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The Most Foreseeable Disaster in U.S. History
Chronicles ^ | March 2024 | Mark C. Brennan

Posted on 03/11/2024 7:51:29 AM PDT by Angelino97

take a look at the recent Penn Wharton Budget Model (PWBM) publication showing how the United States will soon immolate itself and the rest of the world under its mountain of unpayable debt... the PWBM wastes no time gaslighting its audience. Its conclusion regarding America’s staggering $34 trillion national debt is equal parts terrifying, inevitable, and obvious:

"Under current policy, the United States has about 20 years for corrective action, after which no amount of future tax increases or spending cuts could avoid the government defaulting on its debt."

...The United States’ precarious balance sheet could lead to disaster even sooner than the rosy 20-year scenario. Financial markets may start to doubt the federal government’s unsustainable “debt dynamics,” which need only a little economic weakness before they start to unravel.

The PWBM reminds us that as government debt expands, it “crowds out” private capital formation, the lifeblood of economic activity. Crowding out then leads to lower GDP growth and a smaller tax base, which factor into a government’s creditworthiness. Japan’s national debt exceeds 200 percent of its GDP today. But Japan’s high household savings rate—23.7 percent last November—funds its outsized borrowings. The United States’ 3.7 percent household savings rate shows where American consumers’ priorities lie.

Those who dare to read beyond the PWBM’s summary will be punished for their curiosity. The 200 percent debt-to-GDP ratio will only persist as an “outer bound using various favorable assumptions.” The “more plausible value,” 175 percent debt-to-GDP, isn’t even all that plausible according to the PWBM, as that lower ratio bakes in the financial markets’ wing-and-a-prayer hope that the government “will eventually implement an efficient closure rule” to shrink the debt. The previously mentioned unraveling can occur at even lower debt-to-GDP ratios (today’s 120 percent anyone?) as soon as financial markets stop dreaming.

(Excerpt) Read more at chroniclesmagazine.org ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: debt; default; economy
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To: Angelino97

This country is run by morons elected by morons.


21 posted on 03/11/2024 8:15:16 AM PDT by Chgogal (Welcome to Fuhrer Biden's Weaponized Fascist Banana Republic! It's the road to hell.)
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To: glennaro
We are truly one more stolen election away from experiencing in real time the irreversible and rapidly accelerating fall of our Great American Republic. One election.

Trump didn't do much to lower the national debt, did he?

Trump signed off on the Covid relief plan which cost ... how many billions? And no preventions for fraud.

Then there was Trump's Platinum Plan for Black America, which would also have increased the debt.

Trump is better than the Dems, but I don't see him fixing the national debt or saving this country. At best, he'll slow the decline.

22 posted on 03/11/2024 8:16:02 AM PDT by Angelino97
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To: glennaro

Isn’t Penn Wharton where President Trump went to business school?


23 posted on 03/11/2024 8:16:13 AM PDT by desertsolitaire
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To: glennaro

“We are truly one more stolen election away from experiencing in real time the irreversible and rapidly accelerating fall of our Great American Republic. One election.”

yep ...


24 posted on 03/11/2024 8:17:41 AM PDT by catnipman (A Vote For The Lesser Of Two Evils Still Counts As A Vote For Evil)
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To: Angelino97

Back in 2018, I would show my Senior high school students the Debt Clock (online) so they could watch the numbers pile up. During a single class they would see it rack up tens f (hundreds of?) millions of dollars of new debt. I believe the national debt back then was something like 19 trillion dollars.

Look at where we are in under 8 years!


25 posted on 03/11/2024 8:19:18 AM PDT by MarDav
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To: Cincinnatus.45-70

“The problem is, every politician”

Most of them have children and grandchildren and the dollars of Argentina del Norte won’t buy much.


26 posted on 03/11/2024 8:20:12 AM PDT by Brian Griffin
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To: Angelino97

Trump is standing between us and Deep State.

He’s buying us time to win the fight.


27 posted on 03/11/2024 8:20:15 AM PDT by mewzilla (Never give up; never surrender!)
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To: Angelino97

I don’t buy the 20 year figure. The debt is increasing exponentially. We are currently adding a trillion dollars to the debt every 100 days. And that figure is increasing.


28 posted on 03/11/2024 8:20:24 AM PDT by circlecity
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To: Angelino97

“As the value of the franc diminished over the centuries, it was replaced by the ‘new’ franc in 1960, with 100 old francs being worth one new Franc. The old franc became the valid ‘centime’ coin after the devaluation of the currency, and continued to be for some years.”

https://www.francethisway.com/info/currency.php


29 posted on 03/11/2024 8:24:13 AM PDT by Brian Griffin
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To: pgyanke
“It's mathematical. Once debt payments consume the budget, there is no other option than default.”

I ask: What would default by the federal government look like?

I always figured default would look like someone throwing a banana into the monkey house but maybe not.

The federal government will still have the new standing army with Joe's F-16s; they will be able to maintain order in some places.

I'm guessing default would include some favored constituencies continuing to receive generous payments from the government. Other constituencies would receive some, but not all, of the benefits they were promised when they loaned the government money. Other, disfavored constituencies, would get nothing. Think Donald Trump. Everything people like him own will be nationalized.

Net, the government will seize the opportunity to do what they have always wanted to do: take complete control of the economy and complete control of people's lives. They will use violence when and where they want.

It will be a mess.

30 posted on 03/11/2024 8:24:21 AM PDT by jeffersondem
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To: ProtectOurFreedom
But nobody in government, least of all the senior “leadership,” has the will to do any of that. To start down that road we would need serious leadership that would:

It's not about repealing Amendments. The Constitution and laws are pieces of paper. They don't matter if you can't enforce them.

If we cut off entitlements, or try to deport illegals, there will be BLM style riots -- but on a far greater scale.

So you would need the will and power to crush the riots, and forcibly deport men, women, and children.

To do that, you would need the loyalty of the police and the military, and the will to use them.

Laws no longer matter. Control of the streets does.

31 posted on 03/11/2024 8:26:39 AM PDT by Angelino97
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To: Angelino97

quotes:

Their key laws, enacted by the occupying powers, enter into force on 20 June 1948. The Deutsche Mark replaces the Reichsmark in the three western zones. The Deutsche Mark banknotes had already been printed in the United States at the end of 1947 and then brought to Frankfurt as part of the secret “Operation Bird Dog”.

The banknotes are distributed as of Sunday, 20 June. In exchange for 60 Reichsmark, every citizen of the western zones receives 40 Deutsche Mark directly from the ration offices, followed by a further 20 Deutsche Mark in a second tranche shortly thereafter. As of 21 June, the Deutsche Mark is the sole legal tender. Everyday payments such as wages, salaries, insurance and rents are converted at a rate of 1:1. However, those with savings are hit hard: Reichsmark balances are gradually converted to Deutsche Mark at a rate of less than 1:10.

The transition to the new currency was tough. Many savers faced financial ruin. At the same time, however, the huge monetary overhang from the Nazi era was radically reduced.

https://www.bundesbank.de/en/press/contributions/the-economic-and-currency-reform-of-1948-the-basis-for-stable-money-915302


32 posted on 03/11/2024 8:26:57 AM PDT by Brian Griffin
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To: Angelino97
It would be a lot cheaper for the Deep State to just throw Democrat office-holders under the bus and say “We ain’t payin’!”

After the riots wind down they can always start up a new progressive party. :)

33 posted on 03/11/2024 8:29:52 AM PDT by Mr. Jeeves ([CTRL]-[GALT]-[DELETE])
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To: Angelino97

Obviously I was writing about an ideal world where you could do those things to save the economy and the nation. As you point out, NOT ONE of those things I listed is possible.

Also, as you point out, you need a Nation of Laws for any of those things to work and we are no longer that.


34 posted on 03/11/2024 8:30:10 AM PDT by ProtectOurFreedom (“Occupy your mind with good thoughts or your enemy will fill them with bad ones.” ~ Thomas More)
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To: Brian Griffin

Most of them, if they had any respect for honesty and decency, would not be politicians. They are no doubt sure that their wealth and status will be passed to their offspring. Like the French nobility did in 1788....


35 posted on 03/11/2024 8:31:39 AM PDT by Cincinnatus.45-70 (What do DemocRats enjoy more than a truckload of dead babies? Unloading them with a pitchfork!)
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To: Angelino97

“Under current policy, the United States has about 20 years for corrective action,“

They’ll kick the can down the road 19 years and 364 days. No I’m not being sarcastic.


36 posted on 03/11/2024 8:32:14 AM PDT by TalBlack (I We have a Christian duty and a patriotic duty. God help us.)
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To: Brian Griffin

“ We are at about a 1945 debt/GDP ratio.”

This ain’t 1945 and we aren’t in a world war. Not yet anyway.

In just a few short years interest on the national debt will consume every penny of taxes collected. That does not include “mandatory” spending like Medicare, Medicaid, WIC, SNAP, or Social Security. None of those things existed in 1945.

L


37 posted on 03/11/2024 8:33:58 AM PDT by Lurker ( Peaceful coexistence with the Left is not possible. Stop pretending that it is.)
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To: pgyanke
It’s mathematical. Once debt payments consume the budget, there is no other option than default.]

yep

Here comes The Great Reset.


38 posted on 03/11/2024 8:35:51 AM PDT by SaveFerris (Luke 17:28 ... as it was in the Days of Lot; They did Eat, They Drank, They Bought, They Sold ......)
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To: Angelino97

“If we cut off entitlements”

Everything can be done gradually.

Sorry, candy has been taken off the SNAP eligibility list.

“try to deport illegals”

Maria spent all day in the school auditorium. She won’t be admitted to class until we pay off a teacher.

I can’t pay more than $12/hour because I first have to build 10 affordable houses before I can build 5 upscale houses.


39 posted on 03/11/2024 8:36:31 AM PDT by Brian Griffin
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To: Angelino97

“If we cut off entitlements, or try to deport illegals, there will be BLM style riots — but on a far greater scale.”

I was told by the Mexican border guard that these pills were fake.

They have the right color, shape and markings.


40 posted on 03/11/2024 8:50:23 AM PDT by Brian Griffin
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