We can’t keep running up debt and deficits like we have. Some is fine but we are way beyond that at this point, imo.
I don’t know the inflection point but I think it’s coming.
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It seems Musk is on the same page as me on this one.
Neither Political Party wants to cut deficit spending.
Regardless of what Voters say they want.
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Part of the issue is voters largely want what they want cut (ie the stuff that doesn’t impact them or what they don’t prioritize).
It’s related to how people tend to hate congress but like their representative.
Politics makes cutting things hard (maybe impossible) to do without losing elections. So here we are.
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You can cut some things if you do it with precision after having a good debate on
it and some compromises. Same with taxation increases.
However neither spending cuts or tax increases will make a dramatic turnaround
in the national debt. The key imho is growing the economy so the debt to gdp ratio
is more historically inline. But you do all 3 things.
Right now the “Debt Owed to the Public” is $29 Trillion per our USTreasury web site.
Since GDP is about the same we have a 100% ratio.
If GDP grows faster than does the debt obviously the ratio will decline.
Simply put we must get the annual deficits well below $1 Trillion to keep that increase less than the GDP increases.
No prayer of that happening with the current Congress.
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Does that include all the bonds we issued?
Those numbers seem a bit low. I’m seeing it at $36 trillion which puts us at 123%.
The national debt ($36.21 T)
What source you using ?
Agree, it can be done. Just really hard in current environment. Hard to get anything down in bipartisan manner which is really helpful with stuff like this.
Everyone is worried about the next election and not what will happen down the road. Of course, if you can’t get reelected, you probably don’t fix the long term issues either. And around and around we go.
I feel like we are just going to keep whipsawing back and forth trying to undo the last person’s work.
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Yes, and it’s a multiyear effort to get back to
the comfort zone of debt to gdp. And whatever policy you implement, if you get caught with some inflation or unemployment, you will get canned.
So you have to do all 3 above AND keep inflation under 3% (?) or get kicked out.
American voters don’t think long term only
paycheck to paycheck .
And then to make it even harder you have
technological disruption plus the unexpected wars or global pandemics. Don’t think I’d want the job if offered 
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USTreasury.gov has the data.
About $7 Trillion is intra-agency debt. Such as Treasury owes Social Security.
Under GAAP such debt disappears when you create a consolidated Balance Sheet. The debits and credits offset, thus disappear.
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Thanks for that explanation.
For some reason the link you posted doesn’t
work for me.
Did find this though…
Under GAAP, that would be true. But that’s not how it works in govt accounting. That obligation stands up as a separate legal commitment.
Well, it is Tuesday…it is taco time.
The United States has extended tariff exclusions for certain products from China.
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Fiscal data.treasury.gov
Try that. Good explanations for everything.
Texas is creating a “Strategic Bitcoin Reserve,” as well.
Note, the bill is still waiting for the gov’s signature, but I’m certain that’s coming.
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The $7 trillion of Inter-Governmental debt is not legal debt.
We have only one Treasury Dept and it writes all checks.
So if we wrote a check from the Defense Dept. to Medicare that check would be deposited right back into our Treasury Dept. The check would never leave their building.
This all is accounting fiction. Politicians quote the $36 trillion number because it is scarier than $29 trillion.
And the $29 trillion is 75% owed to USA companies, pension funds, banks, individuals, mutual funds, etc.
Our actual obligations to Foreigners isn’t any big sweat and the Interest Income we send abroad to them is a rounding error in the total budget.
However the rate of debt growth is incredible, all courtesy of the people we VOTE FOR. Literally we citizens do not care. We do nothing about it.
The obligations to social security has to be paid for sure. Others may need to as well. There are laws requiring stuff. It’s not all a bunch of accounting fiction and you can’t say it all just washes. You can find examples of stuff that does but not all of it.
Governments don’t use GAAP accounting because running a business and a government isn’t the same. A big part of that relates to obligations required by law.
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So a less scary looking version of debt to gdp; actually we were on pretty good decline path post pandemic to about Q1 2023. But we have to acknowledge that
with the most recent loss of a top credit rating, the money boys are not happy with
the proposed direction and policy.
I might also add it’s kinda irrelevant to quibble if the top number is 29 or 36 trillion; for purposes of debt rating agencies it’s too high.