Debt Ceiling 2023
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wrote on 19 Jan 2023, 03:15 last edited by jon-nyc
Quote from earlier this week:
Former Trump OMB Director, Mick Mulvaney, to @thedispatch: "The truth of the matter is that the first two years of the Trump administration, when the Republicans had the House and the Senate, we raised spending faster than the last couple of years of the Obama administration."
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wrote on 19 Jan 2023, 16:44 last edited by
https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/19/politics/debt-ceiling-deadline-treasury/index.html
The U.S. has hit the debt ceiling. Treasury starting to take "extraordinary measures."
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wrote on 24 Jan 2023, 14:48 last edited by
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wrote on 24 Jan 2023, 16:11 last edited by
I think premium bonds are more likely.
But hopefully the threat of them will make the GOP realize their hand is only so strong, and the ugliness of them will make the Dems realize their hand is only so strong, which will lead to some reasonable compromise.
But I’m not sure I’d bet on it.
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I think premium bonds are more likely.
But hopefully the threat of them will make the GOP realize their hand is only so strong, and the ugliness of them will make the Dems realize their hand is only so strong, which will lead to some reasonable compromise.
But I’m not sure I’d bet on it.
wrote on 24 Jan 2023, 18:29 last edited by@jon-nyc said in Debt Ceiling 2023:
... which will lead to some reasonable compromise.
But what is a reasonable compromise for the "debt ceiling" issue?
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@jon-nyc said in Debt Ceiling 2023:
... which will lead to some reasonable compromise.
But what is a reasonable compromise for the "debt ceiling" issue?
wrote on 24 Jan 2023, 18:45 last edited byEveryone would have their own definition.
My own definition would be a combination of tax increases and benefit cuts that put us on a 10 year path to keep debt sustainably at 95% of GDP or less. It would have to be a bipartisan deal, since anything else would get undone a few years later.
As I said before, I’m not holding my breath.
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@jon-nyc said in Debt Ceiling 2023:
... which will lead to some reasonable compromise.
But what is a reasonable compromise for the "debt ceiling" issue?
wrote on 24 Jan 2023, 20:28 last edited by@Axtremus said in Debt Ceiling 2023:
@jon-nyc said in Debt Ceiling 2023:
... which will lead to some reasonable compromise.
But what is a reasonable compromise for the "debt ceiling" issue?
Penny Plan.
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wrote on 30 Jan 2023, 00:51 last edited by
McCarthy says cuts to Social Security and Medicare are off the table.
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wrote on 6 Feb 2023, 12:32 last edited by
Public sentiment:
... Just 26% of Americans adopt McCarthy's position that Congress should allow the government to pay its debts only if the administration agrees to cut federal spending. A broad 65% instead align with Biden's view that the issues of debt payment and federal spending should be handled separately.
Even among Republicans, fewer than half – 48% – support coupling debt payment with cuts in federal spending. ...
... about eight in 10 adults across the political spectrum are concerned about the economic impacts of a default, and being very concerned peaks among Republicans, at 59%.
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wrote on 6 Feb 2023, 13:28 last edited by
Once the people learn how to vote themselves money...
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wrote on 6 Feb 2023, 13:47 last edited by
I detect a little bias in the phrasing of the question… I wonder how the answers would have looked if you asked “Should the US borrow more money to pay for the debt it has already accrued and can’t pay without making spending cuts?”
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I detect a little bias in the phrasing of the question… I wonder how the answers would have looked if you asked “Should the US borrow more money to pay for the debt it has already accrued and can’t pay without making spending cuts?”
wrote on 6 Feb 2023, 14:00 last edited by@LuFins-Dad said in Debt Ceiling 2023:
I detect a little bias in the phrasing of the question… I wonder how the answers would have looked if you asked “Should the US borrow more money to pay for the debt it has already accrued and can’t pay without making spending cuts?”
There is also bias in your phrasing, for example, you could have cited "raising taxes" in place of "making spending cuts." It's actually quite lopsided when self-identified conservatives talk only about "spending cuts" as the only alternative to borrowing to deal with the national debt -- they completely overlook the revenue side of the equation, i.e., to raise taxes.
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wrote on 6 Feb 2023, 14:48 last edited by
The average American pays just short of 30% of his income in taxes. That does not include state taxes, property taxes, fuel taxes, etc.
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wrote on 6 Feb 2023, 15:44 last edited by jon-nyc 2 Jun 2023, 15:45
Of course “cutting spending” in the abstract is quite popular. It sounds like someone else’s sacrifice.
Once you’re specific you find that cuts are generally either unpopular (cut SSA or Medicare) or budgetarily immaterial (zero out “foreign aid”).
"You never know what worse luck your bad luck has saved you from."
-Cormac McCarthy -
Of course “cutting spending” in the abstract is quite popular. It sounds like someone else’s sacrifice.
Once you’re specific you find that cuts are generally either unpopular (cut SSA or Medicare) or budgetarily immaterial (zero out “foreign aid”).
wrote on 6 Feb 2023, 16:45 last edited by@jon-nyc said in Debt Ceiling 2023:
Of course “cutting spending” in the abstract is quite popular. It sounds like someone else’s sacrifice.
Once you’re specific you find that cuts are generally either unpopular (cut SSA or Medicare) or budgetarily immaterial (zero out “foreign aid”).
Again, a variation of the Penny Plan. Let everybody share in the pain equally. Let Congress then make some hard choices on the allocation of funds.
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wrote on 6 Feb 2023, 16:45 last edited by
Shucks, wonder if it would help to take all the unspent COVID money and pay debt with it?
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@jon-nyc said in Debt Ceiling 2023:
Of course “cutting spending” in the abstract is quite popular. It sounds like someone else’s sacrifice.
Once you’re specific you find that cuts are generally either unpopular (cut SSA or Medicare) or budgetarily immaterial (zero out “foreign aid”).
Again, a variation of the Penny Plan. Let everybody share in the pain equally. Let Congress then make some hard choices on the allocation of funds.
wrote on 6 Feb 2023, 21:54 last edited by@Jolly said in Debt Ceiling 2023:
@jon-nyc said in Debt Ceiling 2023:
Of course “cutting spending” in the abstract is quite popular. It sounds like someone else’s sacrifice.
Once you’re specific you find that cuts are generally either unpopular (cut SSA or Medicare) or budgetarily immaterial (zero out “foreign aid”).
Again, a variation of the Penny Plan. Let everybody share in the pain equally. Let Congress then make some hard choices on the allocation of funds.
The penny has exactly the problem i described. No specifics just a top line number.
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Of course “cutting spending” in the abstract is quite popular. It sounds like someone else’s sacrifice.
Once you’re specific you find that cuts are generally either unpopular (cut SSA or Medicare) or budgetarily immaterial (zero out “foreign aid”).
wrote on 6 Feb 2023, 22:28 last edited by@jon-nyc said in Debt Ceiling 2023:
Of course “cutting spending” in the abstract is quite popular. It sounds like someone else’s sacrifice.
Once you’re specific you find that cuts are generally either unpopular (cut SSA or Medicare) or budgetarily immaterial (zero out “foreign aid”).
Do you consider moving the retirement age up by 1 year effective 2043 to be a “cut”?
SSA Administrative costs are $6.5 Billion per year. To you doubt that they could cut administrative expenses by $500 Million with no drop in performance and services? I have no doubt they could. I also have no doubt that service would be affected. They are addicted to the public teat…
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wrote on 6 Feb 2023, 22:34 last edited by LuFins Dad 2 Jun 2023, 22:36
Most private retirement accounts have an administrative cost of .30%. SSA is at .60% and at a MUCH higher volume with a much easier mission (2.5% returns). And their administrative overhead outside of payroll is much lower than the private market. I highly doubt Merril Lynch is getting GSA pricing for office furniture, computers, and such…
There was some talk a few decades ago about privatization of SSA, but it was shot down. Fine. Just privatize the administration of the program…
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Most private retirement accounts have an administrative cost of .30%. SSA is at .60% and at a MUCH higher volume with a much easier mission (2.5% returns). And their administrative overhead outside of payroll is much lower than the private market. I highly doubt Merril Lynch is getting GSA pricing for office furniture, computers, and such…
There was some talk a few decades ago about privatization of SSA, but it was shot down. Fine. Just privatize the administration of the program…
wrote on 7 Feb 2023, 00:50 last edited by@LuFins-Dad said in Debt Ceiling 2023:
Most private retirement accounts have an administrative cost of .30%. SSA is at .60% and at a MUCH higher volume with a much easier mission (2.5% returns).
This CNBC article says .45% "all-in" expense for private 401(k) accounts on average.
As for the SSA, the .60% is the total including the administration of the disability insurance program. Excluding the disability insurance program, the "old age and survivorship insurance" program's administrative cost is only .40%.
