“Now a promise made is a debt unpaid,
and the trail has its own stern code.” ―
The Cremation of Sam McGee
Cannot be repaid but never in default ... really?
The US national debt has reached another tragic milestone: $1T in 1981, $10T in 2008, $20T in 2017, $25T in 2020 and $30T in 2022. No sane person still believes this debt CAN ever be repaid. But our leaders continue to assure us it CAN never go into “default” because the Federal Reserve CAN always “monetize” [ie. print money to fund] it. Even otherwise sound thinkers claim this debt is not hurting us NOW but could hurt somebody [our children] in the FUTURE. But are these seemingly paradoxical assurances truthful or just carefully/carelessly worded deceptions/misconceptions?
Clear and present default
In her recent article titled “Does the National Debt Matter?”, Lyn Alden easily debunks the seeming paradox:
Major countries like the United States ... issue their own currency, and all or most of their sovereign debt is also issued in their own currency. This makes the possibility of actual default nearly impossible, because if push comes to shove, they can force the central bank to print new base money and "monetize" the government bond issuance. ... However, government debt still matters, but in a different way. ... [The] process [of central bank] “debt monetization” ... lead[s] to currency debasement ... [which means that] rather than default in nominal terms, [the] “default” [occurs in the forms of] inflation and financial repression: bondholders get paid back [with ZERO or NEGATIVE interest] in a weakened currency [that has lost] its purchasing power.
Clear and present side effects
It would be unjust if the government bondholders were the ONLY ones who suffered from this stealth default, but they are not its only victims. ANYONE [domestic or foreign] who earns income or saves in the debased common currency [eg. anyone with a checking or savings account] loses the same interest and suffers the same loss of purchasing power … which is nothing less than a present, regressive INCOME and WEALTH TAX that falls mainly on LABOR ... the largest, longest, non-legislated and most pernicious tax in the history of the planet ... and it is being collected worldwide right NOW in every household that directly or indirectly uses the US$ as its common currency.
Stop the BS and get real
Through debt monetization the government and banking elites plunder working families worldwide in the name of social welfare … when nothing could be further from promoting the welfare of the average working family. So next time somebody tells you the US national debt no longer matters, tell them
- they're full of "--it" ...
- that the national debt has ALWAYS mattered,
- that $30T of it is ALREADY in default with much more coming fast and
- that WORKING PEOPLE and FAMILIES worldwide are being forced to bear the brunt of the cost of over 50 years of government and banks conspiring to plunder the Republic, its citizens and even non-citizens by monetizing the US$ federal debt.
