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Why do we have a national debt at all?


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2023 Mar 27, 9:37am   12,734 views  128 comments

by Patrick   ➕follow (59)   💰tip   ignore  

Seriously, what is the point?

I know that a lot of people say so that the Fed can collect interest from taxpayers, and that may be so, but why would the government even agree to that?

It seems that every country on earth has national debt, but how can this be? It always costs more to borrow and pay interest than to save and simply pay for something.

Is every country on earth stupid and/or irresponsible? Is it just that they have more demand for services than they can afford? If that's so, then it's still stupid because they have to pay it off eventually anyway. Or do they just keep rolling over the debt forever, growing ever larger? Eventually their debts will be infinite and the interest will be unpayable.


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125   stereotomy   2024 Jun 19, 8:01pm  

Patrick says

FortwayeAsFuckJoeBiden says


Patrick says



So why do we have any fucking national debt at all?

Just so the Fed can get interest payments from taxpayers?


i don’t understand how this shit works too. they sell bonds, pay interest on bonds…



FortwayeAsFuckJoeBiden

It's deliberately complicated. The US government sells bonds to get cash, and the Fed buys those bonds with newly printed dollars.

So the Fed starts with nothing, but gets interest payments from all of us on money it created out of thin air.

The Fed supposedly reimburses the gubment for any interest it collects on the Treasuries it holds. It's real profits stem from the power and influence as the agent of seigniorage, as has already been mentioned
126   DemocratsAreTotallyFucked   2024 Jun 19, 9:56pm  

stereotomy says


The Fed supposedly reimburses the gubment for any interest it collects on the Treasuries it holds. It's real profits stem from the power and influence as the agent of seigniorage, as has already been mentioned


Only for the bonds on the Fed's balance sheet. Interest on bonds held by everyone else Congress has to pay up.
127   AD   2024 Jun 21, 10:56pm  

Patrick says






Yeah Patrick, this year the federal debt service payments will be greater than the Pentagon budget. I think this is the first time that has ever occurred for the US federal government :-/

I hope this trend reverses some as deficits and debt decrease steadily with decreasing US Treasury interest rates and an improving economy.

.
128   AD   2024 Jun 21, 11:00pm  

stereotomy says

The Fed supposedly reimburses the gubment for any interest it collects on the Treasuries it holds. It's real profits stem from the power and influence as the agent of seigniorage, as has already been mentioned


The Fed has been losing some money now. At least it is reducing its Treasuries and mortgage back securities holdings.

" (Reuters) - The Federal Reserve said on Tuesday that it officially saw a net negative income of $114.3 billion in 2023, a record loss tied to expenses related to managing the U.S. central bank's short-term interest rate target. The loss last year follows $58.8 billion in net income in 2022, the Fed said.Mar 26, 2024 "

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