The National Debt: Why Fret Over Something That Doesn't Exist?

Apparently there's nothing to worry about. Or is there? Is the 'non-government really us?

The National Debt: Why Fret Over Something That Doesn't Exist?
By MIKE NORMAN Follow | OCT 25, 2016 | 1:00 PM EDT

The public is lied to when it comes to the so-called national debt. They're clueless about it, as are most, if not all, of our lawmakers.

First off, there is no debt. The debt is dollars. The government spent $20 trillion more than it took away in taxes over the last 240 years, and those dollars, held by the non-government, comprise a big portion of the non-government's wealth. Nothing is "owed." It's owned, by us, the people.

Second, there is nothing to pay back. The money was paid, ended up in someone's bank account and now it's being held in the form of Treasuries. What's a Treasury? A Treasury is a dollar, the only difference being it's a dollar with a term (duration) and a coupon (interest payment). Why would people hold dollars in the form of Treasuries? To earn some interest, that's all. It's like saying, why would you put your money in a savings account as opposed to a checking account? Same reason, to earn interest. If you want it back in your checking account, you tell your bank and it switches it back from your savings account to your checking account.

That's how it works with the government, too. It "pays back" holders of Treasuries all the time. That's called a redemption and when Treasuries are redeemed the government simply instructs its bank, the Fed, to take back the securities and credit the individual's (or firm's or foreign government's or whomever's) bank account and, voila, it happens. Paid back. In fact, it happens so regularly and on such a big scale that it will totally blow your mind.

I am about to give you some numbers. Mind you, these are not numbers I made up or to which had some kind of top-secret access. Nor is this inside information that I am exposing. Rather, these are publicly available figures that you can get -- free -- right off the U.S. Treasury Department's website.

The resource is called the Daily Treasury Statement and it's really a fascinating document. It is posted daily on the Treasury's website and it's literally like looking at the checkbook of the federal government. Just like your checkbook, it has all the deposits and all the withdrawals, among other things. You can see everything. Every line item of spending (withdrawals) and every item of revenue (deposits) that runs through the government's accounts daily, monthly and yearly.

On this document there is a table -- Table III-A -- that gives all the redemptions of bills, notes, bonds and other securities the government redeems (pays back) every day, month and year.

If you go to the last statement of the fiscal year, Sept. 30, and you scroll down to that table I just gave you, Table III-A, you will see the government redeemed (paid back) $94.2 trillion in one year! I put a screenshot below.

Please note: All figures on the daily Treasury statement are in millions, so don't come back to me and say it was only $94.2 million. It's $94.2 million million. That's $94.2 trillion. See the image below.

Daily Treasury Statement
View Chart » View in New Window »
Ninety-four point two trillion! In a single year. And nobody knew about this. Furthermore, the world didn't fall apart, the dollar didn't collapse, interest rates didn't spike, we had no inflation and everything was fine.

There is the proof, right in front of our noses, that the debt is meaningless. It's just a bunch of bookkeeping entries. Keystrokes. It's time we stop fretting over this. People need to educate themselves about what this debt is and how they are being manipulated and propagandized about it.

The debt is not a bad thing, it is an asset of the non-government; however, ignorant, cynical, corrupt, dogmatic and self-serving groups like the Pete Peterson Foundation and organizations like Fix the Debt are in the business of keeping Americans misinformed and getting them to act against their own interests. These groups are bad and need to be stopped.

There is no debt! Please share.

 

Ok well yea, youre kinda right the national debt really doesn't matter. As in, we will always pretend to be a rich country even if you are in debt up our asses. Think about it. African countries has loads less debt than we have. But we are clearly richer than them. But we have less money on hand than they do. And furthermore, every country is in debt. So yea our debt is somewhat irrelevant.

 

That's because in the same time period we issued another 95.6 trillion in new debt.

 

So I guess we should share that umm... logic with the upcoming president.

That way we won't have to worry about the massive debt of $1.3 trillion to China, or the $1.1 trillion to Japan, or the $3.8 trillion to a dozen other countries.

 

that article is probably the most dimbest thing I have ever read in my life..he has no clue on what he is talking about..

 

Sorry but you didn't actually post a screen shot or a link. And there is no way they paid back 94 trillion in a single year. Refinanced perhaps but the debt wasn't eliminated, at best just rolled over.

 

What happens when interest rates rise? Will we have to increase inflation to devalue the interest payments so that they do not fully consume the entire tax revenue?

 

Well, if my idiot candidate wanted to add to the national debt doing stupid stuff like paying for college debts, then, I guess I would mentally contort myself into thinking the national debt was inconsequential. Then, I would go around and try to convince others to support my candidate by assuming idiocy as well.

 

Look, rich people are the only ones that think that high debt is a good thing. Even Trump bragged about being 9 billion dollars in debt. The ones trying to make ends meet, don't get to take advantage of serious debt. Why anyone would think that Trump is a genius, is beyond me. He doesn't care about the middle class, or he would not have tried to scam them for their hard earned cash (and debt) for his opportunistic lecture scam (Trump University). Really. People, he is a charlatan, He will (*)(*)(*)(*) you harder than any of his 'Trump University' chumps. Be smart, don't vote for Hillary if you hate her, but above and beyond anything else, please do not vote for that twerp.

 

I hear the Nat Debt doubled (?) under Obama so it's only natural his fanbois should be trying to whitewash him by saying "Haha it's no big deal".
And under Housewife Hillary it'd probably double again.
Don is perfectly qualified to step up to the plate to set things right with his sharp-as-a-razor business brain, his credentials are impeccable, namely 10 billion dollars in his bank account..

 

Ummmm so he claims...

What isn't disputed is his four bankrupcies

 

10 billion dollars in his bank account. Is that 'impeccable' money, or is that out of your pocket? Did you work for him and get stiffed? Do you want him to pilfer you, for the next four years? You are so gullible, that you are championing a charlatan. Hillary might screw you out of your taxes, but the Drumpf will just jack you for your paycheck, if you don't buy into his 'quality assurance', meaning he can screw you if you don't have enough funds to challenge his lawyers.

 

Your only problem is that independent financial experts say the Trump's plan to tax break the rich would ruin our economy. Hillary's plan to tax the rich would revitalize the economy. The rich have enough lobsters to last a lifetime. The middle class would actually buy american goods. The rich would trickle down on the poor, but if you happened (through no fault of your own) to be poor, you probably wouldn't like the taste of Ronald Reagan's pee.

 

I'm a neutral Brit so whoever becomes Pres won't impact me.
Don's great strength is that he's not a conniving politician, he's got all the cash, power and fame he needs, so he's not in the race to rake in more, that's why he can be trusted.
And he gives away truckloads of cash to charities on The Apprentice, what a man..

 

Don't be so sure of that. That "special relationship" is an IOU card that Hillary is going to play when she makes a play in Syria and Russia.

I doubt we'll be dying in trenches this time around...

 

Time to max out the credit cards!

Who cares! I can get another Lexus!

Debt doesn't really exist!

 

What we’re not talking about in this election: Government Corruption, ObamaCare’s Implosion, The Ballooning National Debt. “Modern journalism is all about deciding which facts the public shouldn’t know because they might reflect badly on Democrats.”

http://www.usatoday.com/story/opini...ump-wars-debt-glenn-reynolds-column/92771040/

 

The National Debt? Who cares?

It won't affect anybody currently alive in any appreciable way.

Now if one plans on living to the age of 200, it might matter.

 

For those of us who pay federal taxes, there is the $432 BILLION a year in interest payments.

 

National debt doesn't really matter. Your individual debt on the other hand...well max out your credit card and see what happens

 

But you see, that's the point. Our first reaction is increase inflation. Whereas, in an African country, it would be entirely different. Your rationale keeps America living as normal. Which is why debt itself doesn't matter in the sense that, while our legal tender may rise and fall, we still will be a "rich country". For example, the German economy pre-war. Their inflation was so high the money was worth nothing. But that was hyperinflation that was sudden. Ours would be gradual, as it is now. So we'd just continue life as normal until something really bad happened. So yea, it matters, but not really in our lifetime. And the fact of the matter is that no one will do anything to fix it until it bites them in the ass.

 

Wow, & here I thought I smoked a lot of dope.

 

Which is ALL we pay ....ever...an we can well afford that

 

They were not his bankruptcies.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Trump

 

Why? Does the national debt not carry interest payments and need to be paid back?