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Is it possible for the US to take on bigger and bigger debt because it has a huge national defense budget? I have often heard that household/consumer debt cann
by layman51 3y ago
Is it possible for the US to take on bigger and bigger debt because it has a huge national defense budget?
I have often heard that household/consumer debt cannot and should not be treated the same way as the debt a government holds. But it is still something to be concerned about because Argentina printed a lot of money to pay off debts I believe and that devalued their currency a lot.
- tehjoker 3y agoNo, the economy must decide between guns and butter. Military expenditures are destructive and wasteful. The US can afford its disproportionate and non-productive military expenses because it is subsidized by the rest of the world buying US treasuries and the dollar as the world reserve currency since the end of Bretton-Woods combined with sovereign fiat. This is a world historical anomaly that is underappreciated. When the world dollar regime goes, so too will our unbounded budget and ability to impose global sanctions unilaterally.
- SoftTalker 3y agoDefense spending is not the biggest part of government expenses. It's about 12%. https://fiscaldata.treasury.gov/americas-finance-guide/federal-spending/#spending-categories https://fiscaldata.treasury.gov/americas-finance-guide/feder... And that doesn't even include state and local government spending.
- fatneckbeard 3y agoyes thats basically, going along the lines of the Chartalist / Modern Monetary Theory view of money, and combining it with the Petrodollar theory of money. sorry - edit - tried to keep this short, keep messing up. Theres a lot of deep rabbit holes if you want to dig into those theories online. just keep in mind a lot of economists disagree with MMT / Chartalism and some even disagree with what a Petrodollar is.