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Elon Musk says there's substantial ignorance about America's national debt
Fox News ^ | November 27, 2024 | Alex Nitzberg

Posted on 11/28/2024 8:02:56 AM PST by george76

The US national debt is more than $36 trillion

...

Elon Musk, who has been sounding the alarm about America's gargantuan, ever-expanding national debt, claimed that many people are unaware of the problem.

"A significant % of people don’t even know that there is such a thing as a national debt!" Musk declared in a post on X.

"Those that do often don’t know how big it is or that our interest payments now exceed what we spend on our military. Only a small % understand that government overspending causes inflation,"

...

The national debt has soared past $36 trillion.

"America is going bankrupt fast," Musk warned

...

The excess government spending is what causes inflation! ALL government spending is taxation. This is a very important concept to appreciate. It is either direct taxation, like income tax, or indirect via inflation due to increasing the money supply

....

If we don't tackle the national debt, all tax revenue will go to paying interest and there will be nothing left for anything else."

If the issue isn't addressed "the dollar will be worth nothing," Musk

(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Crime/Corruption; Government; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: debt; national; nationaldebt
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1 posted on 11/28/2024 8:02:56 AM PST by george76
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US National debt is $220 trillion. ~bottom right.

https://usdebtclock.org/


2 posted on 11/28/2024 8:03:30 AM PST by george76 (Ward Churchill : Fake Indian, Fake Scholarship, and Fake Art)
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To: george76

I know it’s really really big! Very very!


3 posted on 11/28/2024 8:05:06 AM PST by xp38
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To: george76

I’m a huge Musk fan but he’s not telling the truth in this instance.

The total debt, including contingent liabilities, and applying GAAP principles, is well over 100 trillion dollars. There is NO WAY to pay that pack dollar for dollar.

Some of the people/countries/institutions are just NEVER going to get paid back.


4 posted on 11/28/2024 8:07:32 AM PST by Cen-Tejas
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To: george76

And I don’t get the level of ignorance about it.
I think, mostly, people are gambling at it not being around when it finally becomes unpayable and leaving a future generation to pay it off while barely being able to subsist.


5 posted on 11/28/2024 8:10:37 AM PST by Jonty30 (Genghis Khan did not have the most descendants. His father had more. )
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To: george76

I think most people know about the national debt and that its a huge number. The problem is that, government leaders do not talk about it or emphasize the dangers, or they just ignore it and hope the people also ignore it. When a problem goes ignored, the problem gets bigger, but bigger does not mean that it will get solutions.

The solution is to stop or reduce the spending, but, who is going to do that? Not the democrats, for sure; but the republicans don’t want to let the democrats have all the fun, so, we’ll start to worry about it only after the country stops functioning because all the money is gone and people can’t afford to spend for their needs.


6 posted on 11/28/2024 8:14:07 AM PST by adorno (CCH)
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To: Jonty30
--- "I think, mostly, people are gambling at it not being around when it finally becomes unpayable and leaving a future generation to pay it off while barely being able to subsist."

Abrogate the debt. Abolish the Fed. Adjust to the fallout, which will affect mostly the holders of the debt. DO it worldwide, and watch.

As Herb Stein said, "that which cannot continue, won't/"

7 posted on 11/28/2024 8:16:39 AM PST by Worldtraveler once upon a time (Degrow government)
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To: Jonty30

I think most people see it as such a huge number it frankly loses its value in a certain intellectual way. It’s like Monopoly money. So much it’s fake.

I think DOGE can have a huge impact on it, because stopping spending or increasing taxes would hurt the economy. But to see trillions of dollars spent corruptly, fraudulently and/or wastefully stopped is something we’ve never really tried hard to do. Our politicians always look at just the spending or revenue side and ignore the real crime going on.

This is a mighty first step. Can it work?


8 posted on 11/28/2024 8:21:11 AM PST by Alas Babylon! (Repeal the Patriot Act; Abolish the DHS; reform FBI top to bottom!)
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To: Worldtraveler once upon a time
Abrogate the debt. Abolish the Fed. Adjust to the fallout, which will affect mostly the holders of the debt.

Exactly! Savers must be punished!

9 posted on 11/28/2024 8:22:13 AM PST by Toddsterpatriot (TANSTAAFL)
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To: Worldtraveler once upon a time

“Abrogate the debt. Abolish the Fed.”

Agreed. And let’s have all parties come to the table.

Hmmmm?


10 posted on 11/28/2024 8:25:52 AM PST by reasonisfaith (What are the personal implications if the Resurrection of Christ is a true event in history?)
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To: Worldtraveler once upon a time

I think the only way out will be the Iceland way. Go bankrupt and rebuild. Offer pennies on the dollar to those who are owed debt and be done with it.


11 posted on 11/28/2024 8:26:31 AM PST by Jonty30 (Genghis Khan did not have the most descendants. His father had more. )
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To: george76

Most do not understand that when we give the Ukraine money we are actually borrowing it with interest. We are giving them money we do not have.


12 posted on 11/28/2024 8:27:00 AM PST by Openurmind
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To: All

It is said “Ignorance is bliss”. So I have a choice between stress over something which I cannot control (not a good choice) and . . . well . . . bliss. Maybe I should choose bliss.


13 posted on 11/28/2024 8:27:02 AM PST by BipolarBob (Our prodigal Haitian son has returned!! Prepare the fatted cat.)
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To: Cen-Tejas

True.. NEVER going to get paid back.


14 posted on 11/28/2024 8:27:42 AM PST by george76 (Ward Churchill : Fake Indian, Fake Scholarship, and Fake Art)
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To: Jonty30

Too many useful idiots.. the level of ignorance


15 posted on 11/28/2024 8:29:24 AM PST by george76 (Ward Churchill : Fake Indian, Fake Scholarship, and Fake Art)
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To: george76

I don’t mean to brag or anything, but I graduated in almost the top 50% of my class in high school in Theodore, Alabama, and I guess it was that level of education that has made me aware for the last 20 years that our national debt is unsustainable. My only surprise is that we’ve made it this far.


16 posted on 11/28/2024 8:31:04 AM PST by suthener ( I do not like living under our homosexual, ghetto, feminist government.)
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To: Openurmind

Interest payments will crowd out other expenditures, like Social Security, Defense and Medicare..

https://freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/4265403/posts


17 posted on 11/28/2024 8:31:56 AM PST by george76 (Ward Churchill : Fake Indian, Fake Scholarship, and Fake Art)
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To: Jonty30

“and leaving a future generation to pay it off”

Generation? Generations!


18 posted on 11/28/2024 8:31:59 AM PST by Openurmind
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To: george76

Not enough, but a good start.

There’s also substantial ignorance about the reckless (and abusive) nature of the “continuing resolutions” to fund all of the largesse (blank checks).

The responsibility needs to be squarely assigned in concert with the fat trimming to facilitate controls to prevent a repeat.


19 posted on 11/28/2024 8:34:19 AM PST by logi_cal869 (-cynicus the "concern troll" a/o 10/03/2018 /!i!! &@$%&*(@ -)
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To: suthener

The U.S. national debt is rising by $1 trillion about every 100 days.

https://freerepublic.com/focus/news/4221193/posts


20 posted on 11/28/2024 8:34:51 AM PST by george76 (Ward Churchill : Fake Indian, Fake Scholarship, and Fake Art)
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