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How is U.S. debt resolved?

Posted on 5/2/14 at 8:12 am
Posted by Ole War Skule
North Shore
Member since Sep 2003
3409 posts
Posted on 5/2/14 at 8:12 am
Doesn't this have to crash badly at some point?

Serious question is how is this finally resolved?

Posted by constant cough
Lafayette
Member since Jun 2007
44788 posts
Posted on 5/2/14 at 8:16 am to
quote:

Serious question is how is this finally resolved?



US Dollar will be worth less than the Peso.
Posted by RCDfan1950
United States
Member since Feb 2007
34870 posts
Posted on 5/2/14 at 8:19 am to
quote:

US Dollar will be worth less than the Peso.


Yep. 'Print' dollars...pay off debtors...trash it...make new 'money'.

A common World, digital form of 'money' is inevitable. At least a try. Just like a World Government is. Time will tell if either holds up for long.
Posted by Lakeboy7
New Orleans
Member since Jul 2011
23965 posts
Posted on 5/2/14 at 8:29 am to
Mint a trillion dollar coin;

Take trillion dollar coin to treasury dept;

pay debt.

What could go wrong?
Posted by Displaced
Member since Dec 2011
32702 posts
Posted on 5/2/14 at 8:30 am to
lol, why does your graph stop at 2008?
Posted by HonoraryCoonass
Member since Jan 2005
18054 posts
Posted on 5/2/14 at 8:33 am to
quote:

Mint a trillion dollar coin;

Take trillion dollar coin to treasury dept;

pay debt.


While you have the press out, mint 17 of those coins.
Posted by SthGADawg
Member since Nov 2007
7035 posts
Posted on 5/2/14 at 8:33 am to
gold standard...get rid of the fed...it would hurt at first but would return us to the way it was for a long time...inflation was very low when we used gold as a backing to our currency...fiat $ and the printing of currency and the continual rise and fall adjustments to interest rates must stop....imho
Posted by GumboPot
Member since Mar 2009
118680 posts
Posted on 5/2/14 at 8:37 am to
quote:

How is U.S. debt resolved?


For everyone minus the federal government debt is resolved by either paying it down or defaulting.

The federal government has three options to resolve debt. 1. pay it down, 2. default, or 3. have the Federal Reserve buy more treasuries by "printing" (aka QE in today's parlance).

Those are your options. So this begs the question; what are the results of each option?

1. Paying debt down is met and accomplished with production. So paying debt down is obviously the most economically healthy way to eliminate debt simply because value is added to the economy by production.

2. Defaulting is another way to eliminate debt. Defaulting is where sufficient production does not meet predetermined debt obligations. This is not necessarily bad if you look at from the perspective that defaulting is a process of eliminating malinvestment from the general economy.

3. Printing is another form of debt reduction enjoyed by the federal government facilitated by the Federal Reserve. However it's only a debt reduction on current obligations and an increase on future debt obligations. Printing relies on future production (i.e., future tax dollars) and future debt reduction though inflation. Besides inflation, I don't know what the future holds for this type of debt management.
This post was edited on 5/2/14 at 8:40 am
Posted by Lakeboy7
New Orleans
Member since Jul 2011
23965 posts
Posted on 5/2/14 at 8:37 am to
I was talking principal bro!
Posted by TrueTiger
Chicken's most valuable
Member since Sep 2004
67689 posts
Posted on 5/2/14 at 8:39 am to
quote:

Defaulting is another way to eliminate debt.


a tool that Donal Trump is very fond of
Posted by GumboPot
Member since Mar 2009
118680 posts
Posted on 5/2/14 at 8:43 am to
quote:

Defaulting is another way to eliminate debt.


quote:

a tool that Donal Trump is very fond of



The Donald is not the only one. I would bet most all entrepreneurial millionaires/billionaires have used BK as finical strategy to achieve the best outcomes for themselves.
Posted by RCDfan1950
United States
Member since Feb 2007
34870 posts
Posted on 5/2/14 at 8:51 am to
In all sincerity, GP...it'll probably be a combination of all three.

New technology can affect 'production' in ways that can hardly be imagined. The more important issue will be if we can maintain civility and progress toward those high tech powers. And once acquired...will we have the wisdom to employ them without damage.

To the stars.
Posted by GumboPot
Member since Mar 2009
118680 posts
Posted on 5/2/14 at 8:54 am to
quote:

In all sincerity, GP...it'll probably be a combination of all three.


Absolutely.
Posted by tiderider
Member since Nov 2012
7703 posts
Posted on 5/2/14 at 9:27 am to
dick cheney, for whom many "conservatives" on here voted, said don't worry about deficit spending ...
Posted by Bard
Definitely NOT an admin
Member since Oct 2008
51488 posts
Posted on 5/2/14 at 9:32 am to
quote:

Doesn't this have to crash badly at some point?


This question has come up quite a few times over the past few years and a few of us have taken on the task of trying to reasonably gauge when such an event would happen.

My own thought is that such a crash will occur right around the time when the Treasury is no longer taking in enough monies to pay just the interest on the debt. With current spending and interest accrual, that looks to be about 10-15 years from now (if interest rates go up though, it could be much sooner).
Posted by Bard
Definitely NOT an admin
Member since Oct 2008
51488 posts
Posted on 5/2/14 at 9:35 am to
quote:

dick cheney, for whom many "conservatives" on here voted, said don't worry about deficit spending ...


He was, and continues to be, wrong.
Posted by LSURussian
Member since Feb 2005
126962 posts
Posted on 5/2/14 at 9:46 am to
quote:

How is U.S. debt resolved?
The first step is to stop adding to the debt.
Posted by upgrayedd
Lifting at Tobin's house
Member since Mar 2013
134845 posts
Posted on 5/2/14 at 9:48 am to
quote:

The first step is to stop adding to the debt.


#waron.....something
Posted by Ole War Skule
North Shore
Member since Sep 2003
3409 posts
Posted on 5/2/14 at 9:48 am to
I'm reading your reply, and reading the your signature and laughing....need to change the Rick
Astley to Uncle Sam

My guess is that we continue to run up the debt until foreigners are no longer willing or able to refinance it. 10/15 years...maybe...maybe it can go longer. I think it depends on technological developments leading to productivity increases. Everyone is betting that the U.S. economy can grow at increasing real rates in future.

My fear and expectation is that will not happen. I think 'revolution' is not in the cards, but I do think the 'masses' will elect socialist/communists to pay off the debts with accumulated wealth of the 1%ers.

Bottom line is I think there will be serious social/political upheaval in the next 20 years. Huey Long/Chavez types who will make Obama look like Reagan.

ETA: is Bard something to do with the Bengal Bard...a wandering poet at LSU in the early 80s (and probably long before as well)
This post was edited on 5/2/14 at 9:51 am
Posted by GumboPot
Member since Mar 2009
118680 posts
Posted on 5/2/14 at 9:53 am to
quote:

My guess is that we continue to run up the debt until foreigners are no longer willing or able to refinance it.


Just an FYI, foreigners (i.e., foreign countries) own about a third of our debt:

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