There is always a lot of talk about the national debt. How high it is. How much it costs us to service. Etc, etc. While I do believe these statements are true, I’m not sure what our reduction goal should be. I am pretty new to the forum and was hoping to gain some insight from the members. What would be an acceptable level of national debt (if any)? Thanks for your thoughts!
None.
Seconded.
No debt is good, but I would say the level of debt that gets you into a whole new world of pain is the debt the size of which gives foreign players clout over your politics.
so what are you now giving advice to politicians on how to run their ponzi-scheme longer?
It makes no difference who is holding the debt.
Thirded.
Fourth
Why do you think capitalism eliminates poverty altogether?? Never seen that happen…maybe in ur books only??
Why don’t you tell that to people from all the countries devastated by the IMF?
Because it largely does.
Do you know of a capitalist society without state intervention you could perhaps point me toward?
What does this have to do with whether government debt is good or bad? Seems like a non-sequitor.
Eleventeenthed
I have no clue as to what point you are trying to make here or what this has to do with your original statement.
Schfifty-fived.
The lesson: Don’t criticise what you don’t understand.
Zero.
If my homeowner’s association found a foolish lender that would loan them money at below market rates, I’d vote for that. But, I’m in my condo association voluntarily.
As an involuntary slave of the US government, I know they would probably just use the extra money to abuse my rights, or distort the economy in some harmful way, or blow up pregnant Iraqi women. It seems politicians always prefer spending money on buying votes as opposed to reducing taxes. So I’d rather the national debt be zero.
Do you even understand what you are trying to say?
What do you think?
Random summed-random number-ed.
I’m not being a state applogist here, but I’ll give a more reasonable answer given our current situation.
Debt as a % of GDP is a good indicator of solvency. A debt burden at 100% GDP or higher is crushing and may pose a threat our solvency.
What could be done reducing the debt? I think I heard that if you taxed all fortune 500 companies at 100% for the next 100 years you would only pay down a fraction of the debt. So a simple answer really is…nothing.
More practically, if debt were held fixed for a long period of time, say 30 years, through economic growth the debt burden would fall as a percentage of GDP even without paying anything back. So after 30 years of growth and balanced budgets we might have a debt that stands at “only” 50% of GDP or so.
But what are the chances of congress balancing its budget for even one year, let alone 30?