Greatest threat to the United States of America

Perhaps not foreclose, but the money owed foreign nations, they certainly can demand payment. I doubt we would oblige. We would state something to the affect the term stated on the bonds is not due for another 5 years of so, so stuff it. But I do think if China and a few other nations called for payment it would effect the global economy.

The majority of our national debt is held by our citizens and institutions. Not foreign countries. But if we refused payment, might there not be a run to collect what our citizens and institutions are owed? Fear of non-payment. Then too, once those debt bonds or whatever their called is paid, other countries may refuse to buy anymore along with our own citizens and institutions. Of course, we could just print the money to pay what is owed. But that would probably cause inflation and a huge devaluation of the dollar.

I'm not a financial guru, just putting what I think could happen into play here. Then what do we do when interest rates go back to a more normal 6% and payments on the debt we owe has doubled or tripled because we are now borrowing at a low 2% or so. what you think?

 

I did a google, 266 billion dollars were spent in 2017 paying the interest in the national debt. That is 266 billion that can't go to other programs, domestic or defense, discretionary, it is a mandatory payment. If interest rates rise, which they seem to have begun, how much longer will it be where interest on the national debt becomes the number one or largest item in our budget?

Have we dug a hole there is no getting out of?

 

I agree. And there are various reasons for it, with some being mentioned in this thread. I think it goes to the basic morality of a People, and those they elect. A loss of noble principles, with greed of a few replacing this.

Once an empire begins its decline, it always ends up badly. Our problem is that our leaders wanted an american empire in the first place, when all of those fail, and implode. The founders did not want one, for this very reason. But later politicians did.

 

I won't see it, but Europe will fall like dominos to Islam. USA? idk. Still some hope.

 

Forming up the country half under slavery weakened the USA greatly. Then the Civil War. Then the assassination of Lincoln. Then the democratic party siding with the kluxers in the south and fighting against reconstruction with terror and violence until it failed. Today we are still much weaker than we should be because of these events.

 

We will give up on the constitution as a force for good and see it only as a tool for the rich and powerful. We are getting close to this point right now.

 

From the inside.....like most of the others. The internals.....for us. It is the Democrats and the Alt left/illiberals.

I would have checked other if it was listed.

 

I Couldn't vote because "Socialism" wasn't listed.

 

I would argue it made us stronger, to get away from slavery, even if it took a horrible costly war to achieve it. Moving from the bad to the good is good for a nation, IMO.

 

War is good. Makes for extra strength brother against brother.

 

It made the federal government stronger while the states lost most of their state rights.

Americans no longer held their loyalty to the sovereign state they lived in like before before 1861 but now to the Union ()federal government.)

With the outcome of the "War Between the States" aka the "Great Rebellion," the "American Civil War," America is stronger and the deplorables will still be fighting and winning America's war abroad.

 

So you agree it was a good thing, to get rid of loyalty to the state instead of to america? The division created by state's rights was bound to cause problems at some point. It would be hard to have a united states, IMO otherwise.

 

It was required or so it seems to insure all men are created equal under the law of the US? This had to come to a head sooner or later given the founding principles. Plus, slavery, owning another human being is wrong. That humanity indulged in this wrongness for so much of our history as a species, or a civilized species had to be corrected at some point. And it required a horrible war to do it is just the way human beings are. I am glad it happened even if I did lose ancestors on the south's side. And even if my slave holding ancestors lost their land and plantations. One still stands today close to where I live. My ancestors owned it and hundreds of slaves, very rich plantation owners. But they were wrong to own slaves, but it was just the way it was back then. It is all people knew.

 

Making the fed stronger reduced the power of the people. The industrial revolution pioneers took advantage of that and workers were made to work many hours per day and sometimes had to live in company housing, buy company food and goods, and then have a balance to be paid at the end of the week, so they could not leave their job. It took socialist ideas like unions to literally fight with their lives at stake sometimes, to change things. Yeah, and it still isn't over.

 

I believe that the outcome of the Civil War made America stronger and more united.

What was a disaster was the military occupation and reconstruction in the South after the war. A complete failure and would result in the birth of the militant arm of the Democrat party, the KKK.

America has always been good at war but never good at reconstruction after the wars.

There are two exceptions, post WW ll Germany and Japan. Otherwise every attempt by America of reconstruction or nation building has been nothing but failures.

 

Agreed. All of it had to be. But I'm convinced the USA would be much stronger now had the delegates gotten it right in Philadelphia making all of the ensuing suffering that followed unnecessary. Times being what they were that couldn't have happened -- that's the reality.

 

We had a meteoric rise after WW2 because we werd the only industrialized nation in the world that was intact after 6 years of war. That gave our population and politicians an economic environment that was unsustainable long term, but still led to promises of unending glory.

The last 35+ years has seen the rest of the world either catch up to us technologically, or undercut us for labor. The result is a predictible decline in our society. The only chance we have as a nation is if we get people in office that will quit clinging to the past and start start putting the country in line to survive in the future. It wont be popular and it wont lead to many reelections, but it still needs to be done.

 

Ok, I can agree with you on this. But if a frog had wings he would not bump his arse. I was just taking into account the reality of america, and how we began. And because we got away from slavery, made us stronger, although we would have been even stronger if we had not been founded with slavery left in place. But it was a different reality back then, and it was not possible, IMO, to pull off. But it was eventually corrected, thank god, or thank some of our people. It is hard to believe that we actually allowed white people to own black people, although historically slavery not only enslaved blacks but whites as well, if you go farther back. We have come a long way as a species in correcting what just seems wrong, but there is so much farther to go. I wonder if we will ever achieve correcting all of the wrongs? I am not hopeful being somewhat of a skeptic, given what human nature seems to be. For clearly it has been more powerful than logic, rationality, reason, and a basic sense of right and wrong.

 

We agree. We know how to succeed, in reconstruction, but have only did it a couple times, as you mentioned. IMO. our leaders back then were more wise and intelligent than today. I see our current leaders, congress as blooming, self consumed, treasonous bastards, given what they have allowed to happen to america, kicking our founders in the gonads, in what they set up to protect our economy from slave labor. It is impossible to build a great, rich, powerful nations with a damned low wage service sector economy. And what created this economy, and destroyed our traditional economy? Slave wages, which the founders knew was really bad for america unless you protected this nation from them. They were very wise men. Our current leaders, going back to the 90s were and are complete idiots. America has never needed to export in order to have a healthy, viable economy. But we are conditioned today to think otherwise. We are taught today we must complete with slave labor, or we implode economically. lol And yet for our entire history until the 90s, we didn't implode, we became the most powerful nation on earth, by not having a service sector based economy. Sorry, this insanity consumes me, due to the stupidity involved. And the treason on the american people.

 

Poll didnt include Liberalism, so I couldn't vote. But this 2005 cartoon says it loud and clear. (And not just for the US)

 

What can happen if we default on the loans?

 

I don't really know myself but I do know China cannot just walk in and take over because we owe them money, like so many seem to think.

 

I couldn't vote in this poll. Two of the choices offered should have been the Republican Party, and, the Democrat Party (to be fair!).

Many of us on the Right consider the hyperliberal socialists among the rabid Democrat-Left to be the greatest danger to this country. And, in fairness, many of those on the liberal Left consider us Conservatives on the Right to be the greatest danger to this country. Why weren't choices like those offered?

 

In the short term, THAT is the biggest danger. Historically interest rates have hovered around the 6% mark, so even though our national debt has skyrocketed over the past few years, our interest payments have not gone up at the same rate because interest rates dropped and have stayed low for years. When they go back to normal, we're in trouble. That could add half a trillion in interest payments even if we don't increase any other spending at all.

And of course once the dollar is no longer the world reserve currency, that will push interest rates even higher...

 

Well there are multiple reasons, not just one, but they seem to have infected other nations before, so it's hardwired into human nature I suppose.