Growing National Debt Gets Silent Treatment From Candidates
Growing National Debt Gets Silent Treatment From Candidates
This is Washington Edition, the newsletter about money, power and politics in the nation’s capital. Today, economy reporter Jarrell Dillard looks at the growing national debt. Sign up here and follow us at @bpolitics. Email our editors here.
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America has a debt problem. And it’s not getting much attention from the contenders for the White House.
There is $27.8 trillion in debt held by the public. And this year the US is expected to run one of the largest deficits in history, which will only make the debt bigger.
Though everyone knows that spending on entitlement programs, including Social Security, is a big part of the problem, the 2024 presidential nominees are tiptoeing around the issue on the campaign trail. They’ve barely mentioned the deficit, much less offered any substantive solutions.
Spending on Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid could reach 10.3% of gross domestic product in 2024, according to projections from the Office of Management and Budget. That compares with an 8.2% average between 1984 and 2023.
Funny how Bloomberg didn’t run this article when Trump was giving away the store. It’s always Democrats who have to pay for Republican spending.
Spending on Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid could reach 10.3% of gross domestic product in 2024, according to projections from the Office of Management and Budget. That compares with an 8.2% average between 1984 and 2023.
This kind of nonsense pisses me off. Of course these costs are rising. More and more of our population is getting elderly so we need to spend more and more money in these areas. Population growth has also slowed substantially. This means that a larger fraction of our population is older and more in need of medical care and social security. Naturally, these costs are growing as a fraction of GDP since the working population is declining as a fraction of the total population.
President Joe Biden did propose increasing income taxes for those making over $400,000 to raise revenue and boosting the payroll tax to bolster Social Security. But he has rejected making any structural changes to Social Security, a stance that many Democrats share.
And he fucking well should. People spend their lives putting money into social security and now, after Republicans have followed Reagan's starve-the-beast strategy for decades, they want to cut payments to all these people rather than getting rid of their stupid tax cuts that only benefit those hoarding all the nations wealth.
And he fucking well should. People spend their lives putting money into social security
I've always been confused why ANYONE would support any sort of cuts to social security after paying into it for, in some cases, literal decades.
I mean, it's not "free money", it's my fucking money, that I've paid into every paycheck I've ever gotten. Of course I feel "entitled" to it, because, well, I am?
The republicans want to do a rugpull that'd make a crypto bro blush in how fucking brazen it is, and we're supposed to be happy about it?
I pay more for social security than state and federal taxes combined knowing full well it'll probably be long gone before I'm old enough to collect it.
National debt is imaginary numbers. It doesn't matter
As long as sovereign debt can be serviced, we're good.
Good thing we have history to examine, eh? Republicans always exacerbate the debt, and Democrats always lessen it.
Meeting adjourned.
And it’s not getting much attention from the contenders for the White House.
Well, reducing debt means one or both of:
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Spending less.
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Taxing more.
Neither are likely very popular points to sell yourself on.
Harris is on record supporting higher taxes. Hell, Biden is too. It's not out of step with the populace either.
Only for people who make over $400,000 a year, and only the amount over 400,000.
Third option, but it is somewhat risky, which is to create an investment GSE with the objective of reducing the national debt.
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Good. It's unimportant.
There's a whole other perspective on government 'debt:'
While emphasizing that “debt matters,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) recently noted, “we need to rethink our system in a way that is genuinely about investments that pay off over tgrab?
FUUUUUUUUUUUHHHHCK YOU, CUNT. Try making an honest fuckin trade once in your life before lecturing anyone on fiscal responsibility you stupid bitch. The fuckin audacity these asshole politicians have is disgusting.