudiated, but not by choice, but rather by circumstances because it is unsustainable. It's a global problem, but it makes far more sense to do it now (even though it should have done long before it reached such insane levels) rather than wait for it to implode.

Financial Markets, Banks, and Pension Funds are all a house of cards to begin with, a house of cards WE built with absurd policy. Anyone doubting that need not look any further than the MBS implosion of '08.

There WOULD BE FALLOUT, there is no denying that, but continuously kicking the can down the road only makes the end game worse. Markets would recover and God forbid the government has to sell off some of it's assets. Given the circumstances $4.7T in domestic holdings isn't the end of the world. Waiting until the entire global debt bomb goes off is far worse. Let the chips fall where they may, which is what should have been done in '08.

Repudiation is a sound principle:

Mises Daily Mises Institute
 
Might check on how Jackson paid off the debt, only time in our history, and the paying off and other acts led to a recession.
 
Might check on how Jackson paid off the debt, only time in our history, and the paying off and other acts led to a recession.

I'm aware of how Jackson paid off the debt, but the root cause was, once again, credit expansion by banks.
 
Might check on how Jackson paid off the debt, only time in our history, and the paying off and other acts led to a recession.

I should also note, since it is tied in with my post about repudiating the national debt, that 5 states repudiated their debt following the panics of 1837 and 1839. (Michigan, Mississippi, Arkansas, Louisiana, and Florida) While four others defaulted on interest payments for several years. (Maryland, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Illinois)

There are other instances of States repudiating their debt, it's an American tradition.
 
Let the chips fall where they may, which is what should have been done in '08.

great idea!!! I can't imagine why we chose to avoid another depression!!

Yes, the government is so great at avoiding them! When the debt bubble bursts it will be worse.

dear it burst in 2007. What planet are you on??

That was the housing bubble, the debt bubble was created in response, and it's much, much, bigger.
 

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