Opinion piece full of pseudo-accounting whose proposed solution is far-right austerity:

First, Congress should pass the bipartisan H.R. 3289 — Fiscal Commission Act, sponsored by Rep. Bill Huizenga (R-MI), Rep. Scott Peters (D-CA), and 41 co-sponsors. Such a commission would force a public reckoning with the facts, the trade-offs, and the hard choices that restoring fiscal health requires.

Second, Congress should call an Article V Convention limited to proposing a fiscal responsibility amendment to the U.S. Constitution. H.Con.Res. 15, sponsored by Rep. Jodey Arrington (R-TX), would do exactly that.

This opinion is calling for writing a Texas Republican's definition of "fiscal responsibility" – a man who cited Thessalonians 3:10 for cutting SNAP benefits – into the US Constitution.

Fourteen years ago:
📺 Greenspan: "The United States can pay any debt it has because we can always print money to do that"

I wish I could read the full article. I’m super surprised that fortune put out that kind of statement?

Or is this market manipulation, of shots about to crash does everyone sell and then the richos buy everything at rock bottom? I thought fortune was all mmhmm capitalism money glory to the empire?

This is two conservative wonks pre-gaming an austerity push by proclaiming how bad things are before presenting their false dilemma. Ideally they want to take more benefits away and tax the non-rich even harder.

Conservative debtslop

Media willfully ignored it. Fify

Good for them, I guess. Petrodollar won’t last forever, and it shows.

I wonder how prices of international goods usually valued in USD would fare if USD could become much cheaper than EUR, etc.

Not saying that the US isn't in fiscal crisis, I'm not at all qualified to say either way, but: Comparing government balance sheets to household finances is a age-old conservative folly designed to encourage the working class to support smaller government in order to reduce taxes on the rich - in other words, encourage the turkeys to vote for Christmas (or in this case maybe Thanksgiving?).

The fact is that government finances and household finances are not at all the same thing, for many reasons I'm not qualified to explain, but a couple of obvious ones:

• Households can't choose to tax the rich to increase income.
• Households can't print money.
• Households can't secure low-interest loans that extend beyond their lifetimes (i.e. issue bonds).
• Households don't typically find spending increases income (i.e. Government workers pay taxes, infrastructure investment drives growth which increases tax revenue, etc etc).

The UK Conservatives used this line of reasoning around 2010 and it's led to 15 years of growth stagnation with no real improvement in the debt situation.

These yahoos are both from the Federal Fiscal Sustainability Foundation, which is a conservative Republican think tank with ties to ALEC. Nothing they say should be taken at face value. They only serve billionaire interests.

First, Congress should pass the bipartisan H.R. 3289 — Fiscal Commission Act, sponsored by Rep. Bill Huizenga (R-MI), Rep. Scott Peters (D-CA), and 41 co-sponsors. Such a commission would force a public reckoning with the facts, the trade-offs, and the hard choices that restoring fiscal health requires.

Second, Congress should call an Article V Convention limited to proposing a fiscal responsibility amendment to the U.S. Constitution. H.Con.Res. 15, sponsored by Rep. Jodey Arrington (R-TX), would do exactly that.

Ah, the classic conservative austerity play: set up a false dilemma where the only alternative to a fuddy collapse is punishing the non-rich until they die.

Conservative debtslop

Remember... He bankrupted a casino!!!!!

"a $438.8 billion increase in federal employee and veteran benefits payable (now $15.47 trillion)."

I thought DOGE was supposed to save the U.S. all that?

The Government Accountability office can't hold the government accountable

The jokes write themselves

I don’t quite agree that the goal should be no debt.

Just like getting a loan to buy a house today pays out better over time, or getting an education loan works out better for everyone later, a nation going into debt makes sense.

It pays out better in the long run. In fact debt is one of the best exports we have. We take other peoples money to build infrastructure that accelerates growth, they get decent interest payouts.

This article might have had a point if governments were financed at all like companies. But thank goodness they aren't.

Something needs to be done about the out-of-control spending in the US, but I certainly won't be trusting any Republican-led initiatives to have those answers.

This is some kind of weird propaganda. Too many words like "staggering", and the punchline is a few paragraphs down. He calls for an article V convention and a "fiscal responsibility" amendment. He says that there are relatively few assets on the govt balance sheet but doesn't explain how and whether future tax receipts are booked on it. I'm no accountant but booking prospective tax collection (not on income that has already been received, but on nebulous unrealized future earnings) as assets sounds pretty dubious. On the other hand, they say death and taxes are the only true certainties in existence. So it's not like the taxes won't happen. "Full faith and credit of the United States" basically promises that.

INSOLVENT? Have we tried REDUCING Taxes on the people who could LITERALLY PAY OFF ALL OUR DEBTS over the Course of a Decade?

What a crap headline. Of course neither the US government nor or the fed nor the treasury is insolvent. The national debt is a large number, has been for a long time, and can be an even bigger number forever. Has nothing to do with insolvency. The fed will always be able to conjure money out of thin air so there can’t even exist a situation in which the government is insolvent. Whether the world economy will forever cherish the dollars they print as a reserve currency is a different question (no it won’t ), and something that deserves scrutiny and public attention. But stupid fearmongering articles like this don’t add anything of value to that discussion.

Conservative debtslop

This is kind of stupid. We're solvent. There are bases all over the world. Lots of resources to rape. Basically, this only means that BRIC countries make their own currency, people stop buying worthless US shit bonds, and the world economy slowly suffers as the US sucks the life out of everything to give Israel money for the death cult.

Eventually, a new currency arises, the world moves on, and the US becomes a huge isolationist North Korea with the Handmaid's Tale going on.

"we should pass legislation to limit all new federal spending, unless offset we should have a balanced budget."

Cool on paper but it'll be, cut everything humans use and the entire budget will go to Lockheed and palantir. Everyone dies.

Not missed it. Not reported on because of fear of reprisals and majority of the media is right winged so it doesn't suit their narrative. The media in the US is completely controlled now. Freedom of the press is now a feverdream.

Insolvency can’t hurt me, I’m an MMTist.

https://finance.yahoo.com/economy/policy/articles/treasury-just-declared-u-insolvent-151425143.html (for those who want to read through paywall)

Current public debt is $31.27T. At 4% average interest that is $1.25T/year in interest. Recent 0.4% rise in interest rates is an extra $125B in interest. Over $6k/year in interest per American 18-64. Was a $2.5T increase in debt and obligations for FY25. Another huge number is $15T in future benefits for Federal workers. $75k/working age adult.

The '26 budget deficit will be much higher

And what a surprise; they’re talking about solving it by cutting the needs of the poor instead of the luxuries of the rich.

Addressing this crisis — and preventing recurrence — requires two specific legislative actions.

First, Congress should pass the bipartisan H.R. 3289 — Fiscal Commission Act, sponsored by Rep. Bill Huizenga (R-MI), Rep. Scott Peters (D-CA), and 41 co-sponsors. Such a commission would force a public reckoning with the facts, the trade-offs, and the hard choices that restoring fiscal health requires.

Second, Congress should call an Article V Convention limited to proposing a fiscal responsibility amendment to the U.S. Constitution. H.Con.Res. 15, sponsored by Rep. Jodey Arrington (R-TX), would do exactly that.

This is a scare piece that tries to equate a national budget with home savings math and then says the only way to fix it is to use Republican austerity measures. Fuck them.

Only took them six paragraphs to pivot to the good ol “imagine the US is like your household…” fallacy.

He bankrupted a casino! Let us repeat that again... He bankrupted a casino!

Yes, he can bankrupt our country. Yes he did.

And again, the simpsons was right S15E3

Interesting read but title is extreme hyperbole.

Not missed it. Not reported on because of fear of reprisals and majority of the media is right winged so it doesn't suit their narrative. The media in the US is completely controlled now. Freedom of the press is now a feverdream.

Finding the Money. Worth a watch: https://findingmoneyfilm.com/

I can't wait until that fat piece of shit's picture is next to an obituary. And I can only hope it's after a painful death. The suffering created by that mass of evil is incalculable. I don't think it's possible to hate anyone more than I hate him. I wish that fucking bullet didn't miss.

This is a 5% increase on normal balance budget items and as 15% increase on social off book stuff. Then includ me inflation. That a lot of fithly rich fucks skimming an unsustainable amount off future resources.

There is absolutely no excuse for a country as wealthy as America with its global reach to not to be adequately funded.

The cutting never nuders. Sporting our long sleeves. Pressing the blade ever deeper

We are nation of self harm, sliding ever deeper, a chronic crisis we refuse to address with the seriousness it requires.