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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsSpeaker Pelosi: 'Debt ceiling increase is to pay off the $7 trillion in debt Trump ran up'
Sarah Reese Jones @PoliticusSarah 5mSpeaker Pelosi reminds Republicans that the next debt ceiling increase is to pay off the $7 trillion in debt that Trump ran up, " No, we're paying the credit card, the Trump credit card with what we would do to lift the debt ceiling."
Link to tweet
empedocles
(15,751 posts)Response to bigtree (Original post)
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ashredux
(2,593 posts)It would be financial suicide
Klaralven
(7,510 posts)TreasonousBastard
(43,049 posts)Klaralven
(7,510 posts)But as soon as the Fed decides to raise them to halt inflation, a huge slice of the budget will be preempted by interest on the debt.
TreasonousBastard
(43,049 posts)Klaralven
(7,510 posts)Almost all money is numbers written on spinning rust.
The MMT view that money is what it is because the government say so seems to be largely right - mainly because you can use it to pay taxes and the government can spend it to buy stuff and pay debts.
While I don't agree with much of what David Graeber says, my recollection is that in "Debt: The First 5000 Years" he attributes the rise of money to the need of rulers to be able to pay their armies and to buy supplies for the armies from the populace, rather than just commandeering and pillaging, which upsets them and causes resistance. So money is militarily useful - rulers can collect it from people throughout the kingdom, transport it conveniently to the location of the army, and then spend it there to support the army. Much more practical than attempting to collect produce like onions from all over the kingdom and transport them to the army.
forthemiddle
(1,373 posts)Especially when we are trying to convince a reluctant Senator that we want to spent 3.5 Trillion more.
bigtree
(85,919 posts)...that made up the bulk of that spending.
They finance the new spending through tax hikes targeting wealthy corporations, families and investors, rolling back tax cuts imposed under Trump.
berni_mccoy
(23,018 posts)And enacting a wealth tax.
forthemiddle
(1,373 posts)But will Manchin believe it?
I was just saying that he will use Pelosis words against her.
We will see.
spanone
(135,636 posts)MichMan
(11,790 posts)bigtree
(85,919 posts)...
When Trump took office in January 2017, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office was projecting that federal budget deficits would be 2% to 3% of our gross domestic product during Trumps term. Instead, the deficit reached nearly 4% of gross domestic product in 2018 and 4.6% in 2019.
Trumps tax cuts, especially the sharp reduction in the corporate tax rate to 21% from 35%, took a big bite out of federal revenue. The CBO estimated in 2018 that the tax cut would increase deficits by about $1.9 trillion over 11 years.
https://www.propublica.org/article/national-debt-trump
Dave says
(4,608 posts)MichMan
(11,790 posts)lame54
(35,141 posts)DanieRains
(4,619 posts)And balance the budget.
And pay down / off the national debt.
It's mostly stolen money anyway.