Originally Posted by
rickair7777
Might be but it's at least plausible that economies can simply grow their way out of debt. Unlike individual people, economies don't need to plan for retirement and death. Aside from wars, societal upheaval, or asteroid impact the only constraints on economic growth are resources and living space... we're a long way from running out of either of those and by the time we are there's always the moon.
I'm not a fan of unrestrained debt and spending but it is a different animal than your personal finances. The budget was balanced (slight surplus actually) 20 years ago, so it's not impossible that we could get back into that ballpark. Debt as a fraction of GDP is of course at an all-time high.
I don’t disagree with that in principle - you make good points. Problem is that I’ve seen no sign since before Bush 43 that anyone in our ruling class is remotely interested balancing the budget. They don’t even pretend to care about it anymore.