Category: US Debt
The analysis published under this category are as follows.Thursday, September 14, 2017
US Drowning in Debt, Surpasses $20 Trillion As Bankruptcy and Hyperinflation Loom Closer / Interest-Rates / US Debt
The US government finally surpassed the long anticipated $20 trillion national debt mark on Friday the 8th.
Oh, I don’t say “finally” because they had so restricted their expenditures that it was taking longer than expected. That’s far from the case!
In fact, under globalist, Donald “Big Government” Trump, the federal government had its largest deficit month in history in June topping $400 billion for the first time.
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Wednesday, September 13, 2017
Trump Suggests Eliminating the Debt Ceiling – Dollar Falls / Interest-Rates / US Debt
Those who paid any attention to the financial press last week saw the following narrative; President Donald Trump betrayed Republicans by cutting a deal with Democrats Nancy Pelosi and Charles Schumer. They agreed to punt on the borrowing cap until December and spend $15 billion for hurricane relief.
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Monday, September 11, 2017
Hurricanes Harvey and Irma Damage, America Can’t Afford to Rebuild / Economics / US Debt
A number of people have argued over the past few days that Hurricane Harvey will NOT boost the US housing market. As if any such argument would or should be required. Hurricane Irma will not provide any such boost either. News about the ‘resurrection’ of New Orleans post-Katrina has pretty much dried up, but we know scores of people there never returned, in most cases because they couldn’t afford to.
And Katrina took place 12 years ago, well before the financial crisis. How do you think this will play out today? Houston is a rich city, but that doesn’t mean it’s full of rich people only. Most homeowners in the city and its surroundings have no flood insurance; they can’t afford it. But they still lost everything. So how will they rebuild?
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Sunday, September 10, 2017
Hurricane Trump Blowing the Debt Ceiling Roof Off / Interest-Rates / US Debt
Of all the absurd Washington pantomimes none has been as reliably entertaining and maddening as the annual debates to raise the debt ceiling. Although the outcome was always a foregone conclusion (the ceiling would be raised), the excitement came when fiscal conservatives bemoaned the perils of runaway debt and “attempted” to exact spending restrictions through threats “to shut down the government,” (which often led to news coverage of tourists being turned away from national parks.) On the other side of the aisle Democrats would rail that the ceiling must be raised “because America always pays her bills.” Lost was the irony that “paying” bills with borrowed money was fiscally responsible, and that raising the ceiling actually enabled America to continue to avoid paying its bills. After these amateur theatrics, the ceiling would be lifted and Washington would go on as if nothing happened. But at least the performance threw occasional light on the nation’s debt problems.Read full article... Read full article...
Wednesday, August 23, 2017
How Planned Fed Rate Increases Impact The National Debt & Deficits / Interest-Rates / US Debt
The United States national debt is currently about $20 trillion, and the federal government is paying some of the lowest interest rates in history on that debt. The Federal Reserve has raised interest rates four times now, and is publicly considering another five increases, for a total increase of roughly 2.25%.
What will be the impact on the national debt and deficits if the interest payments on the debt jump upwards because of the actions of the Fed?
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Thursday, August 10, 2017
Really Bad Ideas - Government Debt Isn’t Actually Debt / Interest-Rates / US Debt
The failure of fiat currency and fractional reserve banking to produce a government-managed utopia is generating very few mea culpas, but lots of rationalizations.
Strangest of all these rationalizations might be the notion that government debt is not really a liability, but an asset. Where personal and business loans are bad if taken to excess, government borrowing is not just good on any scale, but necessary to a healthy economy. Here’s an excerpt from a particularly assertive version of this argument:
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Tuesday, August 08, 2017
US Companies Are More Indebted, More Leveraged, Less Profitable, and Yet Better Valued Than Ever / Companies / US Debt
Once again I start with a warning: A recession is eventually coming and a financial crisis with it. There is a real potential for it to come soon, although serious tax reform could delay it.
But sooner or later, the pressures of too much government debt and too many government promises, plus growth that is continually grinding slower, will break out into a recession.
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Tuesday, August 08, 2017
Sen. Hatch: Those Opposing More US Debt ‘Don’t Deserve to Be Here’ / Politics / US Debt
Republican leaders in Congress, with the urging of Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin, are anxious to raise the federal borrowing limit from $19.8 trillion – no strings attached.
The only hitch is those pesky conservative voters who were promised restraint by party leaders. GOP establishment hopes to quietly pass a “clean” bill to raise the debt ceiling – a direct betrayal of that voter base – don't currently enjoy enough support from other Republican members who still consider themselves accountable. So, a deal with the Democrats beckons.
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Thursday, August 03, 2017
Raising the US Debt Ceiling Means Jacking Up Future Inflation / Interest-Rates / US Debt
By Stefan Gleason : The dramatic failure of the U.S. Senate’s last-ditch Obamacare repeal effort leaves Republicans so far without a major legislative win since Donald Trump took office. No healthcare reform. No tax reform. No monetary reform. No budgetary reform.
The more things change in Washington... the more they stay the same.
Despite an unconventional outsider in the White House, it’s business as usual for entrenched incumbents of both parties. The next major order of business for the bipartisan establishment is to raise the debt ceiling above $20 trillion.
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Thursday, August 03, 2017
America's Finances in a Better World / Interest-Rates / US Debt
In a better world we might expect:
- Individuals, corporations, and governments spend no more than their income.
- “Honest” money is used by all, has intrinsic value, retains its purchasing power and is not counterfeited by individuals or bankers.
- Governments and bankers support and encourage “honest” money.
Tuesday, June 06, 2017
Government Insolvency Gets Harder to Ignore / Interest-Rates / US Debt
Several U.S. states and the federal government are hopelessly insolvent. It’s something many bullion investors have known for years.
The real question is when this reality will pierce the mainstream illusion that deficits, and the crushing pile of debt which accompany them, don’t matter. That moment drew closer last week when ratings agencies downgraded Illinois state bonds to one notch above “junk” status.
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Monday, June 05, 2017
Soaring Debt = Slow Growth = Even More Debt = Systemic Crisis / Interest-Rates / US Debt
It’s just common sense: Borrow too much money and the weight of this debt makes it hard to do things that used to be easy. This truism is now (finally!) hitting home, and blame is being apportioned. A couple of recent examples:
Read full article... Read full article...Over The Last 10 Years The U.S. Economy Has Grown At EXACTLY The Same Rate As It Did During The 1930s
(Economic Collapse Blog) – Even though I write about our ongoing long-term economic collapse every day, I didn’t realize that things were this bad. In this article, I am going to show you that the average rate of growth for the U.S. economy over the past 10 years is exactly equal to the average rate that the U.S. economy grew during the 1930s.
Monday, May 15, 2017
The Fed’s Massive Debt Bubble in Picture Form / Interest-Rates / US Debt
As we’ve been outlining over the last few weeks, the auto-loan industry is increasingly looking like Subprime 2.0: the needle that will pop the credit bubble.
Since 2009, roughly 1/3 of all new auto-loans have been subprime. That in of itself is bad, but we are now discovering that the industry in general has a problem with fraud (shades of the Housing Bubble) as well.
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Tuesday, May 09, 2017
America Needs a Debt Cut Before a Tax Cut / Interest-Rates / US Debt
President Donald Trump has finally unveiled his broad blueprint for tax reform. Well, at least let’s call it a sketchy outline of one. It would take the top income tax rate for small businesses from 35% to 15%. Theoretically, a business that makes $500k in taxable income, which had been paying roughly $175k in Federal taxes, would then pay closer to $75k. This means our business in this example, which saved 100k in Federal taxes, would have to grow its taxable income to $1,166.666, or by 133% to provide the government with revenue neutrality.
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Wednesday, April 05, 2017
US Debt Ceiling Shutdown: What Would Happen if the Government Shut Down For Good? / Interest-Rates / US Debt
It’s that time of year again where the US government acts like it will “shut down” and argues about nonsensical things to try to make people believe they are somehow necessary.
In 2015, Congress suspended the ceiling, which let the government borrow as much as it wanted through March 15, 2017. On that date, the total national debt was $19.846 trillion, and the government can't exceed that limit without approval from Congress.
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Friday, March 17, 2017
US Government Hits Its Debt Target (Ceiling) Again As Trump Has No Plan To Reduce Government / Interest-Rates / US Debt
Many people fell for Donald Trump’s pre-election promises, but we warned there would be no major changes made and that Trump was an elite insider.
How right we were.
Here was a list of his biggest promises and how he has already backtracked on all of them:
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Wednesday, March 15, 2017
Forget 3% Growth with This Deficit, US Approaching 150% Debt-to-GDP Ratio / Interest-Rates / US Debt
Studies have shown that when government debt rises above 90% it begins to have an effect on the growth of GDP. That conclusion is a bit controversial in economic circles, as some say the critical level is higher or lower.
Understand, those studies are not examining some theoretical proposition; they are looking at actual debt and growth levels in countries over a long period of history. And the data show that excess debt inhibits growth.
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Tuesday, March 14, 2017
Raising the Ides of March US Debt Ceiling Limit / Interest-Rates / US Debt
One of the most played out scenarios in the rarified air of Washington life support is keeping the debt balloon inflating without blowing. Dismissing all the drama from the Kabuki theater that relies upon passing another continuing resolution to raise the debt limit seems to be one of the most reliable predictions that can be made about Congress. Come hell or high water, the borrowing ceiling goes up. So when Mnuchin calls on Congress to raise debt limit as deadline approaches, all seems ready to follow the familiar pattern of kicking the can down the road.
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Thursday, March 02, 2017
Trump Avoid Debt Crisis ? “Extremely Unlikely” says Rickards / Interest-Rates / US Debt
The upcoming March 15 U.S. debt ceiling deadline is something that is being largely ignored by markets and most media for now. Despite it being just 9 trading days away. This will change in the coming days and is one of the many reasons why we are bullish on gold.
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Tuesday, January 24, 2017
2017’s Real Milestone, Or Why Interest Rates Can Never Go Back To Normal / Interest-Rates / US Debt
Forget about NAFTA or OPEC or TPP or crowd size or hand size or any other acronym or stat or concept that obsesses the financial press these days. Only two numbers actually matter.
The first is $20 trillion, which is the level the US federal debt will exceed sometime around June of this year. Here’s the current total as measured by the US Debt Clock:
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