CB quoted: >>> National Debt Grows $1 Million a Minute >>> By TOM RAUM, AP >>>WASHINGTON (Dec. 3) - Like a ticking time bomb, the national debt is an explosion waiting to happen. It's expanding by about $1.4 billion a day -- or nearly $1 million a minute.<<<
me: >> One problem we have on the left is that we like the idea of crisis so much that we sometimes fall under the influence on non-crises that are disguised as crises. This is one of them.<< CB : > I see what you mean, but you aren't saying that AP (AOL newsservice where this article came from) are left yet , are you ? The rev is really moving along if AOL is left.< no, but you seemed to want us to get excited about the government debt increase, for some reason. I assumed it was because you thought it was some sort of crisis. CB: > This is not a left perspective, but a perspective about "the" economy > that is being propagandized to the millions. Why does AOL corporation > want people to feel that there is a national debt ? So that they will > accept privatizing social security ? Why is the monopoly media putting > out this perspective that you say expertly is misleading ? This money > 75% of which is owed to the real "People" , why is it portrayed as a > "crisis" , not on PEN-L, but in the major media. ? when anyone posts a message to pen-l, they should make it clear why they do so. I couldn't see these questions in your original posting. BTW, most people seem to believe that the government debt is a bad thing, even without encouragement from the oligopoly media. And like most economists, most people don't know simple accounting, i.e., that it should be called the "government's debt," not the "national debt." Raum: >>> The national debt is $9.13 trillion, about $30,000 for every person in the U.S. The total is worrisome because interest payments on the debt strain government resources -- and things could get worse if the economy slows down, as some economists predict.<<< me: >> It should NOT be called the "national" debt. It's the _government's_ debt and about 75% of it is owed to people in the U.S. So 75% percent of it should be consider part of the nation's assets. If you don't see this, please e-mail me and I will give you my home address -- so you can mail me your government bonds. If they're such a burden, I'll take them off your hands.<< CB: > I wish I owned some. The US government is the soundest investment there is no ? We can't imagine Uncle Sam in financial trouble. That's one recession that even left economists predict won't come anytime soon.< yeah, the risk involved in T-bills is nil. me: >> The interest payments on the _government's_ debt do represent a problem in the government's budget. (But remember than about 75% are paid to people inside the U.S.!) The problem of interest payments is not a problem in the short run, even if a recession hits, because the Federal government can and does run deficits -- it does not have to balance its budget. Smart economists and politicians don't force a budget balance in a recession, since they know it makes matters worse. << CB: > Plus Keynesianism counsels deficit spending so as to pump money into the economy through government spending even if it is borrowed money spent. Of course, the rightwing took over Keynesianism and deficit spends on war.< it took over Keynesianism in 1942 or so. Practical Keynesian fiscal policy in the US has mostly involved war spending and tax cuts for the rich or their corporations. The anemic welfare state in the US did imply some automatic stabilization, though. me: > Over the long haul, the economy grows, generating more & more tax revenues > for the government. These (along with tax hikes or spending cuts) allow the > government to pay interest. The problem occurs only if the government debt > grows _faster_ than the economy for several years, so that the government > debt to GDP ratio rises. But last time I looked, the government debt was not > at its previous peak (67% of GDP in 1996, for gross debt). It was far below > its previous peak (122% of GDP) at the end of WW2. It's like 66% now. Note > that the US economy did very well during the 1950s, despite the debts left > over from WW2.< CB:> Remember how the rightwing of the Goldwater era used to make such a big deal about liberal deficit spending ? Then Reagan came along and doubled the national debt, added as much to the national debt as all the previous presidents back to Washington combined. This was military industrial complex deficit spending, Keynesianism if I'm not mistaken,< also, tax cuts for the rich were involved. Gross government debt more than doubled from 1981 to 1989 (from $995 billion in 1981 to $2,868 billion in 1989). But the debt/GDP ratio only rose from 32.6% to 53.1% between those years. This encouraged the Great Role Reversal, in which many or most Dems became fiscal conservatives and GOPsters became borrow-and-spendthrifts. -- Jim Devine / "The only difference between the Democrats and the Republicans is that the Democrats allow the poor to be corrupt, too." -- Oscar Levant
