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National Debt = $17T. National Assets $175 - 200T. Sell something off if it worries you!
(I don't mean you personally)
Holy mother of ....
Hoonose,
Such advice could destroy us.
If he sold something off, and paid off personal debt, it would make it worse since it would depress the national asset prices. He would dump the asset on the market and send cash back to the bank reducing the monetary float to support those prices. Think like a Took. The closer we are to danger, the further we are from harm.
Why if people keep paying off debt, nationals asset may fall all the way to 17 trillion in value and then we would lose the whole country to the national debt since for some reason the entire money supply would match the debt precisely ...for some reason...
How much are barf bags? Please debit my account and credit 1 barf bag.
If he sold something off, and paid off personal debt, it would make it worse since it would depress the national asset prices. He would dump the asset on the market and send cash back to the bank reducing the monetary float to support those prices. Think like a Took. The closer we are to danger, the further we are from harm.
Why if people keep paying off debt, nationals asset may fall all the way to 17 trillion in value and then we would lose the whole country to the national debt since for some reason the entire money supply would match the debt precisely ...for some reason...
How much are barf bags? Please debit my account and credit 1 barf bag.
Oh just sell off a few $T of future oil. Just to calm the minions. <LOL>
What are your thoughts on this possibility, and what its effects will be?
I think that anything written by Bill "I chronicle the decline and fall of entitlement democracy" Frezza is apt to be a piece of junk. He a Romneyite venture capitalist, and the actual IMF report does not validate the claims he has made about it. People like the IMF do not "quietly drop bombshells". What happens is that cheapshot sensationalizers take arcane bits of discussion and analyisis and reshape them into overhyped balderdash that will sound sexy and meet a publication deadline. It's not actually worth discussing.
Also increasing tax rates takes money directly from the economy which lowers both GDP and tax revenue.
That's Phase-1. Phase-2 asks what does the government do with the money. If it puts it all in a coffee can, then that's the end of the story. If it either spends the money or uses it to pay down debt, then the money simply flows right back into private sector again, increasing GDP and tax revenue.
Quote:
Originally Posted by jimhcom
Even the confiscation of all the wealth of the top 1% of the country would not bring the debt back to a serviceable level.
The debt is perfectly well serviceable as is. Keep in mind that we will never pay it off and neither will any other signficant economy pay off its debt. The US has not paid off its public debt since the 1830's and there really wasn't any good reason to have done it then. All that is necessary is that we service the debt, making all of the required payments of principal and interest as of the dates they are due. We are not having any problem doing that and are not at all likely to in the future.
Quote:
Originally Posted by jimhcom
The only answer like it or not is wealth confiscation on a mass scale.
Another option is to go fishing. There is simply nothing here to worry about, regardless of what on-dealine whackjobs try to suggest.
That article made me laugh. After I stopped laughing, I was then sad when I realized people buy into it.
Actually, that was a very passable piece. A national governmnet is nothing at all like a household. They are very different actors playing in a very different world under very different rules.
This article outlines a conclusion made by the IMF that high debt countries like Japan and the US, are now beyond the point of being able to service their debts by conventional means, and that some extra ordinary taxation will be necessary in order to return debt to serviceable levels.
One of the proposals the IMF floats is a wealth confiscation much like what we have already seen in Greece.
I believe we have seen several things done by the government to prepare the population for this inevitability. I also believe that despite the fact the study says we will need to have wealth confiscation across the board; the middle to lower high class will be hit much harder than the rest of the population.
What are your thoughts on this possibility, and what its effects will be?
I find it interesting that you use the term "wealth confiscation" to describe tax increases. No drama there, eh?
I find it interesting that you imply you do not trust the IMF, but will accept their "conclusion" if it suits your position.
I find it interesting that you claim there is a "liberal’s position that people with money or success did not earn that on their own". While I have seen some on the far left make similar assertions, it is hardly a universal belief and an astonishing exaggeration on your part. There are some ridiculous assertions from the far right as well. Can we tar you with the same brush as Sarah Palin, Michelle Bachmann or Rick Santorum?
Still, since the issue is really about servicing the debt, the solution will likely come from a combination of job growth, economic growth, spending cuts and yes, even new revenues. It is a real problem that needs to be dealt with, but exaggerated claims only serve to muddy the waters in a non-productive fashion.
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