U.S. debt load falling at fastest pace since 1950s

[boutons_deux]

When consumer/business spending is down, tax receipts are down, so the deficit goes up since much of govt spending is structural not elective.

[scott]

When consumer/business spending is down, tax receipts are down, so the deficit goes up since much of govt spending is structural not elective.

Revenue is dynamic, and spending can be too. Only 12 times since 1934 have we managed a balanced budget. Not acceptable.

[boutons_deux]

"dynamic, and spending can be too"

tell that to the MIC (whose consumption of tax $$ only goes up).

and try that "dynamic" with the tax expenditures for the 1%, the UCA, loopholes, deductions (eg mortgage), bull write offs.

[scott]

"dynamic, and spending can be too"

tell that to the MIC (whose consumption of tax $$ only goes up).

and try that "dynamic" with the tax expenditures for the 1%, the UCA, loopholes, deductions (eg mortgage), bull write offs.

lol this is why no one engages you in real conversation. You're incapable of having it without relying on non-sequitous bouton-speak.

[RandomGuy]

Sorry Scott, I thought you were smarter than that. My mistake.

Comparing our situation to China is hardly relevant.

They have a huge population bubble working through the pipeline and can afford and actually need to expand their currency.

Saying "well they can do it, why can't we?" is definitely an apples and oranges comparison. Plus, your source is old. So 2011. Ask him now if he is still comfortable with the Fed infinitely printing money.

If you had bothered reading the links, you would have the answer to that question already.

China will be facing a huge proble outside their population bubble in that they are very very badly allocating capital.

Much of their current growth is built on quicksand.

The world is making much of China's rise, and views it as the most important economy, so when their bubble pops, and it is looking increasingly like it will, it will get ugly.

They have overbuilt steel capacity that will collapse commodity markets when that capacity goes unused or folds in on itself.

[RandomGuy]

And the article explicitly compared monetary expansion between the US and China and placed the bulk of the blame for higher commodity prices (which feels like inflation) on China for expanding it's money supply much faster than the US...of course, China's population and GDP is expanding much faster than the US as well...which he ignored...

China's population is not expanding faster than the U.S.

Their population is due to start shrinking within a couple of decades, and will consequently very rapidly age.

China's industrialization will accelerate their trend of declining birthrates.

[RandomGuy]

Revenue is dynamic, and spending can be too. Only 12 times since 1934 have we managed a balanced budget. Not acceptable.

A certain amount of new debt per year is not exactly a bad thing, overall.

I would point out that a lot of investment funds, insurance companies, and banks, rely on having a supply of treasuries around.

That said, we do need to pare it down a bit. My gut says the U.S. government is crowding out private sector borrowing somewhat, although there is a huge demand for it over private sector borrowing/lending.

We just need to keep new borrowing at a rate generally lower than inflation, and let the debt's value decay through sheer inflation.

[CosmicCowboy]

China's population is not expanding faster than the U.S.

Their population is due to start shrinking within a couple of decades, and will consequently very rapidly age.

China's industrialization will accelerate their trend of declining birthrates.

It is numerically.

I agree they are going to have long term demographic issues but the bubble is not through the snake yet. They currently have to add 25 million jobs and grow their economy at 8% + just to maintain the status quo on unemployment.

[scott]

A certain amount of new debt per year is not exactly a bad thing, overall.

I would point out that a lot of investment funds, insurance companies, and banks, rely on having a supply of treasuries around.

That said, we do need to pare it down a bit. My gut says the U.S. government is crowding out private sector borrowing somewhat, although there is a huge demand for it over private sector borrowing/lending.

We just need to keep new borrowing at a rate generally lower than inflation, and let the debt's value decay through sheer inflation.

The issuance of debt is not necessarily tied to budget deficits. We don't need endless deficits to issue debt, in fact we can issue debt while having permanent surpluses.