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Say you loan someone some money, and they just… don’t pay it back. Well, who cares right? After all, it’s just a number in your bank account.
by andrewmcwatters 5y ago
Say you loan someone some money, and they just… don’t pay it back. Well, who cares right? After all, it’s just a number in your bank account.
- toomuchtodo 5y agoNation state finances are not the same as household finances.
- andrewmcwatters 5y agoThis meme is just foolish and overly repeated. If we just printed money forever we’d be like Germany or Venezuela. Do you really think that at large scales the need to watch spending just dissolves? Why do you think nations have budgets? Do you think it’s all a fun game? If what you’re suggesting doesn’t work, people don’t just go back to work longer hours. Some people die, some people lose their homes. Incredible. But hey, just rows in a database. Tell that to families scraping by.
- toomuchtodo 5y agoI think it’s reasonable to iterate and experiment with policy without devolving to extreme positions such as your comment. We’ve forgiven $3 billion in student loan debt in the US, for various legitimate reasons, without consequence for example. Yes, the US has more power to do this because it’s a reserve currency, and no you can’t do it forever, but there is room to experiment when you’re a nation state. https://www.forbes.com/sites/zackfriedman/2021/06/16/biden-has-now-cancelled-3-billion-of-student-loans/ https://www.forbes.com/sites/zackfriedman/2021/06/16/biden-h...
- andrewmcwatters 5y agoThere really isn't a consequence here, it's just taxpayers paying off other people's student loans.