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US.national debt

  • 14-01-2019 10:44pm
    #1
    duffysfarm
    Registered Users Posts: 845 ✭✭✭


    With the US economy performing well it puzzles me that the US national debt is still increasing. I know that it doubled in the relative short time that Barack Obama was in power but in general should it not be reduced instead of increasing when the economy is improving? If you can't pay down your debt when things are good then what chance have you when and if things go bad? Also I would imagine that rates are relatively low at the moment so it's not as if all the money is been taken by interest on existing loans.


Comments

  • #2
    prawnsambo
    Registered Users Posts: 12,981 ✭✭✭✭prawnsambo


    duffysfarm wrote: »
    With the US economy performing well it puzzles me that the US national debt is still increasing. I know that it doubled in the relative short time that Barack Obama was in power but in general should it not be reduced instead of increasing when the economy is improving? If you can't pay down your debt when things are good then what chance have you when and if things go bad? Also I would imagine that rates are relatively low at the moment so it's not as if all the money is been taken by interest on existing loans.
    The business tax cuts have decimated tax revenue. And spending is increasing. Hence increased budget deficit and government debt.


  • #3
    Peregrinus
    Registered Users Posts: 26,017 ✭✭✭✭Peregrinus


    There's a Republican president in office. Since the Republicans went all populist, under Reagan, public debt has always skyrocketed during Republican presidencies. Debt tends to be reduced under Democratic presidencies, although Obama was unable to acheive that because (a) he was dealing with the fallout of the 2008 crash, and (b) he had to work with a Republican-dominated congress, which had a policy of being massively obstructionist.


  • #4
    FreudianSlippers
    Registered Users Posts: 20,397 ✭✭✭✭FreudianSlippers


    duffysfarm wrote: »
    With the US economy performing well it puzzles me that the US national debt is still increasing.
    It's not performing that well: https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/8/24/17759940/donald-trump-economy-jobs-growth-obama

    https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/09/upshot/how-good-is-the-trump-economy-really.html
    I know that it doubled in the relative short time that Barack Obama was in power but in general should it not be reduced instead of increasing when the economy is improving?
    https://www.forbes.com/sites/chuckjones/2018/01/15/obamas-federal-debt-grew-at-a-slower-rate-than-reagan-h-w-bush-or-w-bush/#4f76045f1917


  • #5
    Geuze
    Registered Users Posts: 13,036 ✭✭✭✭Geuze


    duffysfarm wrote: »
    With the US economy performing well it puzzles me that the US national debt is still increasing. I know that it doubled in the relative short time that Barack Obama was in power but in general should it not be reduced instead of increasing when the economy is improving? If you can't pay down your debt when things are good then what chance have you when and if things go bad? Also I would imagine that rates are relatively low at the moment so it's not as if all the money is been taken by interest on existing loans.

    Large cuts in federal CT and IT by Trump haven't helped.

    He is responsible for the current fiscal expansion, even though the economy doesn't need any stimulus.


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