The U.S. national debt now exceeds 100% of gross domestic product, crossing a once-unthinkable threshold, on the way toward breaking the record set in the wake of World War II
The U.S. national debt now exceeds 100% of gross domestic product, crossing a once-unthinkable threshold, on the way toward breaking the record set in the wake of World War II
https://i.redd.it/dnqtvldycdyg1.png
Posted by Conscious-Quarter423
7 Comments
Kronzypantz on
And we all remember how America collapsed and became an impoverished pit of despair after WWII! /s
The debt means nothing and we need to stop pretending it does.
Richard-the-god- on
But Biden… yea, Biden left him with the best economy on earth. In less than two years Drumpf took a wrecking ball to it. Costs up, inflation up, medical costs up, support spending down, debt and deficit up. Some investors have made money but everyone else has lost bigly.
The scary thing is that the deficit is increasing very quickly.
And speed is picking up. With the war and another talk of tax cuts for the rich (cutting capital gains tax), not clear any way out.
beavis617 on
Ask anyone in the MAGA cult about it and they will blame it on Biden and the Dems!
recentgrooves on
At least we’re going to get to pay for that ball room, right?
piratecheese13 on
Pasting what I said yesterday about the same topic
[this map from the international monetary fund](https://imf.org/external/datamapper/GG_DEBT_GDP@GDD/CAN/FRA/DEU/ITA/JPN/GBR/USA) shows that pretty much every country with a modern banking system has more debt than yearly GDP. That’s the United States, Canada, UK, France, Italy, Greece, Spain with the worst one by far being in Japan at a whopping 236.66% of GDP. 2nd is Venezuela at 164% of GDP and 3rd Greece at 150%. Italy 135%, and then finally the US at 120%.
I’m not saying we are in a good spot, but we could be doing far worse. It’s also worth taking into account that China’s housing market has been in nosedive since 2022 and are likely manipulating data to boost gdp and shuffle bad investments and is at 80%. It’s worth noting that Russia is feeling the squeeze of the Ukrainian quagmire and is having a hard time doing anything at just 20%.
In the United States, 80% of the national debt is held by corporations or individuals who are based in the United States. Only 20% of our national debt is held by other countries, Japan holding $1.13 ~~billion~~ trillion being the most, then the UK at $779 billion, then China at $765 billion. All the other countries combined make up $6.3 trillion.
The largest single holder of American debt is oddly enough the federal reserve system at $4.5 trillion. It’s a bit like betting on yourself. If inflation stays low, bonds are a great bet. It makes sense that the FED’s job is explicitly to control inflation and reduce unemployment. Next up is mutual funds at $4.4 trillion. Together, those two make up about half of domestically held debt, which being half of 80% means they hold a little under 40%.
TL;dr: most of the developed world is in debt right now. It’s not about how much that you owe, it’s about who you owe it to. Yes, we should reduce the debt, but it’s not a catastrophic problem as long as it’s a problem that everybody else also has and one we actively work to solve.
7 Comments
And we all remember how America collapsed and became an impoverished pit of despair after WWII! /s
The debt means nothing and we need to stop pretending it does.
But Biden… yea, Biden left him with the best economy on earth. In less than two years Drumpf took a wrecking ball to it. Costs up, inflation up, medical costs up, support spending down, debt and deficit up. Some investors have made money but everyone else has lost bigly.
Um thats wrong?
It has been around 120% for some years already:
https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/GFDEGDQ188S
The scary thing is that the deficit is increasing very quickly.
And speed is picking up. With the war and another talk of tax cuts for the rich (cutting capital gains tax), not clear any way out.
Ask anyone in the MAGA cult about it and they will blame it on Biden and the Dems!
At least we’re going to get to pay for that ball room, right?
Pasting what I said yesterday about the same topic
[this map from the international monetary fund](https://imf.org/external/datamapper/GG_DEBT_GDP@GDD/CAN/FRA/DEU/ITA/JPN/GBR/USA) shows that pretty much every country with a modern banking system has more debt than yearly GDP. That’s the United States, Canada, UK, France, Italy, Greece, Spain with the worst one by far being in Japan at a whopping 236.66% of GDP. 2nd is Venezuela at 164% of GDP and 3rd Greece at 150%. Italy 135%, and then finally the US at 120%.
I’m not saying we are in a good spot, but we could be doing far worse. It’s also worth taking into account that China’s housing market has been in nosedive since 2022 and are likely manipulating data to boost gdp and shuffle bad investments and is at 80%. It’s worth noting that Russia is feeling the squeeze of the Ukrainian quagmire and is having a hard time doing anything at just 20%.
The thing to keep in mind is, how much leverage can the countries who purchase debt can put on countries that sell it. [here’s a breakdown of who owns United States debt](https://pgpf.org/article/the-federal-government-has-borrowed-trillions-but-who-owns-all-that-debt/)
In the United States, 80% of the national debt is held by corporations or individuals who are based in the United States. Only 20% of our national debt is held by other countries, Japan holding $1.13 ~~billion~~ trillion being the most, then the UK at $779 billion, then China at $765 billion. All the other countries combined make up $6.3 trillion.
The largest single holder of American debt is oddly enough the federal reserve system at $4.5 trillion. It’s a bit like betting on yourself. If inflation stays low, bonds are a great bet. It makes sense that the FED’s job is explicitly to control inflation and reduce unemployment. Next up is mutual funds at $4.4 trillion. Together, those two make up about half of domestically held debt, which being half of 80% means they hold a little under 40%.
TL;dr: most of the developed world is in debt right now. It’s not about how much that you owe, it’s about who you owe it to. Yes, we should reduce the debt, but it’s not a catastrophic problem as long as it’s a problem that everybody else also has and one we actively work to solve.