How do we pay back our national "Debt" , and is it really expected?

Setting aside who added what to the debt, how do we pay this back? Does anyone think we really can/will? Where do we get trillions in a surplus to pay this back or to even make a dent in it?

Both parties continue to add, with out either party really outlaying a plan on how to get this # down.

What is the consequences of this debt growing? At what point does it become too much? Does that point exist?

 

The debt will NEVER be paid back. It will grow until it can't grow anymore, at which point it will either be inflated away, or defaulted upon.

Welcome to our system of exponential economic growth, which requires exponential growth of everything fueling it: Debt (both private and public), energy supply, productivity, and pollution.

 

We never intended to pay it off. We just rebase the currency.

 

Invest in Future generation. That means invest in education

Invest in future technology and economy. That means forget about “ bring manufacturing job back from India or china”.

Change immigration policy and bring more people in America. US population growth is flatten and without bringing more immigrant in US , there is no future for USA.

These are just 3 of many which can help grow USA economy and ultimately help USA to pay off some debt if not all.

Unfortunately in conservative world - working in coal mine or working in manufacturing company is ‘American dream”, investing in education or future technology is “socialism”, and god forbid if we want more immigrant in America, that will end white supremacy.

 

Just impose a National Debt Tax on all corporations making MORE than $100 billion a year and individuals making more than $1 million a year from ALL sources of INCOME.

The Rate of the ND Tax will be VARIABLE but CANNOT ever be LOWER than whatever the $ amount is NEEDED to REDUCE the National Debt by a MINIMUM of 5% a year spread across all of those ELIGIBLE to pay the tax.

The ND Tax will NOT apply when the National Debt falls to ZERO but it will AUTOMATICALLY kick back in as soon as it rises again.

With those incentives those affected will DEMAND an END to UNLIMITED government spending because they KNOW that they WILL end up paying for that spending.

FTR this ND Tax is over and above the tax rate for ESSENTIAL government services. The average person won't even be aware it exists unless they win the lottery.

 

I don’t think US can get out of debt by taxing or cutting expenses. US spending over $400 billion a year on interest rate. Only way to get out of this debt or at least bring it in control is Economic growth.

 

Been there, done that, doesn't work!

The Wall Street Casino Banksters are NOT going to give up their ability to manipulate US economic growth.

The stark harsh reality is that it was GOP TAX CUTS that CAUSED most of the National Debt. Look at the charts, reductions in tax rates are inversely proportional to the increase in the National Debt.

Raising taxes on the WEALTHY individuals and corporations is the OBVIOUS solution.

Making it happen is the CHALLENGE but when this is pointed out to voters they see the connection and won't have a problem because THEY won't be impacted.

 

Yeh, a new tax that’s 7% of GDP will fix everything and have no negative consequences.

SMH.

 

Yeah, our gdp growth doesn't look like that.


Exponential growth.

Interest payments on the national debt are starting to look like that though, since Bribed Joe took over.



@Oldyoungin - as you watch University campuses filled with folks supporting the subhuman Hamas slaughtering the innocent in Israel, remember that our universities have been churning out graduates who see the economic destruction of the United States as something to work toward.

We do not. We see the survival of the United States as a positive.

Bribed Joe and the Democrats' wild orgy of red ink is why Americans cannot afford anything. When government spends all the money, there is much less left for the rest of us.

 

The problem is that instead of charging for government services (as in taxes), the government has decided to rather borrow to finance these services, and pay the creditors for the priviledge of lending money to the government. These creditors are foreign nations, as well as actual tax payers, increasingly so from the top few % of the wealth distribution. So, instead of taxing the rich to pay for services, the government borrows from them and pays them interest -- very convenient if you are rich. In fact, the proportion of federal debt held by the top 1% wealthies people in the US has almost tripled since 1980 (thank you, Ronald Reagan).

https://scholar.harvard.edu/files/straub/files/mss_richsavingglut.pdf



This is caused by a savings glut of the rich, who are trying to find save havens for their money (rather than taking risk and investing into innovation/companies/jobs). Where does this savings glut come from? From being under-taxed, through decades of successul lobbying for tax cuts for the rich. This is an entirely made up problem, it wouldn't have to be that way. And it wouldn't be that way if not for decades of tax cutting policies of the republicans.

 

Well , can you tell me how much revenue US will collect by your proposal in Post #5?

 

Interesting argument. Fyi, investing in education often leads to just higher salaries for faculty, more master level people making 50k a year, and more government employees and government spending on useless grants. Which drives up the debt.

At least coal and manufacturing leads to tangible goods of sales.

Solution? Balance , as in all aspects of life.

Also, what do you think the millions of immigrants coming in due to democrat open border policies will cost us and add to debt?

 

The US could sell the National Parks. No growth needed.

 

Umm...for the later, which is the the underlined, for it to contribute to reducing the debt, its gonna require spending. So what you mean is reallocation, not reduction in spending. You will never save your way out of debt. You must use the debt to generate more profit then you owe.

 

And here I thought national parks are for LGBTQ people to do their pride month and read to children.

 

As @557 posted, "We never intended to pay it off. We just rebase the currency."

Both parties are too comfortable in their positions and too scared to seriously address the problem.

Financial collapse. When the time is right. Yes.

The problem began 100 years ago. Some prestigious European and American bankers got together with equally prestigious US congressmen, and they orchestrated a successful plan to pass the Federal Reserve Act. The act took legal control of US currency out of the hands of Congress and gave it to a private banking corporation. The results of their long-term plan is the economy we live with today.

The US owes trillions to the Fed but cannot afford the interest, let alone the principle, while debt continues to climb. About 85 years ago a country in Europe solved the same dilemma but it caused a big war.

 

Much of the problem is due to people not seeing the whole picture. In reality, the debt does not have to be paid back, only the interest on that debt. BUT, politicians use that fact to rubber stamp more debt and more debt and more debt, to the point that the interest payments on the debt consume far too much of our expenses, causing both inflation and higher interest rates, which keep the snowball rolling down hill and eventually right over us. The amount of debt must be controlled so that the debt to GDP ratio doesn't get out of control, which is what is happening to us right now. Our fission nuclear reaction has reached critical mass.

 

Priorities priorities... Paying down the national debt isn't currently in the realm of possibility. Reducing the deficit is, however. It's just a little bit, but it's a start.

Speaker Johnson unveils $14.3 billion Israel aid bill paid for with cuts to IRS

Paying for new legislation, either through spending cuts or taxing, would go along way to keep the deficit from expanding. It's not much but hey, baby steps.

 

Almost $7T is "intergovernmental holdings". It isn't really paid back. It is just an accounting placekeeper. Only a little better than that is held overseas. A lot of it is held by trusts etc. to create a steady solid income stream.

 

Yup Venezuela is doing great, well their leaders are, but the people are starving now that they have eaten all the pets and local tree critters

 

They could divest themselves of their massive western holding.



They could sell surplus unused property that has upkeep costs:

 

.. and my tummy. That's also expanding exponentially.

 

Eating an elephant is accomplished one bite a time.

 

They pay it down from time to time when they think the interest payments are too high. They monetize about a trillion per year to this end and it is the source of the inflation with which you have to deal. We should sue the congress in its entirety.

 

I think we are at or are approaching the financial crossroads. No, the debt can never be repaid; ALL the U.S. Dollars in existence don't come close to equaling the "debt". And we're just one nation, EVERY Nation with a Central Bank is in the same or worse shape. It's baked in to the Central Banking (the FED) paradigm.

First of all the Federal Reserve is NOT "Federal" and, second, it holds no reserves. But money, doesn't really matter what nation you're talking about, is created as debt. Which alludes to the "FED's" name; Fractional Reserve Banking is the paradigm we've ... the World lives by. Simple explanation with small numbers: IF you were to deposit $1000 dollars, say you sold an old motorcycle that had been sitting in your garage, in your checking or savings account. Your Bank now has your $1000, that you can withdraw or write a check against. Your Bank can now lend $900 to someone to by ??? ... appliances and, they do. The Store deposits that $900 with their nightly deposits in THEIR Bank. The next day THEIR Bank can lend ~ $800, that continues on and on. Almost ALL of that money lent was created as a loan out thin air ... well 90% was thin air before it became a loan.

That's how we ended up owning several times more $dollars than exist. It's been really great for bankers ... and society ... sorta, but obviously it can't go on forever. So we are at the Crossroads of a new paradigm. Hopefully the Central Banks will figure a way to make the introduction of ... what's next ... painless. But! Don't count on it.