The Treasury just declared the U.S. insolvent
60 points by cols 16 hours ago | 33 comments
  • logicprog 16 hours ago |
  • cat-turner 16 hours ago |
    Don't worry guys, we'll still set aside money to fund wars in deserts far away.
    • johnea 15 hours ago |
      Exactly! and no small amount of money is being set aside either:

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_budget_of_the_United_...

      And as you would expect in a Fortune Mag article, the "solution" of this budget shortafall is to fuck the people more.

      Reigning in the totally out of control budget for incinerating people should have come long ago, but is unspeakable for major shareholders of the people incineration industry.

      Or using the thing that no right-wing talking head is ever going to acknowledge in resolving budget shortfalls, increasing income (i.e. taxes)

      This is especially true given the modern massive wealth gap, in which the highest earners pay a fraction of the percentage paid by working people.

  • SkyPuncher 15 hours ago |
    "....that could change everything"

    Is this an AI generated article? Sure reads like it.

  • andriy_koval 15 hours ago |
    there are many numbers in that article, but they didn't tell US became insolvent this year, or was insolvent last year too by their criteria. What about the last decade?
  • mothballed 15 hours ago |
    The US can't go insolvent. The fed can could buy the entire debt out tomorrow out of newly created money. Sovereign debt in a country with such central bank is little more than future tax or inflation, but solvency is guaranteed.
    • croes 15 hours ago |
      But bonds and the Dollar could become nearly worthless
      • gmuslera 15 hours ago |
        It didn’t, the last 2-3 times that trillions were printed to sort that moment emergency (thinking in 2008 and 2020, but could be more) and there wasn’t a sudden drop of value then.
        • andriy_koval 15 hours ago |
          stocks and real estate prices indicate that dollar lost lots of value during this period.
        • AnimalMuppet 15 hours ago |
          In 2008, $4 trillion was printed. But in the financial crisis, $4 trillion evaporated. The net result was zero inflation for the next 12 years.

          Then 2020 happened, and they printed too much, and we've had inflation since then.

        • croes 7 hours ago |
          2008 and 2020 were global and other countries did the same and it was seen as reasonable.

          Now with the current administration it would be different.

    • metalman 15 hours ago |
      All money is a human construct, exactly like the easter bunny, there is a whole set of arbitrary "rules" and conditions required to get chocolate, basicly everywhere, but in the one situation you have to be small and credulous, or put on agood act(usefull later in life) to get chocolate, and in the other the construct has become non optional and will be enforced on you as soon as you are no longer a credulous believer in the easter bunny, and this is what you are refering to, the non optional partisipation in an arbitrary human construct. The latest twist bieng the introduction of the idea that whoever has the most, very large complicated numbers, wins, also known as crypto.
      • twosdai 9 hours ago |
        Go and live in the woods. You dont need money. Die without a hospital its not required. You just want saftey.
  • huijzer 15 hours ago |
    Not a nice timing by the treasury to post this at the same time that many companies fire employees, war is going on, and fuel is running out. Everything is piling up it seems
    • peteforde 15 hours ago |
      The good news is that a currency issuer cannot become insolvent. This is literally just semantic libertarian scare propaganda. I strongly urge you to watch Stephanie Kelton's interview on The Daily Show a few years back to calm your mind a bit.

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1JpZZcD8C4M

      Meanwhile, let's step back a bit... if we pretend that the US is insolvent - a repo man is going to come take it away with a big truck - do you really think that the US treasury is structured in a way that allows them to hold back something that significant because the national mood is anxious and they don't want to make people feel extra sad on a Monday? Seriously: wth.

      • thrill 15 hours ago |
        When other countries historically went insolvent they too pretended it meant nothing.
        • peteforde 8 hours ago |
          I would be genuinely interested in discussing MMT with you in good faith.
  • mullingitover 15 hours ago |
    Here's your reminder that this is of course a bunch of alarmist nonsense, because as an issuer of currency the United States is incapable of becoming "insolvent."

    The authors are from an libertarian extremist think tank that pushes for a balanced budget amendment. If these people got their way, we would immediately solve the problem of people arguing about this on the internet since none of us would be able to afford to own a computer.

    • peteforde 15 hours ago |
      Moreover, the great con was to convince people that the US debt is a liability, as though there's someone who is going to come and repo man your country with a truck.

      At the macro level, debt is one of the most powerful tools that a government is entrusted to deploy. It's literally how you grow an economy.

    • scrubs 15 hours ago |
      Oh c'mon! We know that. Good Lord, if a country's debts were held elsewhere, it'd be the Trump administration trying to repo someone first for Nato money or other some fool reason.

      Meanwhile,there are in fact actual, bonafide, tangible problems to financial stupidity you're quip forgot to address.

  • CrzyLngPwd 15 hours ago |
    Trump isn't over yet; there is more to come...or go, depending on your perspective, I suppose.
  • mellosouls 15 hours ago |
    NB. This article could have been written under any recent administration (and no doubt was published in different forms).

    I don't mean it's politically motivated or that the current admin shouldn't be criticized; the authors have legitimate economic views and concerns that follow - but the title is clickbait and shouldn't be used to infer something new is happening.

    • cyberge99 15 hours ago |
      Exactly. It’s commentary, not even an article. The big number is GDP and the is and will continue to be the most significant by a large margin.
  • alecco 15 hours ago |
    > These two bills represent the most credible path forward — if Congress has the will to act.

    I’m not American, and yet I can tell this is extremely unlikely to happen. I’ve lost track of all the Cassandras raising the alarm who were shot down or even laughed at. But there is still a bit more road left for the can to be kicked one more time.

  • scotty79 15 hours ago |
    "There's infinite amount of money in the federal reserve."
  • jmclnx 15 hours ago |
    The bill that is missing, tax the very rich as the US did in 1960
  • neilcj 14 hours ago |
    Shocking display of economic illiteracy or warmed up Goldwater propaganda?
  • tim333 3 hours ago |
    >The U.S. government is insolvent. That’s not hyperbole...

    It's actually a lie and clickbait.