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US Debt Limit

We have been living well beyond our means for 25 years or so. I suspect it’s a fools errand to guess when it will blow up but the unsustainability of how we are living in this country is pretty obvious. I suspect there will be some major gimmicks and shenanigans pulled by some of the politicians before we have to eat the cat poop but cat poop will be on the menu at some point in time. Simple math tells that story
 
The fact that we continue to spend money we don't have. That the annual interest on our debt is now about equal to what we spend on our military. That inflation is nowhere near in control, that Social Security and Medicare are close to insolvency are issues that scare me. The full faith and credit of our Government are in serious jeopardy with the path we are currently on.
Absolutely agree, but linking a story about Joe Manchin playing to his WV base ahead of a reelection campaign does nothing to demonstrate that point.

Remember the Balanced Budget Amendment we had back in the Clinton/Newt Gingrich era? Ya, that was pretty cool. I liked that. It didn't fix the debt, but it at least put the plug in the jug. What happened? George Haliburton decided to squash all sibling rivalry by finishing the job his daddy started - worked out great for his homies in the defense and oil industries, not so much for ever expanding national debt under his tenure. Debt went from 57% of GDP to 74% of GDP. What did it get us? 2008. That's what we got. How did we get out? QE and printing money. It worked, at the cost of the national debt. Obama didn't have the political capital to take it on, to say the least, Trump's only concerns were holding on to power, his hair, and that Fox News said something nice about him so no progress there, and now here we are...

The R's are more interested in pointing out that it's all the D's fault, the D's are more interested in pointing out it's the R's fault. Both are standing on their side pissing on the middle, well guess what, I'm the middle.

Sorry for the rant, I'm just sick of the finger pointing, the outrage, and all the bullshit that is the current state of affairs.
 
Nobody has been getting pissed on. That’s the point of living beyond your means. Spending is too high and taxes are too low. That’s the somber reality but at least most people can afford to hunt out of state with a huge rv right? Printing your way out of this at some point won’t work. But as in all things this will take longer than any one thinks and politicians won’t do anything until they absolutely have to.
 
Absolutely and neither political party cares. Both spend money as freely as the other party just on different categories.

I see no solution to this problem in this country. The only hope is that the country continues to grow our GDP enough to support the interest wrecking ball. At least that the rest of the world sucks as bad as we do.

Rome is burning.
We could save $50+ billion dollars yearly if we quit giving it to other countries all the time. I think it's time for the US to focus on itself before trying to give everyone else a face lift.
 
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We could save $50+ billion dollars yearly if we quit giving it to other countries all the time. I think it's time for the US to focus on itself before trying to give everyone else a face lift.
Our international leverage, global economic power and status as the global reserve currency has allowed this nation to have lifestyles far higher than we ever could if we had stayed within our borders. That $50billion pays back 50x to our economy and ability to run deficits. If the US allows itself to be replaced by China as the go to country, we will be lucky to be a stumbling UK and worst case a large Greece/Italy. Isolationism is a death sentence for American standards of living.
 
Our international leverage, global economic power and status as the global reserve currency has allowed this nation to have lifestyles far higher than we ever could if we had stayed within our borders. That $50billion pays back 50x to our economy and ability to run deficits. If the US allows itself to be replaced by China as the go to country, we will be lucky to be a stumbling UK and worst case a large Greece/Italy. Isolationism is a death sentence for American standards of living.
Agree, but sometimes we are too free with the money. I will use NATO and Ukraine as examples, on board with the alliance and sending help to Ukraine, but our big contributions has allowed other countries to duck their obligations.
 
Our problem started with eliminating the gold standard. Now our currency is truly fiat. The U.S. dollar is backed by ever increasing debt while the best currencies are backed by a finite resource. Look at Kuwait (the world's most expensive paper currency, it's backed by oil).
People think I'm stupid but crypto currencies are most likely going to stand the test of time. They are still in their infancy and have many uncertainties as they are still in the "wild west days" but what is advantageous is they are recognized around the world and the power is left in the individual's hands and not big brother's. Do you like someone else keeping tabs and ultimately able to freeze your assets? Doubt it!
Bitcoin is the gold standard cryptocurrency. Ethereum is a workhorse for utilities and others are following suit. I prefer my money to not loose value over time, for central (government) banking to not have control over my hard earned money.
Yes there's huge volatility in cryptocurrencies but so did the stock market when it first came out.
I watched a guy turn in dozens of 30 year bonds and his investment didn't even keep up with inflation.
Eventually we will face another global depression. The only thing you can do is either have an exorbitant ammount of physical fiat, physical assets like precious metals/bartering goods, or another source of non-government digital investment.
Most U.S. fiat is digital currency already (credit/debit) and you'd be hard pressed to impossible to take your life savings out at once if you have tens of thousands of dollars. What do you think is going to happen to your digital fiat once shtf? You won't get any of it because it's locked up (to avoid an even bigger economic collapse).
Remember, the longer you keep your fiat in a bank account (even savings) the less worth it has.
 
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China has their own looming problem with Evergarde which would actually have global implications on their own. If you dont know, look up Evergarde, it's crazy.
 
Agree, but sometimes we are too free with the money. I will use NATO and Ukraine as examples, on board with the alliance and sending help to Ukraine, but our big contributions has allowed other countries to duck their obligations.
Too much of the debate is over taxes or spending. That is too generic. It has to be both. The CBO report showed we could cut all discretionary categories to ZERO and would still have a deficit. The problem is SS and Medicare and ignoring them is a national pastime. Boomers are too large of a voting block and a lot of them spend their days trying to find something to be scared about. We also need to get people working. Labor force participation is still not back to pre-pandemic levels. Too many qualified people left the workforce and we don't invest in things that allow them to work (like childcare). We also need to get people off the government teat. There are 90m people on Medicaid!!! I don't mind helping people get back on their feet, but I feel like somethings off. Corporate taxes need to go up. Profit margins are still at record highs and it goes back to 2017 tax changes. Basically, you can see from the list that everyone is going to be pissed off with any solution, ranging from a little to a lot. So politicians fight about who is at fault or who wants to make it unfair for "you".

People think I'm stupid but crypto currencies are most likely going to stand the test of time.
You crypto people are your own worst enemy. What is bitcoin over the last year, down 30%? why? Probably all the fraud. Damn things make gold look like a great investment.
 
I’m not a crypto guy but you better draw a chart with a little longer time horizon
No, actually I don't. If the argument for crypto is some sort of immunization from fiat inflation, all I have to show is that during the highest inflation in 40years the value of the crypto gets cut by 70%. Not a good look.

Crypto is an experiment. The joke is it was created by a few Wall Street traders for a contest on who was the best trader. Mostly it seems like "snake oil" created by some kids that didn't want to get real jobs as a way to separate people from their fiat currencies.
 
In 2000-2001 the debt-to-GDP ratio was around 55%.
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the federal government increased its spending by $4.3 trillion,
sending the debt-to-GDP ratio well above 120%.
The debt-to-GDP ratio can be reduced in three ways:
1) Fiscal austerity (i.e., spending cuts, tax increases or both)
2) Negative real return on bonds (i.e., a nominal interest rate that is less than the inflation rate)
3) Economic growth (i.e., GDP growing faster than debt)

However, the debt limit must be increased to pay for last year's appropriation bills or the US defaults.
Analogous to spending wild with a credit card and then having to pay the bill.
 
Our international leverage, global economic power and status as the global reserve currency has allowed this nation to have lifestyles far higher than we ever could if we had stayed within our borders. That $50billion pays back 50x to our economy and ability to run deficits. If the US allows itself to be replaced by China as the go to country, we will be lucky to be a stumbling UK and worst case a large Greece/Italy. Isolationism is a death sentence for American standards of living.
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Nobody has been getting pissed on. That’s the point of living beyond your means. Spending is too high and taxes are too low. That’s the somber reality but at least most people can afford to hunt out of state with a huge rv right? Printing your way out of this at some point won’t work. But as in all things this will take longer than any one thinks and politicians won’t do anything until they absolutely have to.
In the abstract, our descendants will be drenched when the bill comes due. We don't know when or how badly, but we can extrapolate the trendline when no intervention is forthcoming. Economy, environment, health, longevity.... pick a topic. So many ways for it to go badly and so few to go well.
 
You crypto people are your own worst enemy. What is bitcoin over the last year, down 30%? why? Probably all the fraud. Damn things make gold look like a great investment.
No one is saying there isn't negatives to crypto. If all you look at is the negative sides of everything then you'll never be happy. You mention the 30% fall, yeah its a new and volatile market in respect to the stock market, it's going to be volatile. You'd say the exact same thing about the stock market at it's inception that you say about crypto today. Case in point, the great depression. Yet I'd wager you put your faith in that same stock market today. To think fraud doesn't reach the stock market then you're ill guided in your investment research.
You also fail to mention the astronomical and unprecedented expanse in value since the beginning of crypto. If you invested 100 dollars into bitcoin at it's inception you'd still be a billionaire today. But hey, I guess that's laughable to you.🤷‍♂️
 
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If all you look at is the negative sides of everything then you'll never be happy.
When it comes to my money, all I look at is the negative side.
Crypto isn't a solution to anything and the last 18 months proved the use case was all bullshit and going back to the gold standard is literally the worst idea in economics. If Bitcoin is to survive, it needs is new narrative.
 
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