Why is National Debt Bad?

[AndreusMaximus]

So, something I've never heard talked about before, is foreign governments that owe money to the USA. I found one source claiming the total owed to us by other countries is almost as much as the amount we owe to other countries, but my google skills must be lacking because every time I try to research who owes us money, it just comes up with results for who we owe money to.

Can anyone help me with finding solid info on this? I'm curious who owes us money, and whether or not they're paying us interest. Just about the only thing I've managed to find is this chart below, which, if accurate, puts our net amount owed to other countries at something like $3.4T, which, while massive, still seems at least remotely manageable. So the vast majority of our debt is really owed to the American public, if I'm now understanding correctly? So our worry isn't about China coming to demand we pay them back, so much as it is being completely unable to cut checks for social security, people redeeming bonds, etc, without completely selling out to other countries through foreign debt. Am I understanding this correctly?

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res.cloudinary.com

 

[rhamersley]

Modern Monetary Theory (MMT): Definition, History, and Principles

Modern Monetary Theory (MMT) is a macroeconomic theory that says government spending should not be restrained by fears of rising debt.

www.investopedia.com

I believe this is the ongoing purview in government for the past several years, both left and right (not all, but enough to matter).

Modern monetary theory (MMT) is a heterodox macroeconomic supposition that asserts that monetarily sovereign countries (such as the U.S., U.K., Japan, and Canada) which spend, tax, and borrow in a fiat currency that they fully control, are not operationally constrained by revenues when it comes to federal government spending.


Put simply, modern monetary theory decrees that such governments do not rely on taxes or borrowing for spending since they can print as much money as they need and are the monopoly issuers of the currency. Since their budgets aren’t like a regular household’s, their policies should not be shaped by fears of a rising national debt.

 

[jamil]

That's a company? I was talking about my cocktail.

I can't figure out what they do, but they look like patent whores.

I’ve never heard of a Marconi wireless drink. But, it’s a good joke.

 

[2tonic]

I’ve never heard of a Marconi wireless drink. But, it’s a good joke.

Don't you remember?
Marconi did the mamba.

L'il joke for the boomers.

 

[jedi]

So, something I've never heard talked about before, is foreign governments that owe money to the USA. I found one source claiming the total owed to us by other countries is almost as much as the amount we owe to other countries, but my google skills must be lacking because every time I try to research who owes us money, it just comes up with results for who we owe money to.

Can anyone help me with finding solid info on this? I'm curious who owes us money, and whether or not they're paying us interest. Just about the only thing I've managed to find is this chart below, which, if accurate, puts our net amount owed to other countries at something like $3.4T, which, while massive, still seems at least remotely manageable. So the vast majority of our debt is really owed to the American public, if I'm now understanding correctly? So our worry isn't about China coming to demand we pay them back, so much as it is being completely unable to cut checks for social security, people redeeming bonds, etc, without completely selling out to other countries through foreign debt. Am I understanding this correctly?

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res.cloudinary.com

Yups...

Somewhere at the social security agency is a 5 drawer cabinet with a bunch of IOUs in the form of US bonds which the agency holds as opposed to "real" money to pay all the benefits it gives out monthly.

Here read this article.
There is a pic of President Bush seing the IOUs that SS has.

The Social Security Trust Fund Is Just a Stack of IOUs in a West Virginia Filing Cabinet

The Social Security Trust Fund vital to keeping the program solvent is nothing but paper IOUs. Here's why this will become a serious problem by 2020...

moneymorning.com

 

[jamil]

Don't you remember?
Marconi did the mamba.

L'il joke for the boomers.

I think it was "Marconi plays the mamba".

I could be mistaken.

 

[rhamersley]

I think it was "Marconi plays the mamba".

I could be mistaken.

You are correct…

 

[BigRed]

Yups...

Somewhere at the social security agency is a 5 drawer cabinet with a bunch of IOUs in the form of US bonds which the agency holds as opposed to "real" money to pay all the benefits it gives out monthly.

Here read this article.
There is a pic of President Bush seing the IOUs that SS has.

The Social Security Trust Fund Is Just a Stack of IOUs in a West Virginia Filing Cabinet

The Social Security Trust Fund vital to keeping the program solvent is nothing but paper IOUs. Here's why this will become a serious problem by 2020...

moneymorning.com

SS is nothing but a ******* ponzi scheme.

Bernie Madoff made the headlines a few years back. He ran a ponzi scheme. In his scheme, folks participated by their own free will. Bernie went to prison for being a thief.

In SS, you are made to participate. If you don't you go to prison. The thief is left unmolested.

 

[2tonic]

I think it was "Marconi plays the mamba".

I could be mistaken.

You are correct…

OK Boomer.....

 

[jamil]

OK Boomer.....

I mean. C'mon. That wasn't even boomer music. I suppose if there are any Starship fans I'll get flamed, but it was the epitome of corporate rock. It's just that it was played on the radio so damned often the lyrics were seared into my head.

Beatles. Doors. Led Zepplin. That was more like the music of my generation.

 

[2tonic]

re: We Built This City
As Mickey Thomas once jokingly said "That's what happens when you let the girl run things".