I'm not expecting a "full" explanation, just some explanation that makes sense on its face. People manage to explain quantum mechanics in HN comments and get th

I'm not expecting a "full" explanation, just some explanation that makes sense on its face. People manage to explain quantum mechanics in HN comments and get the core ideas across qualitatively. Surely debt isn't harder. I have yet to see any explanation (including from your comment) on how interest on debts growing at the current rate can possibly be repaid into perpetuity without causing some kind of economic catastrophe down the road. > Note that typical household debt:income ratios are far higher than the national debt:income ratio is right now. The concern wasn't about "right now", but about "future generations". (And you'd need to explain why household debt to income ratios are the critical metric here too, but that's secondary to this...) > Also note that it is critical to differentiate between "bad" debt and "good debt". When someone takes out a mortgage to buy a house, almost nobody will say that the purchaser is stupid and going into ridiculous debt. First, erm... are you sure about this? 85% of Americans beg to differ. [1] Second... do you really believe the amount of debt isn't a factor here? If the average American took out a $10 million mortgage, wouldn't you agree it's a terrible idea? (And if you do, then how in the world is "mortgages are good debt" a rebuttal to "we're taking on too much debt"?) Lastly: I'm not sure if you've missed it, but we've had quite a few articles and discussions lately on HN about how the current system has been transferring wealth from younger generations to older ones. And don't forget [2], which has been changing the real estate landscape over the decades. Lots of people aren't buying the idea that the growth on investments that older generations are seeing can be sustained perpetually for future generations. > When someone takes out a bank loan to spend another weekend at the casino, almost nobody will suggest that there is anything sane about what they are doing. The same applies to national spending also. Just because you can find debt that everyone presumably agrees is bad, that doesn't mean ballooning amounts of other debts aren't problematic. If you're going to argue by analogy, consider this: "a little bit of salt is good for you" + "a lot of lead is bad for you" do not imply "a lot of salt is good for you". [1] https://www.npr.org/2023/11/13/1212737835/many-say-its-a-bad-time-to-buy-a-house-so-whos-still-going-for-it https://www.npr.org/2023/11/13/1212737835/many-say-its-a-bad... [2] https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/23/us/corporate-real-estate-investors-housing-market.html https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/23/us/corporate-real-estate-...