An observation.

[TemplarKormac]

Wow. I am taken aback by the sheer stupidity of this post.

If you have trouble understanding, step back and think about what the debt actually is.

I know what debt is. I am astounded at how incredibly stupid your reasoning is.

I used to be uneducated like you, but then I took common sense to the knee.

Fine, show me an example of a sovereign nation using non-convertible, non-pegged, free- floating currency that has defaulted on debt denominated in their currency.
Also, please read the forbes link I've sent you.

One thing you don't understand. If you printed that much money to pay down the debt, you would ruin the economy. Simple concept of printing too much money is that it will devalue your currency. I mean we can print as much money as we want, but in the meantime we will be devaluing our currency and slowly killing our economy.

1.) What makes you think we're going to "pay off" the debt all at once? 2.) What makes you think "printing" by itself devalues currency? We've been doing it for decades.

1) Nobody said anything about paying it all off at once.

2) Using this inflation calculator we can see that 1 dollar in 1913 has the same purchasing power as roughly 24 dollars today.

That is due to the fact that the Fed continues to expand its money supply.

Why the U.S. Dollar Constantly Loses Value

 

[SuperDemocrat]

I always hear people claim that the government "CAN'T" create dollars from thin air. This is wrong, of course, but it leads me to think about something else: The Iraq War. Did the government have any trouble coming up with the trillions needed for that war? Did we all have to "tighten our belts and kick in?" Of course not. So where did the government get the money? Hm... Remember the recent crisis, did the government have any trouble acquiring the trillions needed to respond to it? No, and taxed didn't really go up either. Think over this if you're one of the people who believes the government can't create dollars from thin air.

Yes the government can simply press print on their computers and print a dollar and even make people use it because it can pass a law saying it is the only thing that can be used for trade. At that point the government can print the only thing it needs to stay in business but can it print something that someone else wants or has value? Isn't it kind of scary that no one can think of a good reason why a dollar has any value whatsoever other than the government say it is worth something.

 

[Dovahkiin]

If you have trouble understanding, step back and think about what the debt actually is.

I know what debt is. I am astounded at how incredibly stupid your reasoning is.

I used to be uneducated like you, but then I took common sense to the knee.

Fine, show me an example of a sovereign nation using non-convertible, non-pegged, free- floating currency that has defaulted on debt denominated in their currency.
Also, please read the forbes link I've sent you.

One thing you don't understand. If you printed that much money to pay down the debt, you would ruin the economy. Simple concept of printing too much money is that it will devalue your currency. I mean we can print as much money as we want, but in the meantime we will be devaluing our currency and slowly killing our economy.

1.) What makes you think we're going to "pay off" the debt all at once? 2.) What makes you think "printing" by itself devalues currency? We've been doing it for decades.

1) Nobody said anything about paying it all off at once.

2) Using this inflation calculator we can see that 1 dollar in 1913 has the same purchasing power as roughly 24 dollars today.

That is due to the fact that the Fed continues to expand its money supply.

Why the U.S. Dollar Constantly Loses Value

Thank god we're able to add more dollars to the economy and remove them when needed!

 

[Slade3200]

This discussion has been on my mind and I thank the poster and other contributors for the debate. I must admit that I had a very simplistic point of view about the national economy, which I believe is true for many Americans that don't dive into politics or economic matters. I've learned a lot over the passed few days and surprisingly agree with many of the points that the OP has made during this discussion. Our national debt and deficit can not be compared to the economics of an individual or normal business as the US is a sovereign nation in control of it's own currency... It's a whole other ball game. I think this is a very common misconception amongst Americans and should be discussed much much more.

Simply put, our debt is an accumulation of investments made by the general public, businesses, funds, and outside countries through the purchase bonds... We didn't borrow from China to fund the war like many pundants spout... China purchases Treasury bonds with the Billions of dollars that it accumulates through the trade deficit so they don't have to exchange the currency into yen, release it into their economy and raise their product costs and labor rates... It is one of the ways they keep the value of their currency low and undermine the global economy and oppress their people... That is a whole different discussion.

Its true that we will never default on our debt and will always be able to pay for whatever government programs we decide to undertake as we control the currency. Currency is no longer coin and dollar, it is just numbers on a computer screen and balance transfers between accounts. If we were to pay off our debt tomorrow our economy would collapse so the management of the debt is whats important. New money is created by the banks and the Treasury department during lending processes and as new money enters the economy... it is balanced by taxation which simply is the process of removing currency from the economy. As long as a balance exists in the process then inflation will remain low and the economy should function. Basically, our economy functions through the process of taking on debt and paying off that debt with interest. A large debt equals a large amount of investment in our currency which is a great thing is that debt is mostly owned by US citizens and businesses.

I do agree that government stimulus spending is a great way to stimulate the economy, the question is just how and where those funds are spent... Infrastructure seems to be common ground between parties and the big separation comes between Military and Entitlements... Again, that is a different discussion.

My concern isn't so much in the debt or deficit but more so at the magnitude as the bigger it gets the harder it can fall.I would feel much better if our debt was at or below 50% GDP and not over 100% like it is now so I believe there can be improvements made in the efficiency of spending. Spending/Investing like FDR did after the great depression lead to a booming recovery so I don't doubt the effectiveness of stimulus spending... I do think the OP's point of view was a little loose and wreckless however because there are still risks involved and those risks should be brought to the table and understood as they will affect our children and generations to come.

I am disappointed at the rhetoric and and fear tactics that many politicians use to distort the reality of this situation. They scare average Americans with a huge debt number and fear of collapse and exploit the situation rather than explaining what the situation really is and then explaining their ideas about how to manage it correctly.