The US is increasingly a net debtor nation. Should we worry? | Hacker News Reader

The US is increasingly a net debtor nation. Should we worry?

brookings.edu

13 pointspaulpauper13 comments

No. We have the printer. You cannot go bankrupt if you have the printer.

Zimbabwe had to print $10T bills with all that printing capacity.

Zimbabwe debt was not denominated by the Zimbabwe currency. However US debt is.

Not sure if you are sarcastic or not. Assuming you are not, we can choose not to use the printer, even if we end up defaulting on our debt. And by "we", I mean our representatives in the Congress. The two parties might not agree to raise the debt ceiling this month, and voila, we have US Government default. It might not happen this month or next one, but we have this thing once every few years, so one day it might actually happen. In fact, the US Government did default in the past [1].

[1] https://www.theglobalist.com/a-brief-history-of-u-s-defaults...

I am not. The US government will never default (why would it?).

The only way a default might occur is if the dollar will cease to be the default world currency. And this will only be done by force. Since the US outspend the world 10x on military spending, I do not see this happening.

why is force the only way for that to happen?

The actions of the US government are a result of conflicting intents of thousands of individual actors, or maybe millions. Some of these actors are engaged in a game of chicken with other actors, and sometimes the outcome of such a game is not pleasant. Especially if those who play the game don't stand to personally lose anything if the end result is nasty.

But, just for your entertainment, just watch this space (i.e. the US debt ceiling debate) for the next one month. And decide for yourself if a US Government default is impossible or not.

I'm shocked at the cavalier attitude I'm seeing here in these comments. There's a sense of entitlement. The US gets to put anything on its credit card that it wants at the expense of the rest of the world, without the concern of solvency, and if you don't like it, well, talk to my army? Is that moral? Will it last? Do you really think that 10x spending means getting 10x as much? Do you realize how much corruption and "hospital pricing" (e.g. $100 Advil) is in that?

For so many, large changes seem impossible. Every empire in history was assumed to last forever. Every pride of lions has an alpha until it gets weak enough compared to the next usurper. His reign lasts years and years, and then changes in a moment, forever.

The petrodollar wasn't going to last forever. Why would anyone think it would? The Nixon Shock always had an expiration date. You realize that three weeks ago the Saudis signed a military agreement with Russia, right?

The Fed clearly can't raise rates so it's been "printing". US debt was 5 trillion in 2000, it's 29 trillion now. Don't read the next sentence if you don't want a spoiler. It's over. A lot of people still don't know it, but it's over. It's that moment in the chess game where you simply trade pieces. As the comment above said, watch this space for the next month.

Lenin had a great quote about times like these: "There are decades when nothing happens and weeks where decades happen."

When it was a problem?

it’s all going to big corporations

No.

The US is bankrupt. Should we worry?

All countries are various shades of insolvent over a long enough timeline. It’s he who devalues the most last who wins.

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