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Fun fact: the US has never (except for a short period during the Clinton admin) repaid any of its debt, it just made it insignificant through inflation and econ

Fun fact: the US has never (except for a short period during the Clinton admin) repaid any of its debt, it just made it insignificant through inflation and economic growth. Edit for the pedantic: I obviously mean total debt.

maerF0x0 4y ago
Sounds like something its lenders should consider.
- noelsusman 4y ago
  Not really because it's not remotely true. The US has paid back every piece of debt it has ever issued that has come due.
  - adrian_b 4y ago
    Of course every debt has been paid, but by making a new greater debt. Any individual who has a debt would like very much to also be able to continue to borrow money indefinitely and pay the old debt without worries.
    - boppo1 4y ago
      If he's too big and scary for anyone in the neighborhood to beat up, he probably will.
    - Spivak 4y ago
      Oh good lord that's not how this works at all. Like it takes like 2 minutes to see that this couldn't possibly be the case. If the US was servicing its debt exclusively through taking out more debt what would graph of national debt look like over time -- exponential! The exact same as if the gov't wasn't servicing its debt at all because that's how compound variable rate interest works. Then just look at the graph of national debt both in nominal and real value.
      - maerF0x0 4y ago
        log scale chart, looks pretty exponential to me: https://static.seekingalpha.com/uploads/2010/12/14/saupload_a_us_annual_gdp_national_debt_1791_2010_log.png https://static.seekingalpha.com/uploads/2010/12/14/saupload_... (from article, but not referencing content besides the chart https://seekingalpha.com/article/241751-visualizing-the-u-s-national-debt-1791minus-2010 https://seekingalpha.com/article/241751-visualizing-the-u-s-... )
    - deleted 4y ago
      [deleted]
throwaway12245 4y ago
https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/FYFSD https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/FYFSD There are other times U.S. has paid down debt.
kevinventullo 4y ago
The US has absolutely repaid its debts as anyone who’s held a treasury bond to maturity can attest to. I think you meant it has never decreased its debt load.
AnimalMuppet 4y ago
A different pedantic: The US repaid its debt under Andrew Jackson. All of it.

maerF0x0 4y ago

Sounds like something its lenders should consider.

noelsusman 4y ago
Not really because it's not remotely true. The US has paid back every piece of debt it has ever issued that has come due.
- adrian_b 4y ago
  Of course every debt has been paid, but by making a new greater debt. Any individual who has a debt would like very much to also be able to continue to borrow money indefinitely and pay the old debt without worries.
  - boppo1 4y ago
    If he's too big and scary for anyone in the neighborhood to beat up, he probably will.
  - Spivak 4y ago
    Oh good lord that's not how this works at all. Like it takes like 2 minutes to see that this couldn't possibly be the case. If the US was servicing its debt exclusively through taking out more debt what would graph of national debt look like over time -- exponential! The exact same as if the gov't wasn't servicing its debt at all because that's how compound variable rate interest works. Then just look at the graph of national debt both in nominal and real value.
    - maerF0x0 4y ago
      log scale chart, looks pretty exponential to me: https://static.seekingalpha.com/uploads/2010/12/14/saupload_a_us_annual_gdp_national_debt_1791_2010_log.png https://static.seekingalpha.com/uploads/2010/12/14/saupload_... (from article, but not referencing content besides the chart https://seekingalpha.com/article/241751-visualizing-the-u-s-national-debt-1791minus-2010 https://seekingalpha.com/article/241751-visualizing-the-u-s-... )
  - deleted 4y ago
    [deleted]

throwaway12245 4y ago

https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/FYFSD https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/FYFSD There are other times U.S. has paid down debt.

kevinventullo 4y ago

The US has absolutely repaid its debts as anyone who’s held a treasury bond to maturity can attest to. I think you meant it has never decreased its debt load.

AnimalMuppet 4y ago

A different pedantic: The US repaid its debt under Andrew Jackson. All of it.