Originally Posted by
tom11011
Yes, definitely the wrong forum for this. The national debt is about to crack 18 trillion, we are accumulating about 2 trillion a year in debt now and its going higher.
I'm not sure at this point the debt can be paid back. Interest on the debt alone is the value of an entire federal program. That makes it nearly impossible to raise interest rates now without a default. We can't seem to stop quantitative easing either.
tom,
You are correct, not the best forum for this, particularly as it is an emotionally charged issue that seldom has thought involved when discussed. I promise to throw out my couple cents to reply to you and a couple other posts and then attempt to keep quiet!
I agree with your comment on paying back the debt. I don't see it happening unless the govt just decides to print x dollars and pay it off. (a treasury that prints its own money could, in theory anyway, do just that.)
For that matter, I don't see the world debt ever being paid off. All the standard powers keep jumping through hoops to keep the current system staggering along hoping it doesn't implode on their watch.
For what it's worth, since money in and of itself has no value, I have become convinced that the current debt spiral in the world, as well as the USA's, is just the manifestation of the tightening squeeze of natural resources and the plundering of the world's labor. It just shows up as a money issue, but the real cause is :
1.diminishing net energy worldwide
2. labor (those whom produce the surpluses that the financial world lives off of) not getting their share of productivity increases
Stay well and thanks for the civil exchange