CBO expects federal debt to double over next 30 years

[David Horn]

(03-07-2021, 07:59 AM)pbrower2a Wrote:

(03-06-2021, 11:18 AM)David Horn Wrote:

(03-05-2021, 04:16 PM)pbrower2a Wrote: As a pattern, public debt tends to be paid off in a 1T. The government has wartime assets to sell, living standards improve enough so that people end up in higher tax brackets, and such new spending as there is tends to have revenue attached in the form of taxes.

Public debt is not increased in a 1T, but no debt actually gets paid.  Instead, growth and inflation reduce the impact of the existing debt.

After the Civil War, public debt really was paid down. Every budget surplus to some extent pays down debt.

The last real attempt to pay-off the debt was under Andrew Jackson, and it triggered the worst depression experienced at that time (and pretty bad even by modern standards).  Paying debt means removing capital from the economy and that typically triggers a collapse.