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kallend

US Budget Deficit

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1 hour ago, winsor said:

It turns out that the deficit doesn't matter.

I especially liked his explanation of why you shouldn't have to worry about the problems of saddling your children with tens of trillions in debt:

But if excessive government debt burdens on future generations keep you up at night, there’s a simple solution: buy Treasury securities with the money saved from low current taxes and bequeath those securities to your kids.

He's a genius!  Why hasn't anyone else thought of this?  To solve all the problems brought about by the deficit, the ballooning levels of student debt, the high cost of education - heck, even poverty in general -  simply buy large amounts of securities and give them to your kids.  So simple!

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3 hours ago, billvon said:

I especially liked his explanation of why you shouldn't have to worry about the problems of saddling your children with tens of trillions in debt:

But if excessive government debt burdens on future generations keep you up at night, there’s a simple solution: buy Treasury securities with the money saved from low current taxes and bequeath those securities to your kids.

He's a genius!  Why hasn't anyone else thought of this?  To solve all the problems brought about by the deficit, the ballooning levels of student debt, the high cost of education - heck, even poverty in general -  simply buy large amounts of securities and give them to your kids.  So simple!

He's a jackass. But, I'm still of the mind that with borrowed money as next to free as it gets adding to the National Debt by a few Trillion to effect infrastructure repairs and upgrades like modern high speed transportation, fully upgradeable advanced digital networks to every corner of the nation (think 6G, or whatever is next, hotspots at every rural post office) and free graduate school educations for high performing students whose socioeconomic circumstances would otherwise have made those advantages impossible to attain. That sort of thing; all things that we need and are blind to the race, color, sex, sexuality and the religion of the beneficiaries. Not on climate change, not on robotic recycling bins that go to the curb on their own, not on increasing habitat for the Fluffy Bellied Danderhooie. Just simple big solutions that can get traction. Of course a few million to put BillVon in a room until he figures out a better way to distribute power would be well spent, I think.

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3 hours ago, billvon said:

He's a genius!  Why hasn't anyone else thought of this?  To solve all the problems brought about by the deficit, the ballooning levels of student debt, the high cost of education - heck, even poverty in general -  simply buy large amounts of securities and give them to your kids.  So simple!

Let them eat securities!

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1 hour ago, JoeWeber said:

He's a jackass. But, I'm still of the mind that with borrowed money as next to free as it gets adding to the National Debt by a few Trillion to effect infrastructure repairs and upgrades like modern high speed transportation, fully upgradeable advanced digital networks to every corner of the nation (think 6G, or whatever is next, hotspots at every rural post office) and free graduate school educations for high performing students whose socioeconomic circumstances would otherwise have made those advantages impossible to attain. 

Unlimited debt!  What could go wrong?  As all business owners (and homeowners, and college students) know, debt is effectively free, and doesn't become a problem.

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2 minutes ago, billvon said:

Unlimited debt!  What could go wrong?  As all business owners (and homeowners, and college students) know, debt is effectively free, and doesn't become a problem.

Not unlimited. A few Trillion against 22 Trillion. Leverage is what makes wealth creation possible, you know, like your home mortgage. As long as it's an investment that increases the value of your holdings and your future income potential it can be a smart play. I think that is where we are today. I am not advocating profligate spending on currently popular stuff. I'm talking about modernizing the building, buying some new gear, upgrading the aircraft and establishing ourselves as market leaders. If we do it right, and smart, we'll make the money to service the debt.

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11 minutes ago, wmw999 said:

As long as we’re making dollars on simple appreciation of assets, and not on production of value, we’re participating in a likely future bubble. 

Wendy P. 

But I specifically included future income potential. I've seen a lot of players go away looking at equity only. 

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20 hours ago, billvon said:

I especially liked his explanation of why you shouldn't have to worry about the problems of saddling your children with tens of trillions in debt:

But if excessive government debt burdens on future generations keep you up at night, there’s a simple solution: buy Treasury securities with the money saved from low current taxes and bequeath those securities to your kids.

He's a genius!  Why hasn't anyone else thought of this?  To solve all the problems brought about by the deficit, the ballooning levels of student debt, the high cost of education - heck, even poverty in general -  simply buy large amounts of securities and give them to your kids.  So simple!

In all fairness, since default is inevitable it is a wonderful thing that we have a chief executive that has made a career of going bankrupt and somehow still living high on the hog.

Unfortunately, I suspect that the American People will be among those who get stiffed when the US of A files Chapter 11 (or 7, as did the USSR).

It won't be boring.

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On 11/7/2019 at 3:56 PM, JoeWeber said:

Not unlimited. A few Trillion against 22 Trillion. Leverage is what makes wealth creation possible, you know, like your home mortgage. As long as it's an investment that increases the value of your holdings and your future income potential it can be a smart play. I think that is where we are today. I am not advocating profligate spending on currently popular stuff. I'm talking about modernizing the building, buying some new gear, upgrading the aircraft and establishing ourselves as market leaders. If we do it right, and smart, we'll make the money to service the debt.

Service your debt?  What are you, a socialist?  Get a loan to service your debt, and spend the extra money on a statue of yourself.  That stimulates the economy, you know, and it's the American way.

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1 hour ago, billvon said:

Service your debt?  What are you, a socialist?  Get a loan to service your debt, and spend the extra money on a statue of yourself.  That stimulates the economy, you know, and it's the American way.

I'm not so self aggrandizing that I'd borrow money for my statue. But I would print money for the purpose. Another 2 Trillion only pushes up your share of the debt up another 20 Grand to $200K. Why be such a cheapskate? You don't want fast internet in Appalachia? It's only money, and it's not yours. 

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On 11/7/2019 at 10:35 PM, JoeWeber said:

adding to the National Debt by a few Trillion to effect infrastructure repairs and upgrades like modern high speed transportation, fully upgradeable advanced digital networks to every corner of the nation (think 6G, or whatever is next, hotspots at every rural post office) and free graduate school educations for high performing students whose socioeconomic circumstances would otherwise have made those advantages impossible to attain.

Right, that way when we go bust, at least we have something to show for it.

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2 minutes ago, Coreece said:

Right, that way when we go bust, at least we have something to show for it.

Along with the enormous advantages the USA has is terms of arable land mass to population and extensive natural resources, not to mention the a highly motivated population driven by immigration, it also has the advantage that it's debt is denominated in it's own currency. If you can't see what this means in terms of servicing this debt you should think harder.

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