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Originally Posted by Guest
I share your concern about the national debt but it continues to go up with absolutely no pain or downside. That is why very few are concerned or worried about it. If we had to increase taxes to equal what is spent, I think that is called a balanced budget, the percentage of Americans concerned would increase proportionally to the pain of paying for what is spent. IMO
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The problem for most people in understanding why debt doesn't affect a country like it would an individual, lies in the fact that public debt...is not the same as yours and my debt.
https://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/09/o...ands-debt.html
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Because debt is money we owe to ourselves, it does not directly make the economy poorer (and paying it off doesn’t make us richer). True, debt can pose a threat to financial stability — but the situation is not improved if efforts to reduce debt end up pushing the economy into deflation and depression.
Which brings us to current events, for there is a direct connection between the overall failure to deleverage and the emerging political crisis in Europe.
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Why public debt is not like credit card debt
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Most important, this credit-card metaphor is a totally false analogy because, unlike a consumer on a spending spree who later has to pay the piper, government’s borrowing strategy directly affects economic growth.
When deficit spending helps increase growth, that, in turn, makes the debt less burdensome. The Federal Reserve also has the power to buy public debt ‑ a prerogative not available to consumers.
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America Is Not Drowning In Debt - Business Insider
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"America is drowning in debt!"
It's a phrase you hear constantly regarding the Federal government's debt, household debt, corporate debt, financial debt, etc. Almost nobody challenges the premise.
Capital Economics is out with a fantastic new report titled simply "America is not drowning in debt," which methodically debunks the myth.
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ETC., ETC., ETC.
So in essence, we need to stop trying to relate the national debt (cumulative deficits) or deficits (less taken in than spent yearly)...with what we're most familiar with.
Not to say that the difference is infinite or cannot be broken, but it's not in the way that most of us can relate to... in our own economic situation.
