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America could've paid the deficit off by 2012?

Posted: Sat May 07, 2016 6:37 am
by hitchinaride
http://www.npr.org/sections/money/2011/ ... ent-report

It's from 2011, but the report itself is from 2000. My one and only question is that since we are a "global community" with a "global economy", can any nation truly afford to be debt free? It is amazing that the world ever got to this position. Of course, is there a better alternative?

Re: America could've paid the deficit off by 2012?

Posted: Sat May 07, 2016 7:21 am
by LeadBolt
hitchinaride wrote:http://www.npr.org/sections/money/2011/ ... ent-report

It's from 2011, but the report itself is from 2000. My one and only question is that since we are a "global community" with a "global economy", can any nation truly afford to be debt free? It is amazing that the world ever got to this position. Of course, is there a better alternative?
Manageable debt levels are a better alternative. Historically tying money supply to a scarce, hard asset such as gold or silver was a way to manage money supply and debt so that they would not become so high as to cause problems. That probably isn't a sound solution to our current problem, but if the acceleration of money supply and debt continues to its logical conclusion, it will probably become the draconian solution.