Does Debt Really Matter

[Votto]

Whoever dies with the most debt wins!!

 

[hadit]

Or as Pogo said, "We have met the enemy and he is us!"

The reason why we have debt.

1) We want government to do a bunch of things.
2) We don't want to pay for it.

The first way to cut debt is to cut spending. But the biggest ticket items really can't be cut. We aren't going to cut the military unless we become Isolationist, we aren't going to cut social security or medicare which are the two biggest line items in our budget. We can't cut our debt interest payments without defaulting. So this is largely a non-starter.

We SHOULD raise taxes, especially on the wealthy, but this is probably also a non-starter. Trump and Harris are both falling all over each other to promise new tax breaks.

We COULD raise taxes on the wealthy, but the following would happen to make it pointless:

1. We would maybe get a bump in new revenue, but the wealthy would quickly move their income to protect it, resulting in greatly reduced increases, as loopholes would be put in the new taxes specifically to allow for it. This would for sure be done by the democrat wealthy who complain they're not being taxed enough while hiring armies of tax attorneys to reduce their payments to as little as possible. Note that there's nothing to stop them from paying more right now.
2. Congress would immediately go insane drafting vast new spending bills, anticipating a surge in revenue. Said spending would quickly swamp any increases.

We would be right back where we started, with the envious still trying to stick it to the rich guy while the middle class faces new taxes because there just isn't enough income among the truly wealthy to make a difference.

 

[Harpy Eagle]

I disagree. Interest on the Debt is over $1T, it is more than Defense. It needs to be addressed.

and you are voting for someone that will reduce it?

 

[Votto]

and you are voting for someone that will reduce it?

There is no way to reduce the debt in a system that functions because of it growing exponentially.

Not even superman could do that.

What you need is to change the system.

 

[Lesh]

1. We agree that spending MUST be cut. I'm optimistic that Elon Musk would do a good job slimming down the Federal government, eliminating "fraud, waste, and abuse". IF congress goes along with his recommendations.

2. The Federal Budget exploded because of Covid, but never went down AFTER Covid. This is where $Trillions can be saved.

Biden’s 2025 Budget is $7.30T with a $1.8T deficit______TOTAL BIDEN $6.9T
Biden’s 2024 Budget was $7.30T with a $2.0T deficit
Biden's 2023 Budget was $6.13T with a $1.7T deficit
Biden's 2022 Budget was $6.27T with a $1.4T deficit
Trump's 2021 Budget was $6.82T with a $2.8T deficit___ TOTAL TRUMP $7.6T
Trump's 2020 Budget was $6.55T with a $3.1T deficit
Trump's 2019 Budget was $4.40T with a $0.9T deficit
Trump's 2018 Budget was $4.10T with a $0.8T deficit

3. My "break glass" budget item to cut is Welfare. That $1.3T line item should be sent back to the States who can put people to work for their benefits.

4. It is possible to get to a surplus, but Congress never does it. In addition to the above cuts of $1T - $2T, revenue can be raised by eliminating the Capital Gains tax break, putting everyone on SS & Medicare, no exceptions, taking SS & Medicare deductions from all income, I'd also add a "Transaction Tax" on all financial transactions.

Elon Musk. My God.

He’s trying to BUY himself onto government. For HIS benefit

Why a crock

 

[Votto]

Elon Musk. My God.

He’s trying to BUY himself onto government. For HIS benefit

Why a crock

The only people that can bring about change has money

You are just pissed that there are people with money you disagree with on some level.

 

[LordBrownTrout]

What does congress care? Its not their money they're wasting. Its ours and they don't care how many wars they start, how much spending they engage in, how many social engineering programs they start, etc. They go in and come back out a few years later, multimillionaires. Our entire govt needs to be ended.

 

[Toddsterpatriot]

Then the guy who won proceeded to raise taxes anyway under the guise of "Tax Reform". The guy who followed him said, "Read my lips, no new Taxes" and proceeded to raise taxes again. The guy after that weasel-worded on taxes and had to raise them anyway

3 Presidents in a row raised taxes and we're still in debt?

 

[SassyIrishLass]

Of course it does, run up your credit card debt and see how fast card companies reduce your limits and your credit score starts dropping

 

[JoeB131]

1. We agree that spending MUST be cut. I'm optimistic that Elon Musk would do a good job slimming down the Federal government, eliminating "fraud, waste, and abuse". IF congress goes along with his recommendations.

Are you fucking serious? The man has ruined Twitter. He thought THIS was a good idea.



It's time to get the Celebrity Twits out of the way and get the professionals running government.

 

[JoeB131]

3 Presidents in a row raised taxes and we're still in debt?

Because we didn't stick with it.

Bush cut taxes and the debt exploded again.

Had we stuck to it, the debt would have went down.

 

[RoshawnMarkwees]

Why is this so seldom pointed out by the Media? Are they in on it?

They’re part of the accruing debt.

 

[Toddsterpatriot]

Because we didn't stick with it.

Bush cut taxes and the debt exploded again.

Had we stuck to it, the debt would have went down.

We should try the other way, 3 presidents in a row should cut spending.

 

[bendog]

For decades I have believed that our country’s debt mattered, I have had people claim it does and other claim it doesn’t. We are at $36 trillion in debt, we keep printing money, we keep spending, we cut taxes, neither is good at reducing debt.

My belief has been that debt means fewer economic opportunities for Americans, a rising debt means slower economic growth, less flexibility in dealing with disasters and crisis, higher inflation, erosion of confidence in the US dollar and many countries are looking to go off the dollar which could cripple America. This is a few of my arguments against our current debt situation.

Then I have had people tell me not to worry about debt, Debt doesn’t matter, it doesn’t hurt the country, I don’t understand how the economy works.

So does debt matter? Does it not matter? Should we be worried at the accelerated debt our country has taken on? I think we are in big trouble and it is bigger than Democrats and Republicans because neither is willing to slow debt down or be fiscally responsible, they both love to make promises and spend money.

Once the interest on the debt rises to the level of requiring cuts to defense and/or soc sec/medicare .... then it will matter. And thank you for blaming both parties.

 

[JoeB131]

We should try the other way, 3 presidents in a row should cut spending.

Awesome, give me a list of what to cut with numbers.

GO.

 

[Mr Natural]

It only matters when a dem is in the White House.

 

[BluesLegend]

Sure we can go on borrowing trillions forever yeeeehahhhhh!!! I can't wait until we are $999 trillion in debt and bread cost $5,000 a loaf.

 

[BluesLegend]

What does congress care? Its not their money they're wasting. Its ours and they don't care how many wars they start, how much spending they engage in, how many social engineering programs they start, etc. They go in and come back out a few years later, multimillionaires. Our entire govt needs to be ended.

Those idiots in Washington have borrowed and spent $50 TRILLION in just the last 10 years. Look around do you see $50 trillion worth of improvements?? That's $50,000 BILLION holy shit!

 

[Nobody911]

For decades I have believed that our country’s debt mattered, I have had people claim it does and other claim it doesn’t. We are at $36 trillion in debt, we keep printing money, we keep spending, we cut taxes, neither is good at reducing debt.

My belief has been that debt means fewer economic opportunities for Americans, a rising debt means slower economic growth, less flexibility in dealing with disasters and crisis, higher inflation, erosion of confidence in the US dollar and many countries are looking to go off the dollar which could cripple America. This is a few of my arguments against our current debt situation.

Then I have had people tell me not to worry about debt, Debt doesn’t matter, it doesn’t hurt the country, I don’t understand how the economy works.

So does debt matter? Does it not matter? Should we be worried at the accelerated debt our country has taken on? I think we are in big trouble and it is bigger than Democrats and Republicans because neither is willing to slow debt down or be fiscally responsible, they both love to make promises and spend money.

Yes, U.S. public debt does matter, but its significance can be interpreted in various ways depending on economic context and perspective.

1. Economic Growth: High levels of public debt can potentially crowd out private investment, leading to slower economic growth. However, if the debt is used for productive investments, such as infrastructure or education, it may stimulate growth.

2. Interest Payments: As debt increases, so do interest payments. A significant portion of the federal budget goes toward servicing this debt, which can limit funding for essential services and programs.

3. Inflation and Monetary Policy: Excessive debt can lead to inflation concerns. If the government finances debt through printing money, it can devalue the currency, eroding purchasing power.

4. Investor Confidence: High debt levels can affect investor confidence and the nation's credit rating. A downgrade can lead to higher borrowing costs for the government.

5. Intergenerational Equity: Public debt raises questions about fairness to future generations, who may inherit the responsibility of repaying it.

6. Sustainability: The sustainability of debt is crucial. The debt-to-GDP ratio is often used as a key indicator; a manageable ratio implies that the economy can support the debt.

==>So, public debt is a critical factor in economic management, its implications depend on how it is managed, the economic environment, and the purpose of the borrowing. Balancing these elements is key to ensuring long-term fiscal health.

 

[task0778]

More importantly, we don't own up.

I often say that the last politician who was honest about taxes was Walter Mondale in 1984, who said straight up, we'd have to raise taxes.

He lost 49 states. He barely won his home state.

Then the guy who won proceeded to raise taxes anyway under the guise of "Tax Reform". The guy who followed him said, "Read my lips, no new Taxes" and proceeded to raise taxes again. The guy after that weasel-worded on taxes and had to raise them anyway.

The way to get ahead of debt is to raise taxes and severely cut entitlements, but both are political non-starters.

I can't argue with most of this, but you really can't cut taxes that much to make a big difference. And the reason for that is that in general raising taxes cuts into economic growth and less revenue than the gov't would otherwise get. Democrats seem to believe that if your revenue is X and you raise tax rates by Y percent then you get Y percent more revenue, but it doesn't work that way. That's because when you raise tax rates you get less investments and less economic growth, so you end up with a bigger piece of a smaller amount of money pie instead of a bigger piece of the same pie. SO - if you're going to solve the debt problem it's going to have to mostly be less spending and that means changes to the entitlements but also the discretionary spending too. Politically we'll have to raise taxes; that has to be done or the Left will never sign up to any meaningful solution. The Right is going to have to accept that but in return there will have to be a cap on discretionary spending that the democrats won't like. IMHO, the federal gov't needs to get out of the mortgage and student loan business and leave that to the states and the priate sector. Plus some changes to the entitlements too, like raising the ceiling on SSA payments and the retirement age. It has to be done folks, otherwise economic disaster awaits. The current fiscal path we are on now is not sustainable.