4 ms·

The administrations choices are fairly binary now. Inflate away the $40Trillion+ debt they can never pay back Or Hard default on the debt, and be the one hol

The administrations choices are fairly binary now. Inflate away the $40Trillion+ debt they can never pay back Or Hard default on the debt, and be the one holding the hot potato as the union breaks up. Fed is trying to thread the needle between the two and keep the music playing as long as possible.

grey-area 18d ago
There is one obvious choice here, the policy is inflation and always has been.
- iririririr 18d ago
  yet many "third world" countries managed to pay their debts just fine. some even more than once in recent history. American exceptionalism even in failure?
  - RussianBot9580 18d ago
    How is it failure? You use your military to force trade to occur using your tokens. You control the supply of said tokens. You leave some other loser holding the bag for your debts. You win.
    - iririririr 18d ago
      Because they cannot force the world to buy their meme token anymore. Either they pay up and joing the world being a good credit-score conscious citizen or they get the boot. And people still think they don't have a political choice because it is impossible to pay it up. You are all alienated and going to the double down disaster.
- DarkmSparks 18d ago
  From the adminstration Fed independance is about tempering that policy so UST still has buyers.
  - grey-area 18d ago
    Fed policy is explicitly controlled inflation (2% target).
    - pjc50 18d ago
      2% inflation isn't going to inflate away the debt any time soon. It's basically as close to zero as can be realized without going under.
      - grey-area 17d ago
        It is not in fact close to zero, it is significant inflation, particularly as they tend to float over the target (3-4%). At 2% over just 25 years money loses 60% of its value. That is not insignificant, and of course with higher rates it loses value quicker.
jjav 18d ago
> Fed is trying to thread the needle between the two Not really, inflating it away is the only possible choice.
- qzw 18d ago
  Can’t inflate it away for the same reason we can’t stop climate change. We would have to stop the behavior that caused the problem in the first place, and we all know that’s not going to happen. Remember during Clinton’s presidency the government ran a surplus and started paying down the debt, and there were news articles worrying about the future disappearance of treasury bonds? The party of “fiscal responsibility” took care of that problem in no time at all.
pbkompasz 18d ago
Or just fail for 4 years like every Republican administration since the 80s and wait for a Democrat to fix the economy...
- upboundspiral 18d ago
  Undoubtedly Republicans have done untold damage to the US. However not all Democrats made the right choices either as it was Clinton who set the stage for further breaking the US economy, opening wide open the gates to complete offshoring (and DMCA, etc). In general its a game between the people who love their own power/money and hate US citizens (most Republicans and many Democrats) vs people who don't hate the people they're supposed to represent (Socialist Democrats and a handful of Republicans).
vkou 18d ago
You're missing choice #3 - spend more money on stupid shit, cut taxes some more, pile on more debt, blame Obama Hussein Hunter Biden for the debt as the opening salvo of the third-term run in 2028.
grim_io 18d ago
You give the people in charge too much credit regarding any long term thinking or goals in general.
- gonzalohm 18d ago
  Or thinking
  - DarkmSparks 18d ago
    They definately think. The thinking process is just line their pockets with as much as possible before they lose their position to someone else. Once you understand that everything is rational. If not desirable.
- webern777 18d ago
  The goal is to win the next election but I think the populace is to blame for this more than anything. The populace is who is too interested in winning politics as a sport that the politicians have really no choice other than to focus entirely on winning the next election. If the voters treat politics as a constant form of sports entertainment, constantly checking the latest news and events, then voters are actually the fundamental problem as to why the politicians can not do anything in terms of long term planning.
  - duskdozer 18d ago
    I always hear this accusation of people treating politics like sports, but what do you want? It's a FPTP system, which favors entrenching two parties. In order to maintain the backing (funding, importantly) of one of those two parties, candidates can't fall too far out of line. If you can't get your outsider preferred candidate above 50%, considering there is also likely another main-party candidate with significant policy overlap, you get nothing. If you want to reduce the spectacle, replace FPTP with a better system that eliminates the need for primaries, and get rid of Citizens United. Good luck.
    - 18d ago
ptero 18d ago
Not that I'm a fan of this administration, but inflating away remaining our only option is not related to Trump. It was the only choice for the past administrations since at least the subprime crisis; probably even since the Iraq war. My 2c.
trescenzi 18d ago
Or you could, you know, raise taxes. There’s policy solutions to these problems they just happen to be painful in a way that is easier to point to.
- sh0gg0the 18d ago
  You could also reduce spending on military. The U.S. accounts for 42% of the global military budget. Virtually every empire in history has fallen due to overspending on an excessively large military.

grey-area 18d ago

There is one obvious choice here, the policy is inflation and always has been.

iririririr 18d ago
yet many "third world" countries managed to pay their debts just fine. some even more than once in recent history. American exceptionalism even in failure?
- RussianBot9580 18d ago
  How is it failure? You use your military to force trade to occur using your tokens. You control the supply of said tokens. You leave some other loser holding the bag for your debts. You win.
  - iririririr 18d ago
    Because they cannot force the world to buy their meme token anymore. Either they pay up and joing the world being a good credit-score conscious citizen or they get the boot. And people still think they don't have a political choice because it is impossible to pay it up. You are all alienated and going to the double down disaster.
DarkmSparks 18d ago
From the adminstration Fed independance is about tempering that policy so UST still has buyers.
- grey-area 18d ago
  Fed policy is explicitly controlled inflation (2% target).
  - pjc50 18d ago
    2% inflation isn't going to inflate away the debt any time soon. It's basically as close to zero as can be realized without going under.
    - grey-area 17d ago
      It is not in fact close to zero, it is significant inflation, particularly as they tend to float over the target (3-4%). At 2% over just 25 years money loses 60% of its value. That is not insignificant, and of course with higher rates it loses value quicker.

jjav 18d ago

> Fed is trying to thread the needle between the two Not really, inflating it away is the only possible choice.

qzw 18d ago
Can’t inflate it away for the same reason we can’t stop climate change. We would have to stop the behavior that caused the problem in the first place, and we all know that’s not going to happen. Remember during Clinton’s presidency the government ran a surplus and started paying down the debt, and there were news articles worrying about the future disappearance of treasury bonds? The party of “fiscal responsibility” took care of that problem in no time at all.

pbkompasz 18d ago

Or just fail for 4 years like every Republican administration since the 80s and wait for a Democrat to fix the economy...

upboundspiral 18d ago
Undoubtedly Republicans have done untold damage to the US. However not all Democrats made the right choices either as it was Clinton who set the stage for further breaking the US economy, opening wide open the gates to complete offshoring (and DMCA, etc). In general its a game between the people who love their own power/money and hate US citizens (most Republicans and many Democrats) vs people who don't hate the people they're supposed to represent (Socialist Democrats and a handful of Republicans).

vkou 18d ago

You're missing choice #3 - spend more money on stupid shit, cut taxes some more, pile on more debt, blame Obama Hussein Hunter Biden for the debt as the opening salvo of the third-term run in 2028.

grim_io 18d ago

You give the people in charge too much credit regarding any long term thinking or goals in general.

gonzalohm 18d ago
Or thinking
- DarkmSparks 18d ago
  They definately think. The thinking process is just line their pockets with as much as possible before they lose their position to someone else. Once you understand that everything is rational. If not desirable.
webern777 18d ago
The goal is to win the next election but I think the populace is to blame for this more than anything. The populace is who is too interested in winning politics as a sport that the politicians have really no choice other than to focus entirely on winning the next election. If the voters treat politics as a constant form of sports entertainment, constantly checking the latest news and events, then voters are actually the fundamental problem as to why the politicians can not do anything in terms of long term planning.
- duskdozer 18d ago
  I always hear this accusation of people treating politics like sports, but what do you want? It's a FPTP system, which favors entrenching two parties. In order to maintain the backing (funding, importantly) of one of those two parties, candidates can't fall too far out of line. If you can't get your outsider preferred candidate above 50%, considering there is also likely another main-party candidate with significant policy overlap, you get nothing. If you want to reduce the spectacle, replace FPTP with a better system that eliminates the need for primaries, and get rid of Citizens United. Good luck.
  - 18d ago

ptero 18d ago

Not that I'm a fan of this administration, but inflating away remaining our only option is not related to Trump. It was the only choice for the past administrations since at least the subprime crisis; probably even since the Iraq war. My 2c.

trescenzi 18d ago

Or you could, you know, raise taxes. There’s policy solutions to these problems they just happen to be painful in a way that is easier to point to.

sh0gg0the 18d ago
You could also reduce spending on military. The U.S. accounts for 42% of the global military budget. Virtually every empire in history has fallen due to overspending on an excessively large military.