[JasonC]

Money is not wealth. It is a tiny subset of it. Second, I mentioned secondary effects on incentives but they are second order, not first. People here do not know basic accounting and think a debt is a negative net worth. They haven't thought of a combined balance sheet in their lives. They think government spending is emitted into the ether and disappears, and debt issued to finance spending is spent without anyone loaning it, and that it amounts to a negative net worth for the entire society.

They sincerely tell me, endlessly, that America is "broke" and cite as proof the existence of debt of any kind. When I tell them Americans have $55 trillion in net worth they stare in incredulity and cannot wrap their minds around it. They think Americans have a net worth of minus that amount somehow, without asking how that is even possible. Something or other to do with money and that mysterious Federal Reserve.

The first order of business with such ignorance is to start with the basics - that nothing can be owed from without being owed to, and similarly nothing can be transfered from without being transfered to.

They endlessly tell me that "unfunded liabilities" for entitlements prove Americans have negative net worth, without ever asking what Martians are supposedly going to receive these benefits.

[DB]

America and Americans are not broke in terms of net wealth.

We do have a serious cash flow problem.

Cash flow that is largely diverted to trying to pay down/off past borrowing binges.

As Obama and crew siphon off my earnings from my business and redistributes it to largely unproductive people we as a nation slowly become less wealthy. I did not say “money is wealth”. I said money is a tool. And I’ll repeat, taking a tool from people who know how to use it as proven by the fact that they earned it and giving it to others who do not know how to use it over time makes us all poorer, not just the ones its coming from. Less is produced with that tool overall as a result.

Overall our standard of living will decline, particularly for our children, as a result of government consuming ever larger parts of our productivity.

As Thatcher said, the problem with socialism is, “They always run out of other people’s money”.

[John O]

The first order of business with such ignorance is to start with the basics - that nothing can be owed from without being owed to, and similarly nothing can be transfered from without being transfered to.

Sorry but the second half of your statement is false. A large portion of my taxes are forcibly transferred from me and NOTHING is transferred to me in return. I get no benefit from them whatsoever.

(I don't quite get what you are trying to say in the first half. It may or may not also be false. please reword it more clearly)