I still remember the point of the cold war. We (capitalist) strongly believed workers should get paid. That our labor is not some free gift to the greater good of the collective.
Americans did not stare down nuclear extinction for 45 years, for bondholders. I get your point about bondholders but the US will one day default on t-bills, since the debt is presently laughably unpayable and will only become more comedy as the years go by.
When default day comes will we put our debtors first before we pay the salaries of our military? No. We will just tell our debtors this is what we will pay, lol to the rest.
At the end of the day whether it is a stock, bond, or t-bill.. It’s all a risk. Since you are depending on someone else (not yourself) to generate the wealth.
As to the future, who knows what kind of crappy government and economy we will have then? Bottom line is you can not depend on the law to be followed, which was my beginning point in responding to Tublecane.
“When default day comes will we put our debtors first before we pay the salaries of our military? No. We will just tell our debtors this is what we will pay, lol to the rest.”
When default day comes the dollars we pay our military will most certainly be worth a lot less than it is now, hence they are not free from risk either. At any rate, considering the way the government has dealt with the military and veterans in the past, I wouldn't bet on them getting what they deserve either-more like a royal shaft if you know what I mean.
"At the end of the day whether it is a stock, bond, or t-bill.. It’s all a risk. Since you are depending on someone else (not yourself) to generate the wealth.”
Even when you depend on yourself to generate wealth, you are at risk. Several thoughts come to mind. If you perform a service, or sell a product you made, and send the bill, the money you earned today will likely be worth less tomorrow, and certainly worth less when the default occurs.
Indeed the person who owes you this money is in fact considered debtor, and you are the creditor. We already have the precedent to just shrug and say creditors don't have to be paid first.
Now let's suppose that to avoid this risk, you collect immediately at the point of sale or the point of service. Then what? If you have any money left over after expenses to live on, then what will you do? Invest it in the safest thing you can? You just said there is no where to invest the dollars that has no risk. How are you to preserve that wealth?
Suppose you just have a little farm(just big enough to supply needs for your own family), and try to live as independently as possible, grow your own food, raise a few chickens and/or livestock, grow some grain to feed them etc. etc.
You still have a risk, because when default comes, you have a very real risk that you will not have the amount of dollars to pay your property taxes due to the highly inflated property values. And/or the government “helps” with one of their actions that really only makes things worse.
I don't think it is possible in the current environment to produce wealth that is not at risk whether you are depending on yourself or trying to save a little of your pay for a rainy day and/or retirement. I truly feel sorry for everyone - not just the auto-workers.
In fact, the only entity that appears to have come through unscathed is Goldman Sachs, and some high ranking Dems involved with Fannie/Freddie debacle. (Apparently, George Soros made out pretty well too). Bottom line, the government should not be picking the winners and losers by choosing which companies will be exempt from consequences and laws.
I also think it is important for workers (us little people)to be able to save(invest) a little money for yearly expenses, rainy day floods, tornado, future illness and/or disability. Whatever risks those investment choices have, one should not also have the risk that the government will step in and ignore longstanding laws.
Having survived Carter's great inflation and the misery index, I truly dread what the government and the Federal Reserve has in store for hardworking Americans going forward.