US National Debt Tops $31T
I&#x27;d like to see some compelling evidence that supports the seemingly prevailing economic theory that the US can issue an unlimited amount of debt just because it&#x27;s denominated in USD and interest rates are historically low. From another NY Times opinion piece (in [1]).<p>&gt; And the new paradigm suggests both that public debt isn’t a major problem and that government borrowing for the right purposes is actually the responsible thing to do.<p>&gt; Here’s where it becomes crucial to realize that the world has changed: Interest rates are much lower than they were in the past, and all indications are that they’ll stay low for years to come.<p>The phrase &quot;for the right purposes&quot; sounds like a scape goat for government spending. What is a right purpose? Morally speaking - almost anything. Economically speaking, I imagine only things that are likely to increase net GDP over the long haul.<p>It seems clear to me that you can draw a pretty clear line between quantitate easing &amp; government bailouts of companies during COVID to a sizable quantity of current inflation. Asset prices rose in the market, which bubbled down to housing, rent, and consumer products. Supply shocks for oil and trade commodities were part of the equation but only a part. From everything I&#x27;ve read on federal bank history, the more money that&#x27;s in supply means the higher inflation - almost by definition. You can only issue so much debt out of nothing before dollars are fighting over the same core commodities.<p>[1] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.nytimes.com&#x2F;2020&#x2F;12&#x2F;03&#x2F;opinion&#x2F;biden-republicans-debt.html" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.nytimes.com&#x2F;2020&#x2F;12&#x2F;03&#x2F;opinion&#x2F;biden-republicans...</a>