Just fantastic - you've presented succinctly and clearly what is for most Americans very difficult to understand in its entirety, even highly educated and/or with economic/finance backgrounds.
One thing that always seems to be missing from any discussion of the US debt as if the country was a corporation is a mention of the other side of the balance sheet. What value would we put on all the assets of the USA? Would that number perhaps put the debt in a different context?
I read that the VA was only about 5-7% of government spending in 2023. Hadn’t looked into net cost before. Does the 18% and 1.7T indicate that the net cost burden is heavy on VA?
What would happen if the ‘debt’ got paid off? Isn’t that $36T money that got spent into the economy and didn’t get taxed back out? Isn’t it therefore wealth in the private sector? And who specifically is better off, as in which people’s bank accounts are going to increase, when we take that $36T of privately held assets out of the economy and eliminate the debt?
Example: I own $10k in Treasuries and $10k in cash. I have $20k total. To pay off the debt the federal government taxes* me an extra $10k. I hand over my $10k of cash and they give me $10k cash for my Treasuries. I now have $10k in cash and nothing else. I am $10k poorer. Sure, the federal government is out of debt! Woohoo! But I am $10k poorer. Boohoo! And I’ve also lost a highly valued investment instrument as T-bonds are no longer available thanks to the balanced budget.
Did anything else change? No. Nothing. No jobs were added, no roads were built. In the case of less spending unemployment was created and fewer roads were built/maintained.
The so-called deficit is our wealth. Why do we want to get rid of it?
*Or the government spends $10k less. Which is reducing someone’s income by $10k. In either case the economy shrinks when we pay off the debt.
With deficits soaring and debt accumulating, the real question is: can America reclaim its fiscal future, or is it destined for a never-ending cycle of borrowing?
It was a bit misleading to mention military spending and education in the same sentence as exemplifying the choices in Discretionary Spending. Education spending is so insignificant it wasn’t worth listing on your much appreciated spending pie chart. I’m addition, Veterans Affairs is part and parcel of military spending for a total of 21% of expenses. Thanks so much for the visuals and write up. I will share them with my wife and adult sons.
Very insightful. Thank you!
Just fantastic - you've presented succinctly and clearly what is for most Americans very difficult to understand in its entirety, even highly educated and/or with economic/finance backgrounds.
One thing that always seems to be missing from any discussion of the US debt as if the country was a corporation is a mention of the other side of the balance sheet. What value would we put on all the assets of the USA? Would that number perhaps put the debt in a different context?
I read that the VA was only about 5-7% of government spending in 2023. Hadn’t looked into net cost before. Does the 18% and 1.7T indicate that the net cost burden is heavy on VA?
What would happen if the ‘debt’ got paid off? Isn’t that $36T money that got spent into the economy and didn’t get taxed back out? Isn’t it therefore wealth in the private sector? And who specifically is better off, as in which people’s bank accounts are going to increase, when we take that $36T of privately held assets out of the economy and eliminate the debt?
Example: I own $10k in Treasuries and $10k in cash. I have $20k total. To pay off the debt the federal government taxes* me an extra $10k. I hand over my $10k of cash and they give me $10k cash for my Treasuries. I now have $10k in cash and nothing else. I am $10k poorer. Sure, the federal government is out of debt! Woohoo! But I am $10k poorer. Boohoo! And I’ve also lost a highly valued investment instrument as T-bonds are no longer available thanks to the balanced budget.
Did anything else change? No. Nothing. No jobs were added, no roads were built. In the case of less spending unemployment was created and fewer roads were built/maintained.
The so-called deficit is our wealth. Why do we want to get rid of it?
*Or the government spends $10k less. Which is reducing someone’s income by $10k. In either case the economy shrinks when we pay off the debt.
And the government will keep spending more money exponentially. This is why it’s so important to trade cash for assets.
With deficits soaring and debt accumulating, the real question is: can America reclaim its fiscal future, or is it destined for a never-ending cycle of borrowing?
As long as US dollars remain strong, the rest of the world would happily finance the US 🫨
It is interesting to note that Net Operating Cost is on the same side of revenue. Lots of MMT guys would love it.
Net Operating Cost = Net Cost (all costs on the right) less revenue (on the left).
It shows on the left in the visual because the US government spends more than it earns. A balanced budget would show a net operating cost of zero.
Did you consider building a balance sheet during this exercise? You seemed to place a lot of importance on the total debt.
That's an editorial choice to focus on what matters. This is the way the US government presents its data as well.
It was a bit misleading to mention military spending and education in the same sentence as exemplifying the choices in Discretionary Spending. Education spending is so insignificant it wasn’t worth listing on your much appreciated spending pie chart. I’m addition, Veterans Affairs is part and parcel of military spending for a total of 21% of expenses. Thanks so much for the visuals and write up. I will share them with my wife and adult sons.
Did you forget to add the $ introduced into the economy by banks and the Fed?