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Should we even try to pay down the national debt?

Should we even try to pay down the national debt?

  • Yes, it's critical that we do so.

    Votes: 5 31.3%
  • Yes, but only if we can.

    Votes: 1 6.3%
  • No, it's really not that important.

    Votes: 4 25.0%
  • Other.

    Votes: 6 37.5%

  • Total voters
    16

radcen

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Should we even try to pay down the national debt?

Note debt, not deficit, though you'd have to take care of the deficit first before you could tackle the debt, of course.
 
As long as we focus on growing the economy and the deficit as a % of GDP is smaller than the % of GDP growth, in a few decades the national debt to GDP ratio will be much smaller and the national debt will be irrelevant
 
Like you said, we need to handle the deficit before we look at the debt. Let's take things one step at a time and work our way to paying off our debt.
 
Should we even try to pay down the national debt?

Note debt, not deficit, though you'd have to take care of the deficit first before you could tackle the debt, of course.
Honestly....we shouldn't worry about the debt. Let's focus on us first, and when there's time, we'll give back the cash.
 
Honestly....we shouldn't worry about the debt. Let's focus on us first, and when there's time, we'll give back the cash.

The fact that there is debt perhaps shows a bit too much focus on "us" now.
 
Should we even try to pay down the national debt?

yes. we should first reduce and eventually eliminate deficit spending, and then we should work to pay down part of the debt. i don't think paying it off completely is necessary.

we should do this by finding new revenue streams, ending pro bono interventionism, cutting corporate taxes, and raising individual taxes until we are solvent. also, we need to do everything we can to approach one hundred percent employment of able bodied citizens. that will make them tax payers instead of dependent on entitlements. this means that we will have to make a greater initial investment in their education and job training.
 
As long as we focus on growing the economy and the deficit as a % of GDP is smaller than the % of GDP growth, in a few decades the national debt to GDP ratio will be much smaller and the national debt will be irrelevant
Expecting our GDP to quadruple?
 
Me too. :lol:

well, i'm not waiting for them so I can laugh at 'em :lol:... i'm waiting to hear what they have to say and see if it meshes with my understanding of their theory.

i've been throwing out the basic MMTer side of things on a few threads, but I don't think i'm knowledgeable enough to carry the argument very far.

I guess I can try... but i'll be needing some backup from the resident MMTers before too long. :lol:
 
Should we even try to pay down the national debt?

Note debt, not deficit, though you'd have to take care of the deficit first before you could tackle the debt, of course.

I would have said 'if we can', but it doesn't quite cover it. We should reduce the debt to an optimal level and we should do it, when the economy is growing instead of increasing interest rates.
 
Should we even try to pay down the national debt?

Note debt, not deficit, though you'd have to take care of the deficit first before you could tackle the debt, of course.

That could cause problems for bond holders. Loss of dividend, and a loss of value to the debt they hold. Too much could cause a recession.
 
Well I mean from a UK perspective in our merry go around from dem socialist (labour) to conservative everytime one person starts sensibly reigning in the spending Labour get in and spend it all again.

Its worse from an American one though right, because they both do it in spades. They just don't like cutting, on one hand its wasteful spending with democrats on failed healthcare reform perhaps or insane military spending.

The question shouldn't be if you should but whether it is remotely possible. Ron Paul like him or hate him, might have been a good influence. With an economy that can grow like the US just agreeing to a complete freeze of say the military budget would help.
 
A monetarily sovereign nation's debt can be "too large," although there is no exact line in the sand of what constitutes too large. There is evidence, including recent real world evidence (not just macroeconomic theory published papers and articles by Paul Krugman evidence) that countries with exceedingly high debt-to-GDP do not gain much from additional stimulus to try to boost demand. They do not experience positive Keynesian effects from more stimulus. Countries with relatively low debt:GDP can experience very enjoyable effects from stimulus to boost demand during recessions. But when you're already at super high debt:GDP, it's like offering a heroin addict who's going through withdrawals a couple of ibuprofen. Unsurprisingly, it doesn't achieve the addict's desired effect. At that point they basically turn to the last refuge, which is aggressive inflation-triggering policies, or bite-the-bullet austerity.

Deciding we should be deficit hawks is not as important as how, or in other words what expenditures need to be cut or changed to reduce this pressure. Medicare, Social Security and Defense should be some big, easy targets.
 
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