Parky60 Loc: People's Republic of Illinois

President Joe Biden met with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy on Monday to hold high-stakes talks on the still-unresolved debt ceiling standoff.

Both sides agree that the government will need to take on more debt in order to pay its bills. Republicans are trying to leverage some concessions on discretionary spending. But even if they were to get everything they want, the budget won’t come close to balancing.

Wh**ever agreement is ultimately reached to raise the government’s borrowing limit, the debt problem itself won’t be solved. It will only get bigger.

At root, the debt problem is a monetary phenomenon. The currency in which debts are owed is itself a debt instrument.

U.S. Federal Reserve notes are backed by nothing but faith and credit. Since they do not represent anything tangible, such as a particular quantity of gold or silver, they can be issued in unlimited quantities.

In theory, the amount of debt the government can take on is unlimited since the debt doesn’t represent anything real. It only represents an obligation to generate a quantity of currency in the future. New currency can always be generated by borrowing more of it into existence and, if necessary, tapping the lender of last resort – the Federal Reserve.

Even as the financial media and the U.S. Treasury Secretary herself play up the threat of a potential debt default and the economic calamities it would bring, the reality is that the federal government has already defaulted. It defaulted decades ago – on August 15, 1971 to be exact – when President Richard Nixon declared the United States would no longer redeem dollars held by foreign governments for gold.

Since then, the national debt has exploded from a mere $400 billion to $32 trillion. In the process, the dollar has defaulted on its purchasing power by 87%. It takes $7.50 today to buy what $1.00 could buy in 1971.

By contrast, an ounce of gold retains much the same purchasing power today as it did 50 years ago, even centuries ago, despite nominal fluctuations in price (dramatically to the upside overall).

Unlike debt-based fiat currency, gold isn’t an IOU. It doesn’t have an issuer and cannot be issued in wh**ever quantity is convenient for debtors. It is honest money.

Reintroducing honesty to the nation’s monetary system is the only real solution to the debt problem.

Liberty Tree

They might as well pass a resolution stating that the debt limit is unlimited.

Parky60 Loc: People's Republic of Illinois

That would have HUGE ramifications -- if not already based on what the BRICS nations are doing -- on the U.S. dollar being the world's reserve currency and how it would affect us.

Liberty Tree

Well, basically that is what it is. They just raise it each time so in reality it is unlimited.

Parky60 Loc: People's Republic of Illinois

Which is like I said, one of the reasons the BRICS nations are doing what they're doing.

Liberty Tree

They never will accept spending is the problem.

WinkyTink Loc: Hill Country, TX

If we ran our family household like the federal government, we would be totally dependent on the government right down to the cheese.

Liberty Tree

We would be homeless.

Byrd

There is a limit to how high this countrires debt can go. Here is what I goggled off the internet>

In February, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) projected that annual net interest costs would total $640 billion in 2023 and double over the upcoming decade, soaring from $739 billion in 2024 to $1.4 trillion in 2033 and summing to $10.5 trillion over that period.
When we reach the point where we cannot pay the interest on the debt, nobody will loan us any more money, and it's coming if we don't do something. If the CBO is right, that will mean the taxpayers will be paying about $2 billion a day in interest alone, after this year.
When it does, the country will be bankrupt. We will have no more government programs, no SS, no Medicare or any money to fund the military, no nothing.
Borrowing is not the answer. Cutting waste and stop giving money to foreign countries is the only answer. No money should be spent unless it is for the benefit of all the American people, not one party, all the people. Both parties are guilty of wasteful spending. They think like you apparently do, there is no end to how much we can borrow. Sorry, but I don't agree with you, I think we have already gone past that time.
The debt limit is a farce. It is a worthless piece of junk that they have always increased every time they have reached it, but that is coming to an end, and I don't think it will be long coming, the way these politicians are soending our money.

Parky60 Loc: People's Republic of Illinois

Our “mutual friend” Kevyn recently posted, “If the republicans default the American people will hold them accountable for the damage done to our economy and national stature. They and they alone will own it and the damage will be permanent,” to which I replied, “Kevyn, your comment just substantiates that you are a useful i***t that just parrots what he’s told.”

I went on to say:

A few weeks ago, I revealed that this will be the exact tactic that the Democrats will use for a controlled demolition of existing financial systems to make way for a cashless society and global governance. All they need is a scapegoat to complete their crisis formula. They need a domestic enemy, a frightening threat that lives right next door. That is to say, they need to find a way to blame conservatives and liberty activists for the impending crash.

Keep in mind that the Biden administration and the l*****t media have been aggressively pumping out propaganda asserting that all our fiscal problems including our national debt are somehow rooted in conservative policies. This is nonsense.

The majority of our economic threats can be traced directly back to the Federal Reserve as well as the larger international banks as these institutions enact policy regardless of the political party that is in control of the government. But, if we're going to talk about the group that has most helped the central bankers set the current crisis in motion, the political left wins the prize.

It was Barack Obama and Joe Biden that doubled the U.S. national debt from $10 trillion to $20 trillion in the span of eight years. Trump didn't help matters and did not institute spending cuts at the level he should have, but the bulk of his debt contributions occurred because of the C***D response but the accusations that Trump was somehow the guiding hand in the current financial crisis are simply untrue.

It was the Biden White House that pressed for C***D lockdown policies to stay in place when they should have been ended as soon as it became clear the C***D v***s was a non-threat to 99.8 percent of the population. Biden made it impossible for the country to continue functioning without trillions in C***D stimulus, and it was those measures that finally broke the camel's back. Prices skyrocketed under Biden, not Trump.

The majority of our national debt problems were piled up during the reign of Democrats, and they continue to demand trillions more in spending without conditions.

In the past, the debt ceiling debate has been a predictable farce:

• Republicans demand cuts
• They haggle with the Democrats who want a blank check
• Nothing is ever really resolved
• And the debt ceiling gets raised yet again with no noticeable reductions in spending
• The government keeps stealing from the American public at an exponential rate while also triggering more inflation

L*****ts argue that since a mountain of debt has already been accrued, they need to create new debt to pay off the old debt. And, if anyone ever takes legitimate steps to stop them, that group will be responsible for the implosion of the country through debt default. In other words, their argument is a circular con game: "We must keep spending more to fix the problems created by spending too much"… i.e. “We must pass the bill to see what is in the bill.”

Making budget cuts is portrayed as an act of terrorism by the corporate media. Saving taxpayer money is evil, and conservatives who entertain the notion are also evil.

The Federal Reserve has taken away the “easy money” low-interest punch bowl and this is setting the stage for a collapse. Government spending helps to obscure the greater crisis for a time, but what if the conservative effort to cut spending is exploited as a means to lay the collapse on their lap? The narrative is already being staged for this, which makes me wonder if this time a deal will NOT be magically struck in the eleventh hour. Maybe this time, the debt ceiling will never be raised... maybe even what you suggest.

But it's really a rather simple tactic to default. All the Democrats have to do is not allow any cuts and continue to demand more spending without conditions. Then, when the contingent of Republicans in Congress that actually cares about fiscal responsibility refuses to back down, the White House, the media and the majority of l*****ts initiate a propaganda wave, an artificial outcry suggesting that "radical" conservatives are destroying the economy.

Let's put it another way. The story WILL NOT be that l*****ts destroyed the economy because they refused to spend responsibly. No, the story WILL BE that conservatives destroyed the economy because they "held America hostage with debt."

Or maybe not. Maybe this time is like all the other times and Republicans will cave in yet again and the ceiling is raised by another couple of trillion dollars… or maybe even your idea is instituted. Like you said, in theory, it’s already that way.

SeaLass Loc: Western Soviet Socialist Republics

Since they rise the limit every time it is reached, congress and the executive branch are acting as if the limit doesn't exist. The "real" debt limit is when it reaches a point that nobody wants to buy any more treasury bonds.

woodguru

You got the first part of the equation right, let's see if you can follow the solutions...
...it's about generating revenue to offset spending
...end tax cuts for the rich
...increase the actual tax rate and make it mean something by ending special interest loopholes
...fund the IRS so they can aggressively audit and enforce taxes owed by tax c***ters
...go after medicare and insurance fraud
...audit and hold military contractor waste and fraud accountable (instead of increasing the military budget)

We could easily have a budget surplus if all of these revenue generating tools were implemented. But no, republicans are not about increasing revenue to end debt, they are about looking out for corporations and billionaires rather than people trying to survive.

woodguru

The real debt limit is about the budget every year, it goes up under republicans, and down under democrats.

American Vet

And the best way to generate revenue is to implement tax cuts.

Byrd

I don't understand. You don't want to cut wasteful spending, you want to raise everybody's taxes and let the Politicians keep on with their wasteful spending?
Is that what you think is a solution? When they reach the debt limit again and they will if the wasteful spending is not stopped, just raise everybodys taxes again, and again, and again. That's one reason taxes are so high right now, that's what they have been doing for years now.
Has it fixed the problem? No, it has only made it worse.