I saw Trump talk about his plan to pay the debt yesterday with Brett. I got the impression that he was backtracking. He said there were a lot of options one of which was to refinance. I guess technically refinancing is paying the debt but you’re still stuck with debt when you refinance. Only the terms are different. And I don’t see refinancing as an advantage given that the debt is already financed at very low rates. He also said that we could discount the debt. I took that to mean that when interest rates go up the value of the debt will go down since its financed at such low rates. He wants to buy it back at that reduced price. But I don’t really see that as a way to pay off the debt in such a short period of time. Basically I got the impression that he doesn’t have a plan and didn’t really mean what he seemed to say.
I don’t think anyone can talk about any plan that has a chance of working and then get elected, or re-elected to any office. Any fix is probably too painful. Most people would prefer a slow frog boiling despite a worse outcome.
We cannot untwist the one time no cost gimmick Op Twist at what are now cyclical low rates. Refi has no benefit unless rates are negative.
One way, or another, this is going to be either painful, or catastrophic.
Perhaps the best thing is someone is calling out the country and beginning another round of discourse. Reagan had the Grace Commission investigate this same issue in the mid 80s when the debt was less than $3T. hw Shrub and Clinton ignored findings and used the SS surplus. I don’t thing ignoring is an option now.