Does the United States have a spending problem? Obviously, but I really wanted to talk about how the cost of living crisis is presenting itself in your community. That relates to this article because you can't squeeze blood from a stone. If all of you have no disposable income, no savings, and a job market that can't support your current cost of living... What happens if you lose your job? Do you default on loan obligations along with America because we are stretched to the edge. Should we vote in members of congress to pass more tax breaks for private jets?Are mods whack? Let me know in the comments.

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[–] [S] 25 points 8 months ago (5 children)

Seems like the US consumer is stuck between a government with drunk spending, and a ton of debt. Next to a corporation who's squeezed every last penny out of people between wages and costs of goods and services. If GDP is to increase enough to pay off the debt, how does that happen? The only GDP growth comes from sucking up wages and monopolizing, and good old government spending.

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  • [–] 2 points 8 months ago (2 children)

    They haven't even come close to squeezing every penny out of ya all, lol. Most Americans would shit their fucking pants if they saw what shit cost in Canada. Criminally over taxed and everything owned by monopolies that set the price...amd the price ain't low 😒

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  • [–] [S] 1 point 8 months ago

    We’re almost there! Took longer for private equity to buy up all the small businesses, but we’ve got little town cartels for basic services now too. A guy quoted me $50,000 to replace my siding on 3 sides of the house

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  • [–] 14 points 8 months ago (1 child)
  • [–] 12 points 8 months ago (1 child)
  • [–] 12 points 8 months ago

    WE. DECLARE. BANKRUPTCY.

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  • [–] 16 points 8 months ago (2 children)

    Just wait until people stop lending money to the US.

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  • [–] 6 points 8 months ago (3 children)

    Ahahahahahahah what a stupid, galactically, generationally incompetent country of clowns.

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  • [–] [S] 1 point 8 months ago (2 children)

    Until recently I had hope that the boomers would take their bs to the grave but ya seems to be generational at this point 😭

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  • [–] 6 points 8 months ago (14 children)

    So does the national debt matter or does it not?

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  • [+] -15 points 8 months ago* (11 children)

    Kind of. The US won't collapse due to its debt, but the dollar will be devalued as money is being printed to pay it back.

    This is why Democrats love deficit spending. They get to obscure the true cost of social welfare programs and ensure that workers foot the bill instead of the people making everything so expensive.

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  • [–] 17 points 8 months ago (3 children)

    Democrats love deficit spending, which is why Republicans historically are the ones that increase the deficit more.

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  • [–] 0 points 8 months ago (2 children)

    Democrats are the lesser evil.

    That doesn't make them good.

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  • [–] 2 points 8 months ago (1 child)

    Not sure what bearing that has on my statement.

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  • [–] 1 point 8 months ago*

    Sure, let me clarify.

    You said "democrats love deficit spending," and then proceeded to go on about how Republicans have historically raised the deficit more than Democrats. This means your argument is (even if you're afraid to admit it) that Republicans are worse than the Democrats for the deficit. And I agree with you! They are worse!

    It's so easy to criticize Republicans, but it's hard to criticize Democrats and they take advantage of it as much as they can.

    Democrats use deficit spending as a shield to the true cost of social welfare programs. We need these programs, otherwise people would recognize how much they're being fucked and revolt against the system taking them for a ride. Democrats can't have this, so they nominate wet noodles like Clinton and Biden over Sanders.

    It's disgusting, despicable, and needs to fucking end. It won't end until people stop being proudly stupid.

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  • [–] 2 points 8 months ago

    Lots of things about American political discourse are infuriating, but this is def one of the worst. Republic administrations are so much worse for inflation that it’s almost laughable to see this opinion shared around. Kind of wild how politics is all vibes and memes I guess.

    https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2019/jul/29/tweets/republican-presidents-democrats-contribute-deficit/

    https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/2025/08/05/fact-vs-fiction-did-deficits-grow-under-republicans-and-shrink-under-democrats-since-reagan/

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  • [–] 3 points 8 months ago (5 children)

    Daddy Trump's boot must be so tasty.

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  • [–] -1 points 8 months ago (4 children)

    Yeah, everyone who holds Democrats accountable must be a Republican.

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  • [–] 2 points 8 months ago (3 children)

    The last I checked its the Republicans who run the debt up all the time.

    https://www.investopedia.com/us-national-debt-by-year-7499291

    Have a look at the '80s and '90s.

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  • [–] 0 points 8 months ago (2 children)

    Republicans are worse, and Democrats use them as an excuse not to do better.

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  • [–] 5 points 8 months ago (1 child)

    Its almost like this Trump chap doesn't pay any attention to due debts.

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  • [–] 2 points 8 months ago

    I really really truly hope before he dies we do find out just how absurdly dumb he is. I know he's a celebrity and a presidentnd therefore no one ever challenges him on anything, but imagine 2 hours of Donald Trump being asked things like: where is Iran on the map. Name 3 people in the bible. Name 4 planets in our solar system. What is 17x3. It would be so fucking funny to me to see just what kind of braindead ghoul they made their leader.

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  • [–] 4 points 8 months ago (1 child)

    Large growth between 21-24 then linear growth after that.

    I wonder why the projections are that way.

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  • [–] 4 points 8 months ago (1 child)
  • [–] 4 points 8 months ago (17 children)

    So stop issuing bonds. They’re unnecessary in a fiat currency.

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  • [–] [S] 7 points 8 months ago (2 children)

    Totally necessary when you need to finance 10 Trillion dollars in tax cuts for the rich over 10 years. They also bolster international trade so it's not all bad. Issuing bonds for infrastructure with built in returns for example good use of leverage and tax payer dollars.

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  • [–] 3 points 8 months ago (1 child)

    I assume the first sentence is a joke.

    Don’t know how they bolster international trade. If anything, they inhibit it as China parks its trillions of dollars in treasuries to artificially inflate the value of the dollar to make their exports more competitive and the US’s less.

    The federal government doesn’t need bonds to fund infrastructure. It issues the currency. We don’t need to get a loan in a currency we issue.

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  • [–] [S] 1 point 8 months ago

    I wish it was a joke, they just did that with the Big beautiful bill last year. It's not an ideal way to use them and probably should be banned.

    Japan/china hold US bonds because its makes for easy trading, it stabilizes the currency exchange market and allows for large payments to be made without much fuss. The only reason why they want our bonds is because we trade so much. chinas mechanism of controlling the exchange rate is the same as the US, we both like to just print more money. National bank buys bonds to stabilize market. anyway most of the time the bonds are held to avoid exchange rates. They themselves becoming a medium of trade like cash between nations.

    Of course we don't need to issue bonds at all for funding, again they are just a useful tool for global investing and trade. They get abused and extorted like any other financial market. christ imagine if we were using silver as a medium of exchange. their not really something I'd spend much effort defending politically, but economically idk I invest in them. They were kinda nice back when the federal government functioned

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  • [–] 0 points 8 months ago (13 children)

    Other states have been dumping bonds at unprecedented levels and investing in BRICS.

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  • [–] 2 points 8 months ago (12 children)
  • [–] 1 point 8 months ago (11 children)
  • [–] 2 points 8 months ago (10 children)

    China is investing in China?

    And?

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  • [–] 1 point 8 months ago (9 children)

    You want the government to stop issuing bonds. If states are dumping them, there's an inference there, somewhere.

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  • [–] 1 point 8 months ago (8 children)

    I don't really care about the national debt. The OP is worried about national debt. One way to fix that (if it bothers you) is to stop issuing debt. As bonds mature and aren't replaced, no more debt.

    What does it matter if "states" are dumping bonds? Who does it hurt if they sell bonds at a loss? Or a profit? What's the inference?

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  • [–] 1 point 8 months ago (5 children)

    If the USA can't pay it's debts, we can't trade. Everyone should care about the national debt. It's not coming out of the billionaires' bank accounts, and multinational corporations will simply do business elsewhere. We don't have the infrastructure to produce internally, and if our credit score degrades enough, we won't be able to build it, either.

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  • [–] 0 points 8 months ago (4 children)

    Yeah, you don’t understand money.

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  • [–] 1 point 8 months ago (3 children)
  • [–] 1 point 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (2 children)

    You’re the one who said “if we can’t pay our debts we can’t trade.” That’s nonsense on its face. You need to explain that to me.

    Meanwhile, I’ll waste cycles attempting to explain modern monetary theory on a phone keyboard.

    Fiat currency is just numbers. Ones and zeros. The Fed(eral Reserve) can simply type these numbers into existence. That’s where the currency comes from. China can buy treasuries, but in a fiat system it’s unnecessary. Money comes from The Fed. The government could close the bond window tomorrow and it would just mean China would put its money in a bank account. Or, you know, spend it on things sold in dollars. Which is what currency issuance for.

    Treasuries are a relic of the gold standard when currency was federally required to be tied to some quantity of shiny rocks. It was discarded because it artificially constrained monetary policy. E.g. during wars, the government couldn’t legally print currency, which is why there were all those silly war bonds.

    Now the only constraint on issuing currency (really) is inflation. As we are about to find out, inflation is more than just currency issuance. Oil shocks, pandemic-induced supply chain crunches, and avian influenza outbreaks can raise inflation without any change in currency supply.

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