The world owes $57 trillion... Who the F*** to? Mars? Jupiter?

[Dovahkiin]

A nice blog post regarding the "world debt." The question is, who the fuck do we owe the debt to? Aliens?
The world owes $57 trillion. Who the F*** to? Mars? Jupiter? #2

The take-home message everyone is given is that the world is in deep financial trouble and that if we don’t knuckle down and fix the debt problem, the debt problem will fix us. It seems we are due to fall over the edge of that fiscal cliff in the very near future if we don’t get our act together.

Certainly the world does face future problems of resource depletion and possible climate change. But these are quite different from the problems we see regularly reported in the mainstream press. In America, the concern is that their National Debt is now over $17 trillion.

There is story after story in the US media about how this isn’t sustainable. How its just not realistic to keep borrowing from China and Japan. In the UK the situation looks bad too!



Lets take a look at just how much of a surplus the Chinese and Japanese have managed to build up over the past few years.



This looks odd. but it looks like Japan is broke too! What about China? Surely they must be in the black!


No. They don’t look to be doing too well at all. This is not what we were told. What about all those exports? So what about the world as whole? Surely that must net to zero. The creditors and the debtors must be equal.



No, it obviously doesn’t. So just what’s going on? All the wonder economies are in debt too. Germany is in debt ($3 trillion) Singapore is in debt ($400 billion) Do we owe all this money to the extra-terrestrials?

If I am ever proved wrong about that, they will not be at all interested by the digits in our computers , or the printed pieces of paper we call money. It will the resources of our planet which might interest them and I would expect they, unlike many of us Earthlings, would be smart enough to appreciate the difference between money and resources.

They should also be smart enough to know that all money is created by crediting and debiting accounts, and that money functions as a unit of account, medium of exchange, store of value, and record of debt. Every debt has a corresponding credit denominated in the unit of account of that jurisdiction, so that all debt as someone’s liability is someone else’s asset, which nets to zero. Since money is not only someone’s debt (a payable) but also someone else’s credit (a receivable), it is just as true to say that the world owns over 57 trillion in financial assets, expressed in USD, as it is to say that the world owes 57 trillion in financial liabilities.

If there were no credit-debt relationships, that is, if all financial liabilities were extinguished, then there would be no money, and exchange of goods and services would be reduced to barter. (Acknowledgements to Mike Norman).

Do politicians not understand all this themselves? Don’t they understand that all governments have to be in debt? That would be stupidity. Or do they understand all this very well but just like to scare us all with these huge numbers? Do they deliberately lie to the very people who pay their salaries? At least under their own understanding of economics they do That would be criminality! Which is worse?

To understand why this is the case, that debts are just another way of expressing assets, we need to start right at the beginning and take a look at what money is and why it has a value.

 

[ScienceRocks]

What have we gotten for all the debt? Oh'yess, a failed republican war and huge tax breaks for the mega rich. Republicans tell me that we need to gut everything that isn't the military and the american people should suffer for it.

Fuck em...Fuck the liberterian idiots that belief this shit.

 

[HereWeGoAgain]

Things that make you go hmmmmm.....

 

[TheOldSchool]

It's all Monopoly money. WW3 will sort it all out. Hopefully we have space colonies by then.

 

[Jackson]

A nice blog post regarding the "world debt." The question is, who the fuck do we owe the debt to? Aliens?
The world owes $57 trillion. Who the F*** to? Mars? Jupiter? #2

The take-home message everyone is given is that the world is in deep financial trouble and that if we don’t knuckle down and fix the debt problem, the debt problem will fix us. It seems we are due to fall over the edge of that fiscal cliff in the very near future if we don’t get our act together.

Certainly the world does face future problems of resource depletion and possible climate change. But these are quite different from the problems we see regularly reported in the mainstream press. In America, the concern is that their National Debt is now over $17 trillion.

There is story after story in the US media about how this isn’t sustainable. How its just not realistic to keep borrowing from China and Japan. In the UK the situation looks bad too!



Lets take a look at just how much of a surplus the Chinese and Japanese have managed to build up over the past few years.



This looks odd. but it looks like Japan is broke too! What about China? Surely they must be in the black!


No. They don’t look to be doing too well at all. This is not what we were told. What about all those exports? So what about the world as whole? Surely that must net to zero. The creditors and the debtors must be equal.



No, it obviously doesn’t. So just what’s going on? All the wonder economies are in debt too. Germany is in debt ($3 trillion) Singapore is in debt ($400 billion) Do we owe all this money to the extra-terrestrials?

If I am ever proved wrong about that, they will not be at all interested by the digits in our computers , or the printed pieces of paper we call money. It will the resources of our planet which might interest them and I would expect they, unlike many of us Earthlings, would be smart enough to appreciate the difference between money and resources.

They should also be smart enough to know that all money is created by crediting and debiting accounts, and that money functions as a unit of account, medium of exchange, store of value, and record of debt. Every debt has a corresponding credit denominated in the unit of account of that jurisdiction, so that all debt as someone’s liability is someone else’s asset, which nets to zero. Since money is not only someone’s debt (a payable) but also someone else’s credit (a receivable), it is just as true to say that the world owns over 57 trillion in financial assets, expressed in USD, as it is to say that the world owes 57 trillion in financial liabilities.

If there were no credit-debt relationships, that is, if all financial liabilities were extinguished, then there would be no money, and exchange of goods and services would be reduced to barter. (Acknowledgements to Mike Norman).

Do politicians not understand all this themselves? Don’t they understand that all governments have to be in debt? That would be stupidity. Or do they understand all this very well but just like to scare us all with these huge numbers? Do they deliberately lie to the very people who pay their salaries? At least under their own understanding of economics they do That would be criminality! Which is worse?

To understand why this is the case, that debts are just another way of expressing assets, we need to start right at the beginning and take a look at what money is and why it has a value.

US citizens.

 

[Boss]

A nice blog post regarding the "world debt." The question is, who the fuck do we owe the debt to? Aliens?
The world owes $57 trillion. Who the F*** to? Mars? Jupiter? #2

Too bad there aren't any democrat voters on those planets or we could be a Socialist Solar System!

 

[MisterBeale]

A nice blog post regarding the "world debt." The question is, who the fuck do we owe the debt to? Aliens?
The world owes $57 trillion. Who the F*** to? Mars? Jupiter? #2

The take-home message everyone is given is that the world is in deep financial trouble and that if we don’t knuckle down and fix the debt problem, the debt problem will fix us. It seems we are due to fall over the edge of that fiscal cliff in the very near future if we don’t get our act together.

Certainly the world does face future problems of resource depletion and possible climate change. But these are quite different from the problems we see regularly reported in the mainstream press. In America, the concern is that their National Debt is now over $17 trillion.

There is story after story in the US media about how this isn’t sustainable. How its just not realistic to keep borrowing from China and Japan. In the UK the situation looks bad too!



Lets take a look at just how much of a surplus the Chinese and Japanese have managed to build up over the past few years.



This looks odd. but it looks like Japan is broke too! What about China? Surely they must be in the black!


No. They don’t look to be doing too well at all. This is not what we were told. What about all those exports? So what about the world as whole? Surely that must net to zero. The creditors and the debtors must be equal.



No, it obviously doesn’t. So just what’s going on? All the wonder economies are in debt too. Germany is in debt ($3 trillion) Singapore is in debt ($400 billion) Do we owe all this money to the extra-terrestrials?

If I am ever proved wrong about that, they will not be at all interested by the digits in our computers , or the printed pieces of paper we call money. It will the resources of our planet which might interest them and I would expect they, unlike many of us Earthlings, would be smart enough to appreciate the difference between money and resources.

They should also be smart enough to know that all money is created by crediting and debiting accounts, and that money functions as a unit of account, medium of exchange, store of value, and record of debt. Every debt has a corresponding credit denominated in the unit of account of that jurisdiction, so that all debt as someone’s liability is someone else’s asset, which nets to zero. Since money is not only someone’s debt (a payable) but also someone else’s credit (a receivable), it is just as true to say that the world owns over 57 trillion in financial assets, expressed in USD, as it is to say that the world owes 57 trillion in financial liabilities.

If there were no credit-debt relationships, that is, if all financial liabilities were extinguished, then there would be no money, and exchange of goods and services would be reduced to barter. (Acknowledgements to Mike Norman).

Do politicians not understand all this themselves? Don’t they understand that all governments have to be in debt? That would be stupidity. Or do they understand all this very well but just like to scare us all with these huge numbers? Do they deliberately lie to the very people who pay their salaries? At least under their own understanding of economics they do That would be criminality! Which is worse?

To understand why this is the case, that debts are just another way of expressing assets, we need to start right at the beginning and take a look at what money is and why it has a value.

You seriously don't know the entire world's monetary system is based on debt?

Really? You never learned this huh?

 

[leftwinger]

A owes B who owes C who owes A who owes D interest only on bonds package and resold from C,


I bet the Leftist hack have eye on Fort Knox and Govt. 777 ready to go to an Island far off when Sheet hit fan. These people think they "care" about them? Ha, You saw what they did with $1T "phony stimulus" free money right? handed it out to each other to get past rough spot. They will be PAID one way or another. They kept spending at "stimulus" levels for walking around money.

 

[Dovahkiin]

A nice blog post regarding the "world debt." The question is, who the fuck do we owe the debt to? Aliens?
The world owes $57 trillion. Who the F*** to? Mars? Jupiter? #2

The take-home message everyone is given is that the world is in deep financial trouble and that if we don’t knuckle down and fix the debt problem, the debt problem will fix us. It seems we are due to fall over the edge of that fiscal cliff in the very near future if we don’t get our act together.

Certainly the world does face future problems of resource depletion and possible climate change. But these are quite different from the problems we see regularly reported in the mainstream press. In America, the concern is that their National Debt is now over $17 trillion.

There is story after story in the US media about how this isn’t sustainable. How its just not realistic to keep borrowing from China and Japan. In the UK the situation looks bad too!



Lets take a look at just how much of a surplus the Chinese and Japanese have managed to build up over the past few years.



This looks odd. but it looks like Japan is broke too! What about China? Surely they must be in the black!


No. They don’t look to be doing too well at all. This is not what we were told. What about all those exports? So what about the world as whole? Surely that must net to zero. The creditors and the debtors must be equal.



No, it obviously doesn’t. So just what’s going on? All the wonder economies are in debt too. Germany is in debt ($3 trillion) Singapore is in debt ($400 billion) Do we owe all this money to the extra-terrestrials?

If I am ever proved wrong about that, they will not be at all interested by the digits in our computers , or the printed pieces of paper we call money. It will the resources of our planet which might interest them and I would expect they, unlike many of us Earthlings, would be smart enough to appreciate the difference between money and resources.

They should also be smart enough to know that all money is created by crediting and debiting accounts, and that money functions as a unit of account, medium of exchange, store of value, and record of debt. Every debt has a corresponding credit denominated in the unit of account of that jurisdiction, so that all debt as someone’s liability is someone else’s asset, which nets to zero. Since money is not only someone’s debt (a payable) but also someone else’s credit (a receivable), it is just as true to say that the world owns over 57 trillion in financial assets, expressed in USD, as it is to say that the world owes 57 trillion in financial liabilities.

If there were no credit-debt relationships, that is, if all financial liabilities were extinguished, then there would be no money, and exchange of goods and services would be reduced to barter. (Acknowledgements to Mike Norman).

Do politicians not understand all this themselves? Don’t they understand that all governments have to be in debt? That would be stupidity. Or do they understand all this very well but just like to scare us all with these huge numbers? Do they deliberately lie to the very people who pay their salaries? At least under their own understanding of economics they do That would be criminality! Which is worse?

To understand why this is the case, that debts are just another way of expressing assets, we need to start right at the beginning and take a look at what money is and why it has a value.

US citizens.

What the hell are you talking about?

 

[Agit8r]

Much of that debt is owed to payroll tax payers in the form of entitlement trust funds.

 

[Tom Horn]

What have we gotten for all the debt? Oh'yess, a failed republican war and huge tax breaks for the mega rich. Republicans tell me that we need to gut everything that isn't the military and the american people should suffer for it.

Fuck em...Fuck the liberterian idiots that belief this shit.

Baloney....the $19T we're in debt is an almost identical number to what we've spent on LBJ's "great society" ie welfare.

 

[Mac1958]

The question is, who the fuck do we owe the debt to? Aliens?

To each other, essentially.

Governments sell take loans from investors in the form of treasuries. Cities take loans from investors in the form of municipals. Corporations take loans from investors in the form of corporate bonds.

Everywhere. All over the world.

Retirees live off the dividends. Insurance companies invest billions in them so they can make guarantees. Pensions and charities invest billions in them to maintain risk tolerance in their accounts for their constituents. Mutual funds and ETF's invest billions in them for their investors. Investors buy individual bonds for their portfolios, IRA's and 401K's.

I've seen some well-meaning people say it should all just be forgiven and we start over. Nice thought, incredibly naive. There is no way to do that.
.

 

[Dovahkiin]

The question is, who the fuck do we owe the debt to? Aliens?

To each other, essentially.

Governments sell take loans from investors in the form of treasuries. Cities take loans from investors in the form of municipals. Corporations take loans from investors in the form of corporate bonds.

Everywhere. All over the world.

Retirees live off the dividends. Insurance companies invest billions in them so they can make guarantees. Pensions and charities invest billions in them to maintain risk tolerance in their accounts for their constituents. Mutual funds and ETF's invest billions in them for their investors. Investors buy individual bonds for their portfolios, IRA's and 401K's.

I've seen some well-meaning people say it should all just be forgiven and we start over. Nice thought, incredibly naive. There is no way to do that.
.

I already know all of this, the point of my OP is to demonstrate that the hysteria over the national debt is misguided.

 

[Dovahkiin]

What have we gotten for all the debt? Oh'yess, a failed republican war and huge tax breaks for the mega rich. Republicans tell me that we need to gut everything that isn't the military and the american people should suffer for it.

Fuck em...Fuck the liberterian idiots that belief this shit.

Baloney....the $19T we're in debt is an almost identical number to what we've spent on LBJ's "great society" ie welfare.

The debt represents government bonds.

 

[Mac1958]

The question is, who the fuck do we owe the debt to? Aliens?

To each other, essentially.

Governments sell take loans from investors in the form of treasuries. Cities take loans from investors in the form of municipals. Corporations take loans from investors in the form of corporate bonds.

Everywhere. All over the world.

Retirees live off the dividends. Insurance companies invest billions in them so they can make guarantees. Pensions and charities invest billions in them to maintain risk tolerance in their accounts for their constituents. Mutual funds and ETF's invest billions in them for their investors. Investors buy individual bonds for their portfolios, IRA's and 401K's.

I've seen some well-meaning people say it should all just be forgiven and we start over. Nice thought, incredibly naive. There is no way to do that.
.

I already know all of this, the point of my OP is to demonstrate that the hysteria over the national debt is misguided.

We just love getting hysterical.

Great American pastime.
.

 

[baileyn45]

A nice blog post regarding the "world debt." The question is, who the fuck do we owe the debt to? Aliens?
The world owes $57 trillion. Who the F*** to? Mars? Jupiter? #2

The take-home message everyone is given is that the world is in deep financial trouble and that if we don’t knuckle down and fix the debt problem, the debt problem will fix us. It seems we are due to fall over the edge of that fiscal cliff in the very near future if we don’t get our act together.

Certainly the world does face future problems of resource depletion and possible climate change. But these are quite different from the problems we see regularly reported in the mainstream press. In America, the concern is that their National Debt is now over $17 trillion.

There is story after story in the US media about how this isn’t sustainable. How its just not realistic to keep borrowing from China and Japan. In the UK the situation looks bad too!



Lets take a look at just how much of a surplus the Chinese and Japanese have managed to build up over the past few years.



This looks odd. but it looks like Japan is broke too! What about China? Surely they must be in the black!


No. They don’t look to be doing too well at all. This is not what we were told. What about all those exports? So what about the world as whole? Surely that must net to zero. The creditors and the debtors must be equal.



No, it obviously doesn’t. So just what’s going on? All the wonder economies are in debt too. Germany is in debt ($3 trillion) Singapore is in debt ($400 billion) Do we owe all this money to the extra-terrestrials?

If I am ever proved wrong about that, they will not be at all interested by the digits in our computers , or the printed pieces of paper we call money. It will the resources of our planet which might interest them and I would expect they, unlike many of us Earthlings, would be smart enough to appreciate the difference between money and resources.

They should also be smart enough to know that all money is created by crediting and debiting accounts, and that money functions as a unit of account, medium of exchange, store of value, and record of debt. Every debt has a corresponding credit denominated in the unit of account of that jurisdiction, so that all debt as someone’s liability is someone else’s asset, which nets to zero. Since money is not only someone’s debt (a payable) but also someone else’s credit (a receivable), it is just as true to say that the world owns over 57 trillion in financial assets, expressed in USD, as it is to say that the world owes 57 trillion in financial liabilities.

If there were no credit-debt relationships, that is, if all financial liabilities were extinguished, then there would be no money, and exchange of goods and services would be reduced to barter. (Acknowledgements to Mike Norman).

Do politicians not understand all this themselves? Don’t they understand that all governments have to be in debt? That would be stupidity. Or do they understand all this very well but just like to scare us all with these huge numbers? Do they deliberately lie to the very people who pay their salaries? At least under their own understanding of economics they do That would be criminality! Which is worse?

To understand why this is the case, that debts are just another way of expressing assets, we need to start right at the beginning and take a look at what money is and why it has a value.

Keep in mind this $57tr is obviously just govt debt. In the US we are at or near record levels of corporate debt, student debt is at record levels, consumer debt is way up. Then of course you can get into derivatives exposure at big banks, now you're talking hundreds of trillions. Utter madness.

 

[SuperDemocrat]

What have we gotten for all the debt? Oh'yess, a failed republican war and huge tax breaks for the mega rich. Republicans tell me that we need to gut everything that isn't the military and the american people should suffer for it.

Fuck em...Fuck the liberterian idiots that belief this shit.

What world do you live in and can you come out of it so you can rejoin reality?

 

[Rexx Taylor]

so that comes out to about 2.5 Million dollars per person?

 

[Rambunctious]

The money is owed to the entity that lent it. It will have to be repaid one day. The U.S. owes 20 Trillion mostly to China and Saudi Arabia. It will need to be paid back. In 2008 Pelosi said we can default because what are they going to do to us if we default. I hope you don't follow that line of thinking. If we decide to forgo our debt our economy would be destroyed forever.

 

[Little-Acorn]

A nice blog post regarding the "world debt." The question is, who the fuck do we owe the debt to? Aliens?

You're not thinking of just saying, "We just owe that money to ourselves anyway. Let's just renounce that debt.", are you?