• Phoenixz@lemmy.ca
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    8 hours ago

    So what happens when the US defaults? Just asking for those that are curious to see where this slowmotion trainwreck is heading

    • Tollana1234567@lemmy.today
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      1 hour ago

      think 2008 crisis, but worst. because everything was getting cut. when obama came in the military was downsizing as well, until TRUMP came into power for the first time.

    • finitebanjo@lemmy.world
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      8 hours ago

      They aren’t actually borrowing from anybody, the debt is to themselves. It basically just means the US Federal Government spends more than it collects every year since POTUS Clinton was in charge.

      They do set an upper limit to the debt / annual deficit and if they fail to resolve it by raising the limit then the federal government goes into shutdown: no new laws passed, no federal employees get paid, etc. But they pretty much always raise the limit. The last time the limit was raised it was a bipartisan push to keep the government running, during which the DNC members who joined with the Republicans received a lot of criticism for doing what the Republicans wanted, but TBH I don’t really think things would have been much better off if the government had shut down again.

      Next time, though, it’s become clear that the Senate will keep stripping rights and not allow a single bit of progress to be made no matter how far into fascism this nation falls, so definitely should shut down.

      • pulsewidth@lemmy.world
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        2 hours ago

        This is a vast misrepresentation. National debt is literally bank loans the government has taken out and promissory notes like Treasury bonds. They owe investors, banks, and individuals money - only 1/5th of the national debt is held by intergovernment bodies (meaning money the government has loaned itself and ‘owes themselves’). 80%+ of the debt is owed to non-internal groups. Even the self-owed debt must be repaid, or the government would be defaulting on a loan from one department to pay the other - robbing Peter to pay Paul.

        https://www.marketplace.org/story/2023/05/26/who-does-the-u-s-owe-31-4-trillion

        • finitebanjo@lemmy.world
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          26 minutes ago

          Yes but the banks are a part of the US Financial System and Governance. For better or worse, the Federal Reserve System is tiered in a way that each private bank adheres to their regional reserve bank, of which there are 12 total, which adheres to the US federal reserve board. The private banks can also elect representatives to the board of their own regional reserve bank, while the federal reserve board members are appointed by presidents.

          That’s not even mentioning the FOMC.

          But the debt is still of the USA to the USA at the end of the day. If third parties like China or Russia buy bonds from those of the USA who hold the value in the form of promissory then that’s fine but they have no power to enforce a payout in case of a “default”. The notes just lose a little value, to the holder’s detriment.

        • nelly_man@lemmy.world
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          4 hours ago

          They mention Clinton because when he left office, the federal government was running at a surplus and was paying down the national debt. However, that changed after Bush came to office and passed tax cuts before starting wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

          • Phoenixz@lemmy.ca
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            1 hour ago

            Republicans: let’s increase spending like crazy while giving all the rich discounts, plummeting our income. In the meantime we just pretend that we’re spending less than Democrats

            What could possibly go wrong?

        • finitebanjo@lemmy.world
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          3 hours ago

          I never mentioned fault I just said Clinton was the last POTUS to create surplus. I blame Reagan for cutting taxes.