. . .
K “A billion a day, they say, in interest alone.”
J “Folks should show more interest in this development, I’m just saying.”
. . .
J “The National Debt is now officially over twenty two Trillion dollars ($22,000,000,000,000.00). And we spent the electrons producing plastic and plundering the Planet.”
K “Most of it was spent bombing countries and killing people. I suspect that if we could sub poena God to testify and muse on the situation, we would discover that the real National Debt accurately calculated is over sixty six Trillion dollars ($66,000,000,000,000.00).”
. . .
K “Twenty two Trillion dollars ($22,000,000,000,000.00) in Debt are on the books and an additional twenty two Trillion dollars ($22,000,000,000,000.00) are not on the books but were devoured by just two Departments (DoD and HUD). I suspect there are probably another twenty two Trillion dollars ($22,000,000,000,000.00) off the books at other Departments.”
J “So what do we make of the economic theories that correlate debt and domestic product if the real Debt-to-GDP ratio is not hovering at 100+% but really exceeds 300+%?”
K “Or way above 400+%, if there is another twenty two Trillion dollars ($22,000,000,000,000.00) in ‘dark money’ that is additionally off the books.”
. . .
K “There are at least a dozen ‘ten’ets that provide the only perspective on debt, public and private, and should be memorized by heart:
1. Debt matters.
2. Debt matters.
3. Debt matters.
4. Debt matters.
5. Debt matters.
6. Debt matters.
7. Debt matters.
8. Debt matters.
9. Debt matters.
10. Debt matters.
11. Debt matters.
Reagan was wrong. Cheney was wrong. Most babblers are wrong. In the private and public sectors alike, Deficit – the rate – and Debt – the total – spending serve to accelerate, yank and suck ‘consumption’ from the future into the present. No one polls those whose future consumption is being stolen. However, the unborn are saddled with the debt. This amounts to the greatest inter-generational crime in history.”
J “That may be the only acceptable tattoo. ‘Debt matters.’ Those who opine on the greatest threat to our national security do not understand the greatest threat to our national security but are nonetheless allowed to opine on the greatest threat to our national security. Despite almost complete silence by those who are allowed to make public noise, the greatest threat to our national security is . . . the unsustainable national Deficit and Debt.”
K “Unless the Federal Reserve keeps interest rates near zero, the Debt will not even be paid in part. Low interest rates devastate the lives of millions of those at the other end of the life cycle who have been born for a long time – retirees – who reasonably anticipated a rate of return of 6 to 8 percent on their money in their final years.”
J “The unborn and long born are the targets and the victims in America today.”
. . .
J “To explain the growing cacophony of Debt insouciance, explore the sub-sub-conscious. Most comment makers across the political and economic spectrum are unable to admit that the Debt will never be repaid, so they contend instead that the Debt does not really matter.”
. . .
[On page 136 of Andrew McCabe’s book, recounting a 2017 Oval Office meeting, he observes: “Then the president talked about Venezuela. That’s the country we should be going to war with, he said. They have all that oil and they’re right on our back door.”]
[See the e-commentary at “Over Over-Population: 10 Billion Little Miracles (And Counting) (And Costing) (January 26, 2015)” observing that accelerating consumption from the future to the present results in a much greater “effective world population” today that is closer to 10 billion miracles effectively punishing and pummeling the Planet even more ruthlessly than the 8 billion miracles of record. “Deficits Do Matter (January 7, 2008)” discusses the concern with Debt and Deficits in more clinical detail. “Forgiving American Debt? (March 3, 2008)” eleven years ago notes that the United States will never pay off the national Debt and yet all economic models and forecasts assume that the national Debt will be paid off. “America The Bankrupt: Economics 210 in the Land of the Freeway and the Home of the Wave (January 17, 2005)” more than fourteen years ago addresses the impending bankruptcy of the United States. “National Financial Literacy Month: Teaching Financial Literacy In The ‘Debt Age’ (April 25, 2016)” asks whether there is any serious interest in teaching financial literacy in the “Debt Age”. “Venturing A Few Unfounded And Unwarranted Predictions (July 13, 2015)” provides some further analysis and discussion of the ”Supernova Dollar” and other concerns. “Third Annual Noble Prize In Eco-nomics (October 8, 2019)” discusses the missing money in the federal budget, among other concerns.]
Bumper stickers of the week:
Past, present and future walk into a bar. It was tense.
Debt matters.
Not all debt is repaid, but all debt is paid.
e-commentary 