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They reduced the debt under Clinton. It’s a question of political will not physics. US taxes are low compared to their counterparts and they could choose to ra

• dh2022 1y ago
  And then came GWB and Dick Cheney with "Reagan proved deficits do not matter". Right away they slashed dividend income taxes, capital gains taxes, phased out estate tax, took away Medicare's ability to negotiate lower drug prices or re-import them cheaper from Canada [0], and started two long expensive wars (Afghanistan and Iraq). (It is my personal opinion that the current US Financial situation is due to GWB's presidency. He started this country on this road.) [0] https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC1126891/ https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC1126891/
• jameslk 1y ago
  The surplus and debt servicing near the end of the 90s didn’t have much effect to the debt: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/GFDEBTN https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/GFDEBTN Social security and Medicare liabilities mostly wiped out any gains What surplus there was came from both tax increases and reductions in spending. Along with a strong economy and low employment for tax revenue in the dotcom heyday Any realistic change to pay down the debt would require substantial structural changes at this point. There’s no political incentive to do anything about that until runaway inflation and the US credit ratings start to really mess things up, and by that point it’s pretty much too late
  • jaredhallen 1y ago
    And an aging population isn't helping the situation.
• mannyv 1y ago
  Not retiring the debt was a choice. The practical reason for not retiring the debt was that the world needs a zero risk benchmark. The did retire the long bond, though.