You and I disagree over this one in the extreme, Matthew, I know. I agreed with you for a long time. It had been drummed into me all my life to worry about excessive debt. I was worried about Trump, primarily because I knew he had driven businesses into bankruptcy several times.And then I examined the difference between people, businesses and countries.
There are two big differences.
!. Countries have more control over interest rates than people or companies.
2. There is a difference in bankruptcy, in that when a country declares bankruptcy, it does not have its property/land taken away.
Thus in the meantime I expected Trump to drive the carrying cost of debt down by lowering interest rates. (The potential danger here is currency devaluation, but other countries are behaving similarly, so no problem there…the dollar is relatively strong.
Then after reelection I expect Trump to spend a lot of money on re-building infrastructure. (Is that not making America Great Again ?)
Then, once all the infrastructure is renewed, I expect Trump to default on Debt…..Essentially declaring Bankruptcy. What can the rest of the world do ? Refuse to lend money ? It was going to do that sooner or later anyway.
With a built up defense force, with a removal of many Troops from overseas, with a renewed road,rail,bridge system, those costs are reduced and perhaps the US can start to live within its income. (There’s no interest on the National debt, that has been defaulted on.) Think about it.

“Then, once all the infrastructure is renewed, I expect Trump to default on Debt…..Essentially declaring Bankruptcy. What can the rest of the world do ? Refuse to lend money ? ”

So what happens to all the state and local goooberment pensions holding all those treasuries? There is no free lunch. Someone’s gotta take it in the shorts and it ain’t gonna be our rulers.

Of course, if the U.S. defaults on its debt, other countries will follow and there’s the debt Jubilee.

But consider the alternatives.

Do you really think it is possible for the U.S. to tighten is belt and live within its means, begin to save money and pay down the debt.
I don’t think that is possible. First it would take generations. Second it would be political suicide to the party that tried it. Americans have gotten used to too many giveaways.

The other alternative is simply to continue to spend and borrow until we are forced to default anyway, without having rebuilt the infrastructure.
I just think Trump’s character is to rebuild the U.S. to be the best in the world…..which is not what it is right now.

You’re as bad as Chartster, CFS. Debt is the theft of future prosperity and this debt-based monetary system is pure theft. Have you not noticed that the dollar has fallen 80% versus gold since 2001? Much of that decline in purchasing power is due to inflation via deficit spending and is nothing more than wealth redistribution or, as honest people say, theft. And speaking of theft, how do you think Trump will fund his infrastructure projects? Do you not understand that government’s have no money of their own? His FDR-style make-work is a much better idea than war, economically speaking, but it still delivers very questionable real value relative to the stolen money that will be spent on it. Government is never cheap or efficient in any of its undertakings, to put it mildly.

The bottom line is that debt makes all of society much worse off in the long run and much more dependent on the government (which grows massively due to debt.)

The fact that you don’t mind a central bank holding interest rates down artificially shows that you are quite the leftist that you claim to hate (that goes for all neocons). It will take MASSIVE “printing” (theft) to keep rates down. I’m talking principle here. Leftists are collectivists (as opposed to individualists) and at the heart of collectivism’s destructiveness is wealth redistribution. It doesn’t matter if the looting is for welfare or warfare, the individual is screwed.

Re: “The potential danger here is currency devaluation, but other countries are behaving similarly, so no problem there…the dollar is relatively strong.” — That statement goes from absurd (“potential danger”) to idiotic (“but other countries are behaving similarly, so no problem there”).
Currency devaluation is a certainty if rates are held down and purchasing power will be lost regardless of the state of other currencies. Those who can least afford to have their savings wiped out are the ones that will fare the worst but even people in the upper middle class will take a huge beating causing many to lose their retirement dreams altogether.

One of the few things Keynes got very right:
“There is no subtler, no surer means of overturning the existing basis of society than to debauch the currency. The process engages all the hidden forces of economic law on the side of destruction, and does it in a manner which not one man in a million can diagnose.”

You and Chartster represent the tip of the sheeple iceberg so that quote can’t be reiterated often enough.

UNBELIEVABLE………..Professor………you have learned NOTHING>>>>>.in 10 yrs.
Concerning debt…………you should run for office……lol

Of course, if the U.S. defaults on its debt, other countries will follow and there’s the debt Jubilee. YOU SAY….
Of course Professor………..I will give you extra credit……because you are now thinking or saying….there might be a DEBT JUBILEE……..and before, you said it was impossible….LOL

What’s the alternative ? Continue as we are and go bankrupt anyway, without having rebuilt infrastructure.
Many STates and Cities are close to bankruptcy right now, did you think the Federal government was going to bail them out ?
With what ? More debt that drives the central government into default anyway ? It may do that, I don’t know, but Puerto Rico started me thinking. A complete bail out there would not have worked.

CFS:
Where you continually miss the mark is the effect that excessive debt has on the people and their psyche.
Of course this isn’t statistically measurable so I wouldn’t expect you to understand.

DIng dong……..the roads are suppose to be taken care of by the gasoline tax, and freight charges …….ask truckers what they pay….
Water utilities are paid by the water bill……
Sewer, electric the same.
WHAT infrastructure are you referring………

…Ding Dong……is not a character reference…, but, a wake up bell….

I am doing OK. I do not have the virus yet. /sarc

As far as that Secure Act, those quotes you gave made it sound as if they can confiscate my IRA like some kind of bail-in while I am still alive. Since I have no spouse or children, it is not a serious thing to me. With other people though it is.

J.M………thanks for the follow up……….
Glad to hear you are doing OK…….