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Opinion: National-debt interest now costs more than Medicare or defense
https://www.marketwatch.com ^ | May 14, 2024 | By Brett ArendsFollow

Posted on 05/14/2024 7:22:10 AM PDT by RomanSoldier19

Last week we supposedly got “good news” on Social Security and Medicare, because the trust funds are in slightly better shape than a year ago.

But here’s the rest of the picture.

Interest payments on the ballooning national debt have now for the first time exceeded every other individual item in the budget except Social Security. Debt interest through the first seven months of this fiscal year has just topped $500 billion, reports the U.S. Treasury — about $4,000 for every household in the country.

Repeat: This is just the interest. Think of the national debt as an interest-only mortgage. Or, better still, as a negative amortization loan, where the bill just keeps getting bigger year after year.

That interest bill was bigger than the entire Medicare budget — a “mere” $465 billion — through the same seven months. It was even bigger than everything we spent on national defense.

(Excerpt) Read more at marketwatch.com ...


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: war
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1 posted on 05/14/2024 7:22:11 AM PDT by RomanSoldier19
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To: RomanSoldier19

Maybe Biden will forgive more debt. That should help.


2 posted on 05/14/2024 7:23:08 AM PDT by ActresponsiblyinVA
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To: RomanSoldier19

Kudos to left-wing MW for posting this. Of course, because it’s truth they have to call it “opinion”.


3 posted on 05/14/2024 7:24:17 AM PDT by Tell It Right (1st Thessalonians 5:21 -- Put everything to the test, hold fast to that which is true.)
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To: RomanSoldier19

This is the national death-cross. If we can’t pull out of this nose dive, we’ll be WORSE than the Weimar Republic or post-white Zimbabwe.


4 posted on 05/14/2024 7:29:11 AM PDT by DCBryan1 (Inter arma enim silent leges! - Cicero )
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To: RomanSoldier19

Ain’t life grand. The younger generations have to find ways
to survive. Us old grunts have about used up our time.


5 posted on 05/14/2024 7:30:19 AM PDT by deport
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To: RomanSoldier19

At some point the US government will restructure the debt, default on part of it, or simply print money to retire it.
None of the options are really meaningful since the federal government will still run massive deficits.


6 posted on 05/14/2024 7:33:08 AM PDT by Maine Mariner
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To: deport

7 posted on 05/14/2024 7:37:02 AM PDT by RomanSoldier19 (Res ad Triarios venit;“We are your ghosts, in this game played by monkeys, organized by lunatics” )
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To: RomanSoldier19

I’d be planning a massive sale, to American interets, of tons of “Federal” lands, with 100% of the proceeds NOT to be spent but to go directly to paying down some of the debt.


8 posted on 05/14/2024 7:39:15 AM PDT by Wuli
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To: RomanSoldier19

Take yer pick (more than one answer may be correct).

A. The United States will default on its debt.
B. Congress will raise taxes to pay the debt.
C. The Fed will hyperinflate its way out of the problem. Pay the debt with worthless paper.

Notice there is no “cut spending” option. Even Trump didn’t care about the deficit. So the wild spending will continue no matter who wins in November.

My fearless prediction: B, then C.


9 posted on 05/14/2024 7:41:02 AM PDT by Leaning Right (The steal is real.)
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To: Leaning Right

C is the usual government solution.


10 posted on 05/14/2024 7:44:39 AM PDT by Reily (!!)
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To: Leaning Right

c


11 posted on 05/14/2024 7:46:51 AM PDT by RomanSoldier19 (Res ad Triarios venit;“We are your ghosts, in this game played by monkeys, organized by lunatics” )
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To: RomanSoldier19

I’ll admit to not being an expert on the money supply, etc., but I actually thought the whole system would’ve collapsed by now.


12 posted on 05/14/2024 7:46:54 AM PDT by libertylover (Our biggest problem, by far, is that almost all of big media is AGENDA-DRIVEN, not-truth driven.)
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To: Reily

$30 trillion plus-right? There’s that much in our IRA/401k accounts. Problem solved.


13 posted on 05/14/2024 7:47:23 AM PDT by DIRTYSECRET
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To: Wuli

That’s a good idea. But we all know how it will turn out. The federal land will get sold, and the money will be set aside in a special account to pay down the debt.

But then the money will be “borrowed” for emergencies (and you can bet there’d be an emergency clause built into the law).

These emergencies will be things like bailing out failing Democrat cities, sending money overseas to support various dictators, etc.


14 posted on 05/14/2024 7:50:07 AM PDT by Leaning Right (The steal is real.)
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To: RomanSoldier19

Paying interest to the well connected friends of the administration for money that is given away or spent foolishly is just another way of stealing from taxpayers.

How much of the borrowed money and the interst paid manages to trickle back down to end up in the pockets and bank accounts of the crooked, irresponsible politicians
who toss millions and billions of taxpayer dollars around like confetti?


15 posted on 05/14/2024 8:00:55 AM PDT by Iron Munro ( Islamophobia - a word created by fascists, used by cowards, to manipulate morons)
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To: DIRTYSECRET

> $30 trillion plus-right? There’s that much in our IRA/401k accounts. Problem solved. <

Some Democrat congressman actually floated that idea a couple of years ago. Seize the assets in those accounts, and replace them with 30-year government bonds paying 2% per year.

And that wouldn’t be theft, see? Because you are getting those swell government bonds in return.


16 posted on 05/14/2024 8:03:40 AM PDT by Leaning Right (The steal is real.)
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To: RomanSoldier19; 4everontheRight; 4Liberty; 5thGenTexan; 45semi; 101stAirborneVet; 300winmag; ...
Prepper Ping - As a Nation , we are now a debtor nation and its only getting worse
We have to control the current administrations spending, or risk insolvency in the near future
We can't even keep up with the interest payments, alone, much less reducing the principle debt

(From the article):”Interest payments on the ballooning national debt have now for the first time exceeded every other individual item in the budget except Social Security.
Debt interest through the first seven months of this fiscal year has just topped $500 billion, reports the U.S. Treasury
— about $4,000 for every household in the country. “

Repeat: This is just the interest. (Emphasis mine)
Think of the national debt as an interest-only mortgage.
Or, better still, as a negative amortization loan, where the bill just keeps getting bigger year after year.”

”That interest bill was bigger than the entire Medicare budget
— a “mere” $465 billion
— through the same seven months.
It was even bigger than everything we spent on national defense.”

17 posted on 05/14/2024 8:09:16 AM PDT by Tilted Irish Kilt
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To: RomanSoldier19

Do not get me started on our Government’s mis management of this country. Most of them should be hanged.


18 posted on 05/14/2024 8:10:36 AM PDT by Chgogal (To paraphrase Biden: You vote Democrat? You ain't smart.)
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To: libertylover
... I actually thought the whole system would’ve collapsed by now.

Same here. But no one inside or outside the government has the stomach to deal with it. It simply can't end well, but how it will end remains a mystery, just like how we've chugged along so far.

19 posted on 05/14/2024 8:13:15 AM PDT by gloryblaze
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To: RomanSoldier19

yep.


20 posted on 05/14/2024 8:39:21 AM PDT by sauropod ("This is a time when people reveal themselves for who they are." James O'Keefe Ne supra crepidam)
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