US Debt Vs. National Income

Agree that debt levels are truly amazing at the moment.

Debt cycles turn notoriously sharply as assets depreciate below the value of the loan casuing a credit crunch and further price falls. When debt does correct back towards some sort of mean it should do so quite spectacularly.

There is a lot of talk about rising interest rates and inflation but given the current conditions of a depreciating dollar and historically low interest rates I am amazed at how little inflation there is.
 
Yes well the state is not a business. It has no owners who have a long time horizon preference like a business, instead it is a malicious machine that is run by caretakers and has the luxury of paying its debts in a medium of exchange it creates at the expense of idiots who hold it purely through coercion! (legal tender laws, the fact that taxes must be paid in their choice of currency)

Which is why (most) governments will always be loaded with debt and shy away from running balanced budgets. Ability to inflate (thereby tax) and pass the buck.

jmreeve,

inflation is only low as calculated by cpi - consumer prices. It doesnt take into account the major asset classes that should have far more weighting in real inflation figures like the stock market and real estate. They *are* prices after all..

Any old dictionary defines inflation as an increase in the money supply, today it's 'a general rise in prices'.

I'm betting on inflation. I cant see the fed and government standing by and watching everything collapse. They will simply monetize the debt (?) - opinions?
 
ford-

If there is a global defaltionary mega trend in place then this will prevent inflation from taking off and interest rates rising very far. The lack of inflation (excluding real estate) so far makes me think this is at least a possibility.

How do you think they would go about monetising the debt?
 
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