r/Economics • u/jediporcupine • 2h ago
Blog America’s $40 trillion debt is coming for your wallet
https://thehill.com/opinion/finance/6154138-national-debt-impact/107
u/eurekaanchor 2h ago
It'll trickle down any moment now, the sweet manna of billionaires to rescue us in our time of need
It'll trickle down any moment now, the sweet manna of billionaires to rescue us in our time of need
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u/NutzNBoltz369 2h ago
It did trickle down. Only in the form of inflation. No one ever said there would be good stuff trickling down.
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u/Anymous2314 2h ago
Yup, people were so happy in 2020 that they got pay raise but by 2026 all the wage increase is gone due to inflation, while billionaires net worth has doubled.
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u/crowcawer 2h ago
Hey, don’t sell Americans hard work short!
It’s almost tripled by now.The last data was from before summer.
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u/IntelligentStyle402 1h ago
I’m 82 and still waiting for Reagan’s trickle down. PS: trickle down: just another republican scam.
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u/naptown-hooly 2h ago
It is. I'm getting shit on everyday
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u/TheFeshy 2h ago
It was originally called "Horse and Sparrow" economics. You're the sparrow in this analogy, and you're supposed to pick the only partially-digested grass seeds out of the horse's shit, now that the billionaires have shit on you.
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u/BotherEconomy4413 2h ago
I guess they are just waiting too have enough and then they will open the floodgates!
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u/0bfuscatory 2h ago
We need some kind of progressive wealth tax on net wealth starting at $100 million. We need this not just for the extra revenue, but to get big money out of politics and government.
It might even force some idle wealthy to get real jobs and produce something.
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u/Test-NetConnection 1h ago
$100 million is still too high. Make it $50 million. Nobody needs $100 million dollars.
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u/InclinationCompass 1h ago
Kamala planned to do that for households with $200M+ net worth
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u/AdministrationSea96 1h ago
Biden was also talking something similar but he forgot about it once elected.
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u/InclinationCompass 1h ago
Do you remember what it was?
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u/rintzscar 44m ago
He had a lot of geopolitical problems during his term.
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u/EnamelKant 21m ago
Abraham Lincoln had a bit of a kerfuffle going on during his term in office, he still managed to get a lot of surprisingly important legislation passed.
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u/late2thepauly 40m ago
She also supported Medicare for All until she didn’t. Shitlib’s gonna shitlib.
Support Progressives and Ranked Choice Voting if you want a sliver of hope for real change.
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u/InclinationCompass 3m ago
And Trump doesn't want Medicare at all. He's spent his whole career trying to gut it, his budget proposals slash it. And Project 2025 people want to end it as we know it.
You want to talk about real change? The guy on the other side is actively trying to take healthcare away from working people.
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u/late2thepauly 0m ago
Correct. America demanded a populist and Democrats denied them.
And centrist democrats proposing policies that don’t actually do shit to help America is how we got into this fascist mess.
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u/a_library_socialist 5m ago
Not really, she was claiming to want to tax unrealized capital gains. That's not really a wealth tax.
Of course, mainstream Democrats only float these sort of things when they don't have Congress. When they do, suddenly there's a rotating villain and the parlimentarian says no, and that's that.
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u/David_ungerer 46m ago
We need to (figure of speech) kick in the nuts repeatedly, the next President like Reagan, Bush and Trump (notice:Fiscal Conservative), that hands out $Trillion in tax cuts for no discernible purpose other than a political bribe or pay-off.
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u/hczimmx4 1h ago
No, we need to cut spending.
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u/0bfuscatory 1h ago
Get big money and special interests out of government, and spending will get back to the sound investments they’re supposed to be.
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u/StopICE2026 2m ago
The biggest holes in the budget are employer paid insurance exemption and mortgage interest/SALT deduction. Get rid of both and you’re two thirds the way to a balanced budget.
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u/ICLazeru 1h ago
People seem to get upset when I say this, but without a tax increase, there's no hope of controlling the national debt without slaughtering one of the three holy cows, those being Social Security, Medicare, and the Military. Those three things, plus the interest on the debt already exceed the annual tax revenue.
I'm not a hardliner, zero-debt, kind of person either, I'm saying there's no hope of even controlling it without a tax increase or a major cut.
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u/hczimmx4 1h ago
Defense spending is at, or near, post WWII lows. Defense isn’t the problem. SS is self funded, that really isn’t the problem either. The problem is all the other social spending.
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u/ICLazeru 51m ago
You could cut ALL other spending besides Social Security, Medicare, and Defense, and the budget would still be in deficit. I wasn't stating an opinion. The debt cannot be controlled without tax hikes, or cuts to at least one of these programs.
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u/a_library_socialist 0m ago
Defense spending is at, or near, post WWII lows
No, it's not.
You can claim that what is declared is at a lower value than 2010 as a percentage of GDP. But in constant dollars, it's higher than ever.
https://www.defensebudget.org/en/country/united-states
Though we see in Iran that it's apparently money well spent - those super expensive weapons that can't keep up with lawnmower drones are totally worth it!
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u/JonnyBravoII 1h ago
A reminder that Clinton created surpluses and when W won in 2000, he gave out two tax cuts. One factor in Democrats losing the House in 1994 for the first time in decades was because of what Clinton did with Congress to pass changes to eliminate the deficit. Obama came along and tried a grand bargain with Republicans: tax increases in exchange for cuts in various program. Republicans said no. Propaganda works because 1/2 the people would have you believe that all of this is because of Democrats.
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u/hczimmx4 1h ago
Spending the last year there was a surplus was about 17.5% of GDP. It is currently about 23% of GDP. I would be fine capping spending at 17.5%, would you?
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u/NoCoolNameMatt 1h ago
No, spending caps are dumb because recessions exist. You need to maintain fiscal flexibility.
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u/getwhirleddotcom 1h ago
Dems should just spend all their money putting up a national debt counter on every billboard in the country.
$4,819,388,622,737
Since Trump took office
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u/Calaigah 1h ago
The senior democrats are writing Trump a letter asking him nicely to stop! What more do you want?!
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u/Previous_Soil_5144 1h ago
Let's not forget the, what is it now, like 140 trillion dollar AI hostage situation where we are told that we have to allow data centers and keep funding this or wlse the entire economy collapse.
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u/CommieMartyr 1h ago
So the old line is "what do you have to lose?" Personally, nothing. At 64 I'm surprised to still be alive. I'm pretty sure I have enough now, not that I'm rich, that I'll slip the mortal coil before the full bill comes due. I don't have kids, or grandkids so I'm really not invested in what happens after I'm gone. You are more than welcome to whatever I have left after I'm gone. I guarantee it won't be much.
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u/Busterlimes 23m ago
Thats why I convert cash to silver and keep it in my house. Only digital funny money is at risk here. Dont keep that emergency fund in a digital account folks.
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u/CertainCertainties 2h ago
A mountain of debt that is unsustainable, and wildly over-valued AI-focused companies providing little new revenue to shareholders.
Little wonder that people are starting to sell off Treasuries and tiptoe to the exit doors of the American economy. Like Emily Blunt's Schiaparelli dress at the 2024 Oscars, it has no visible means of support.
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