4 ms·

Look at the debt list of the world. Very few countries in the world are seriously in debt, only about 15 or so. The rest have positive cash balances. What I kn

Look at the debt list of the world. Very few countries in the world are seriously in debt, only about 15 or so. The rest have positive cash balances. What I know is that the age of Gold was the age of aristocracy. The age of paper money was the age of democracy. I prefer to learn from history than believe what some guy on a message board tells me.

jmtame 18y ago
Have you seen the US debt lately?
- maxklein 18y ago
  The debt became that way when the U.S switched to a father-son, husband-wife presidential system.
- wheels 18y ago
  Yeah, it's pretty much on par with what you'd expect: http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/eco_cen_gov_deb_tot_of_gdp-central-government-debt-total-gdp http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/eco_cen_gov_deb_tot_of_gdp... http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/eco_deb_ext-economy-debt-external_pergdp http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/eco_deb_ext-economy-debt-e...
  - maxklein 18y ago
    That's a useful link. U.S debt is perfectly within normal bounds for its income.
  - jmtame 18y ago
    Things have changed a bit since 2005. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-DJIVQIRIHs http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-DJIVQIRIHs
    - wheels 18y ago
      Not really. It's now closer to 60%. It's not off the charts, and is a lower percentage of the GDP than the next two largest economies (Japan and Germany, based on current CIA World Factbook numbers).
      - jmtame 18y ago
        Well you're getting warmer: 1) Yes, 2007 is a little closer to 2008. 2) Yes, the debt increased to 60% of GDP in 2007, up from 47% in 2005. Can you extrapolate that, especially considering our current situation? Anyway, we've deviated a bit. You can't refute the fact that our fractional reserve system is debt-generating by nature. I really question your intelligence if you think we're going to stop invading countries anytime soon. I'm not trying to argue about how bad our debt is relative to our GDP (even though we know that's the case). Re-read what I originally stated at the very top.
        wheels 18y ago
        This is still silly. You're starting with some true things: - The US has a fractional reserve systems and debt is a pseudo-currency within fractional reserve systems - The US has a significant national debt - The US invades foreign countries and has problems with class structure and poverty However, your attempt to link them fails horribly in light with the last point not being true of countries which have proportionally more debt. There's not even correlation, much less a reasonable argument for causation. Honestly, I don't really care one way or the other about the fractional reserve system. I'm not starting with a particular viewpoint and trying to defend it. I'm just pointing out that your argumentation is flawed.
        jmtame 18y ago
        Forget it ;) You are one of those guys who just wants to look at the facts for what they are, and you never want to draw conclusions about anything. You look at a robbery and see that items are missing, but you could never draw an assumption about how it happened, or who took the stuff. If you want to be spoon-fed your information in order to have the dots connected for you, and not spend much time or effort on thinking: re-read what I've said, and this time don't get stuck in tunnel vision looking at only the facts because you have some preconceived notion of the US economy.
helveticaman 18y ago
Well, sure, if everyone starts shorting paper, then that's not so good. But if a small part of Hacker News does, what's the big deal?

jmtame 18y ago

Have you seen the US debt lately?

maxklein 18y ago
The debt became that way when the U.S switched to a father-son, husband-wife presidential system.
wheels 18y ago
Yeah, it's pretty much on par with what you'd expect: http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/eco_cen_gov_deb_tot_of_gdp-central-government-debt-total-gdp http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/eco_cen_gov_deb_tot_of_gdp... http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/eco_deb_ext-economy-debt-external_pergdp http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/eco_deb_ext-economy-debt-e...
- maxklein 18y ago
  That's a useful link. U.S debt is perfectly within normal bounds for its income.
- jmtame 18y ago
  Things have changed a bit since 2005. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-DJIVQIRIHs http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-DJIVQIRIHs
  - wheels 18y ago
    Not really. It's now closer to 60%. It's not off the charts, and is a lower percentage of the GDP than the next two largest economies (Japan and Germany, based on current CIA World Factbook numbers).
    - jmtame 18y ago
      Well you're getting warmer: 1) Yes, 2007 is a little closer to 2008. 2) Yes, the debt increased to 60% of GDP in 2007, up from 47% in 2005. Can you extrapolate that, especially considering our current situation? Anyway, we've deviated a bit. You can't refute the fact that our fractional reserve system is debt-generating by nature. I really question your intelligence if you think we're going to stop invading countries anytime soon. I'm not trying to argue about how bad our debt is relative to our GDP (even though we know that's the case). Re-read what I originally stated at the very top.
      - wheels 18y ago
        This is still silly. You're starting with some true things: - The US has a fractional reserve systems and debt is a pseudo-currency within fractional reserve systems - The US has a significant national debt - The US invades foreign countries and has problems with class structure and poverty However, your attempt to link them fails horribly in light with the last point not being true of countries which have proportionally more debt. There's not even correlation, much less a reasonable argument for causation. Honestly, I don't really care one way or the other about the fractional reserve system. I'm not starting with a particular viewpoint and trying to defend it. I'm just pointing out that your argumentation is flawed.
        jmtame 18y ago
        Forget it ;) You are one of those guys who just wants to look at the facts for what they are, and you never want to draw conclusions about anything. You look at a robbery and see that items are missing, but you could never draw an assumption about how it happened, or who took the stuff. If you want to be spoon-fed your information in order to have the dots connected for you, and not spend much time or effort on thinking: re-read what I've said, and this time don't get stuck in tunnel vision looking at only the facts because you have some preconceived notion of the US economy.

helveticaman 18y ago

Well, sure, if everyone starts shorting paper, then that's not so good. But if a small part of Hacker News does, what's the big deal?