Comments on: How Much Does the United States Really Owe?

By: expert advisors

expert advisors — Thu, 13 Dec 2012 09:44:11 +0000

This is exactly why I signed up at this website: I never
find postings such as this elsewhere

By: Jessica

Jessica — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 09:51:22 +0000

Well, in fact, America’s debt crisis has moved closer to disaster as the battle between Barack Obama and the Republicans intensified and talks appeared to have reached a stalemate. For some reason, Obama rejected a Republican proposal for a stop-gap deal, saying it would only mean them returning again next year to use the same tactics to seek more cutbacks. And of course, financial markets have reacted nervously to the debt crisis. However, economists said they still appeared to be betting that the fight was largely political posturing and likely to be resolved in future. And I really hope it will.

By: Kelly Yip

Kelly Yip — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 22:38:02 +0000

In this case, I don’t believe ignorance is bliss. Great piece, Donald. I am going to pdf it and share it with my former Managing Director, James McGinnis.
Thanks!

Regards,
Kelly

By: Nelson Aldrich

Nelson Aldrich — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 23:54:10 +0000

Q.How much does the United Snakes really owe?

A. A lot, a whole lot, think of all the zero’s you know, now multiply that by 10 and take the results and multiply it by the number of grains of sand on a beach, now you are beginning to get into the ballpark.

Take the output of your previous exercise, and multiply it by number of unemployed Americans, now take the output and multiply it by the number of people on food stamps.

Bingo, we have a winner. But don’t worry we’re too big to fail, that is if you are in the ruling class, otherwise you’re just collateral damage badly dressed and driving a car that’s too big, too old or too undependable.

Nothing really matters, anyone can see, nothing really matters too me. – sung by Ben Bernanke in the shower each morning as he tries to wash the printers ink from his filthy hands.

By: The Debt – Worse Than You Think @dmarron – Glimpse From a Height

The Debt – Worse Than You Think @dmarron – Glimpse From a Height — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 18:50:46 +0000

[...] even worse than that: This range of figures – $10 trillion, $14 trillion, $50 trillion – sows confusion about how [...]

By: Vivian Darkbloom

Vivian Darkbloom — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 18:19:52 +0000

foosion,

“The vast majority of treasury securities are owned by Americans”.

It is possible to check this by going to the Treasury Direct website for the outstanding debt held by the public and going to the “MAJOR FOREIGN HOLDERS OF TREASURY SECURITIES” report issued by the Treasury Department. The latest latter report is as of November, 2011. The outstanding public debt as of that date was about $10 trillion and the amount of that debt held by foreigners was about $4.7 trillion. Many people believe that the latter is actually higher because of the method used to arrive at those estimates.

Nevertheless, if 53 percent of this public debt is held by Americans, that is not a “vast majority”. The trend line is quite dramatic, too. If that trend continues, the amount of public debt held by Americans will soon not even be the majority.

By: accountants

accountants — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 17:18:23 +0000

So you are interested in applying to the US Naval Academy? Good for you! Right now you are in good company, as some estimates place the number of students expressing interest in USNA at over 50,000! Many never begin the Annapolis online application, and most never finish. What can you do to increase your application chances?

By: Becky Hargrove

Becky Hargrove — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 15:25:16 +0000

foosion says, “That your left hand owes money to your right hand is not usually regarded as scary.” The reason it is scary is because of the financial terms in which middle classes have inadvertantly been created. Instead of participation of all in the service economies that matter (healthcare, education) we rely on the services of only the ‘best of the best’. Our debts represent mass amounts of human capital that were left out of the participation equation. Another important factor is that we tried to finance low production efficiency housing, which only the upper income can realistically afford, instead of creating affordable housing with the best of technology for middle and lower income levels.

By: foosion

foosion — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 11:41:23 +0000

America has substantial assets to offset these obligations. For example, America may have to pay a lot for healthcare, but it owes the obligation to Americans and the work would be performed by Americans. The vast majority of treasury securities are owned by Americans. Environmental cleanup will be performed by Americans, making America cleaner.

That your left hand owes money to your right hand is not usually regarded as scary.

A good measure of the riskiness of debt is to look at the interest rate charged on that debt. US treasuries are trading close to record low yields. The US can borrow for 30 years at a real (after inflation) rate well under 1%. The usual rate is much higher. We can borrow for 10 years at negative real rates – borrowers pay us to take their money. We aren’t producing enough debt to satisfy market demand. A smart country would do more to meet that market demand. We could make a profit by issuing more debt.

By: rjs

rjs — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 09:40:06 +0000

if one includes unfunded future liabilities, shouldnt one also include uncollected future revenues?