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National debt is simply national savings. "Paying off" national debt means taking away one of the most popular, liquid, income producing asset from people and c

National debt is simply national savings. "Paying off" national debt means taking away one of the most popular, liquid, income producing asset from people and corporations. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/05/opinion/deficit-tax-cuts-trump.html https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/05/opinion/deficit-tax-cuts-...

logfromblammo 9y ago
But it isn't savings. It is, as you said, an income-producing asset. Its primary function is not as a store of value, but as a claim against promises of future production. The national debt is mining resources needed for current operations from the future, rather than drawing down the stockpiles of those already mined from the past. Claiming that debt is wealth is mistaken at best, and fraudulent at worst. Please reexamine your premises and analysis before repeating it.
- baursak 9y ago
  This is the view from MMT perspective. I highly recommend looking into it, e.g. this lecture is great: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q1SMjeuyF-Y https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q1SMjeuyF-Y Treatment of debt is at around minute 54.
  - logfromblammo 9y ago
    Any fan of "modern monetary theory" should look at entities like the Soviet Union, Zimbabwe, and Venezuela. No government has an infinite capacity to print fiat money, and a theory based upon that as a premise is, in my opinion, complete bunkum. I highly recommend exploring other macroeconomic theories. It is depressing how many of them amount to tricking productive firms and the labor workforce into believing a big lie of some sort, that allows some other more savvy entity to siphon value away from them. Consumption is paid for by production. Imports are paid for by exports. Debt now is paid for by production later. Savings now is paid for by production earlier. In theory, you can build an economy upon debts and repayment of prior obligations, but in practice, human beings are great at lying and making false promises.
    - baursak 9y ago
      Looks like you're not very familiar with it. Again, I highly recommend taking a close look and see if any of your questions are already answered/addressed.
      - logfromblammo 9y ago
        It's your responsibility to support your own claim. It won't do me any good to read more of your favored economic theory if I disagree with its fundamental premises. And I do disagree with them. Therefore, I will also disagree with all conclusions logically derived from them.

logfromblammo 9y ago

But it isn't savings. It is, as you said, an income-producing asset. Its primary function is not as a store of value, but as a claim against promises of future production. The national debt is mining resources needed for current operations from the future, rather than drawing down the stockpiles of those already mined from the past. Claiming that debt is wealth is mistaken at best, and fraudulent at worst. Please reexamine your premises and analysis before repeating it.

baursak 9y ago
This is the view from MMT perspective. I highly recommend looking into it, e.g. this lecture is great: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q1SMjeuyF-Y https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q1SMjeuyF-Y Treatment of debt is at around minute 54.
- logfromblammo 9y ago
  Any fan of "modern monetary theory" should look at entities like the Soviet Union, Zimbabwe, and Venezuela. No government has an infinite capacity to print fiat money, and a theory based upon that as a premise is, in my opinion, complete bunkum. I highly recommend exploring other macroeconomic theories. It is depressing how many of them amount to tricking productive firms and the labor workforce into believing a big lie of some sort, that allows some other more savvy entity to siphon value away from them. Consumption is paid for by production. Imports are paid for by exports. Debt now is paid for by production later. Savings now is paid for by production earlier. In theory, you can build an economy upon debts and repayment of prior obligations, but in practice, human beings are great at lying and making false promises.
  - baursak 9y ago
    Looks like you're not very familiar with it. Again, I highly recommend taking a close look and see if any of your questions are already answered/addressed.
    - logfromblammo 9y ago
      It's your responsibility to support your own claim. It won't do me any good to read more of your favored economic theory if I disagree with its fundamental premises. And I do disagree with them. Therefore, I will also disagree with all conclusions logically derived from them.