Debt & Deficits

The debate in Washington over when and how to increase the debt limit is less than 100% accurate. Here are some myths about the debt ceiling and the debate about raising it.

America was once the world’s model democracy. Now it’s a global laughingstock with a government that can’t keep the lights on and is threatening to renege on its debts. How did this happen?

Going over the debt ceiling would mean the US government legally can’t pay its bills and would default on the national debt. This would be catastrophic in ways that would make Lehman Bros look like a walk in the park.

Modern Monetary Theory asserts that as long as the central bank can monetize federal debt and keep interest rates low the government can endlessly increase the amount of debt...[but] those who pretend deficits don’t matter ignore the fact that interest on the national debt will soon be the largest item in the federal budget,

How long before interest payments on the debt exceeds revenues? An cross-the-board ‘Debt Jubilee’, however, from an historical perspective shows that retiring debt can actually make a country’s economy, and its indebted citizenry, all the better for it.

Today's graphic ranks government debt by country for advanced economies, using their gross debt-to-GDP ratio.

The Gold/Silver Ratio has been rising along with the strength of the US dollar.

The madmen who are responsible for the coming economic disaster continue to behave as if they can manage to avoid it. Violating Einstein’s definition of insanity, they continue to apply the same poison that caused the problem. These fools believe they can manage complexities they do not understand. The end is certain, only its timing is unknown, and, once interest rates begin to rise, and they will, it's game over so it begs the questions "How much longer this can possibly go on?" and "What will happen to the U.S. and the world when it does?"

Given that the U.S. has trade relations with more than 200 countries, regions, and territories, the infographic in this article makes trade relationships easier to understand, ranking the biggest trading partners of the U.S. in terms of goods trade alongside the value of exports and imports.

Debt isn’t without consequences - and the consequences will be severe when the chickens come home to roost.