Quote:
Originally Posted by AllinPoker
It's steady for now. Countries are very rich in wealth. So was Venezuela decades ago.
But look at all the debt levels of all the major governments. Record high numbers and we are not even in a world war period. The welfare programs keep growing in size. Government unfunded pension plan problems. The unfunded liabilities not shown in the numbers are massive and keep growing as well. I read something about the USA having $60-120 trillion in unfunded liabilities by 2050-2080.
The only way out is for governments is to inflate it's way out of it or having negative interest rates on future debt. Which only really could work if they could control the money supply and not have a parallel financial system out there that you can stash your money in.
Increasing debt levels and negative interest rates aren't the only option and aren't even the best options.
The US may be in the process of bending the curve on the growing gov't debt. Policies that grow the economy will help bend the curve as will reducing the size and scope of government.
It is extremely hard for a politician to stand up and say we need to reduce the pension promises we have made and stop making future promises (no more pensions for new employees) as is saying that we need to reduce welfare and "fix" social security again like we did 20ish years ago (pushing back the age for full SS & taxing more), but these are things that need to be done and they look more likely to be done now than they have at any point.