As an American, I hear "8 trillion dollars in debt" and it seems like monopoly money.
Nobody lets you borrow 8 trillion dollars without paying some of it back.
As far as I'm concerned, it's a made-up number, it's only gotten bigger every moment I've been alive, and nothing ever comes of it.
When the universe dies, the US national debt will be at one gajillion...
blitzar•1h ago
Actually bill clinton paid some of it back (and created 22 million new jobs and an internship).
also the us debt is 38 trillion
rationalist•1h ago
also the U.S. unfunded liabilities is over 100 trillion*
* That was the number that I first heard, but a quick search shows it's estimated anywhere from 80 trillion to 210 trillion dollars.
gavinray•1h ago
> also the us debt is 38 trillion
It's sort of like being given one fine that's $100, and one fine that's $250 billion.
You may as well keep increasing the number of second fine, because in no earthly circumstance will I ever be able to pay it back.
coldtea•34m ago
>You may as well keep increasing the number of second fine, because in no earthly circumstance will I ever be able to pay it back.
When that's the case, you'd be surprised what happens when the breaking point comes.
Or do you think countries haven't gone bankrupt before?
quickthrowman•45m ago
Clinton didn’t do much of anything to pay down the total amount of outstanding debt, but he (and Congress!) did have positive effects by balancing the government’s budget. Outstanding US government debt chart from FRED: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/GFDEBTN
The budget was balanced and/or a surplus for the years from 1997-2001, which meant a lot less money was borrowed (or fewer bonds were sold, depending on how you want to look at it.)
The percentage of public debt to GDP also fell substantially from 1993-2000, which is a better metric than gross debt levels anyways. Here’s a chart of that from FRED: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/GFDEGDQ188S
rcxdude•1h ago
The US government does spent a pretty large amount of its budget paying some of the debt back. More now that there's been multiple brinkmanship games of threatening a default for political points.
rationalist•1h ago
The interest on the debt alone, is 1 trillion dollars a year.
rcxdude•1h ago
And that's at basically the lowest interest you can possibly get a loan.
rationalist•1h ago
The U.S. GDP is about 31 trillion, so 3 percent of that isn't bad, as long as we can continue to grow more than that, forever.
gavinray•2h ago
Nobody lets you borrow 8 trillion dollars without paying some of it back.
As far as I'm concerned, it's a made-up number, it's only gotten bigger every moment I've been alive, and nothing ever comes of it.
When the universe dies, the US national debt will be at one gajillion...
blitzar•1h ago
also the us debt is 38 trillion
rationalist•1h ago
* That was the number that I first heard, but a quick search shows it's estimated anywhere from 80 trillion to 210 trillion dollars.
gavinray•1h ago
You may as well keep increasing the number of second fine, because in no earthly circumstance will I ever be able to pay it back.
coldtea•34m ago
When that's the case, you'd be surprised what happens when the breaking point comes.
Or do you think countries haven't gone bankrupt before?
quickthrowman•45m ago
The budget was balanced and/or a surplus for the years from 1997-2001, which meant a lot less money was borrowed (or fewer bonds were sold, depending on how you want to look at it.)
The percentage of public debt to GDP also fell substantially from 1993-2000, which is a better metric than gross debt levels anyways. Here’s a chart of that from FRED: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/GFDEGDQ188S
rcxdude•1h ago
rationalist•1h ago
rcxdude•1h ago
rationalist•1h ago
Federal Outlays: Interest as Percent of Gross Domestic Product (FYOIGDA188S) https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/FYOIGDA188S
Although according the the article, the interest payments account for one fifth of revenue, projected to be one quarter in ten years.
izacus•1h ago
coldtea•33m ago
"Being chased while on foot by a pack of hungry cheetahs is not that bad, as long as we can keep our distance"
blitzar•43m ago