> >Gautam Mukunda wrote:
> > And, it can be pointed out, we're paying off that debt with ease - the
> > US government now runs a yearly surplus larger than the total budgets
> > of most of the countries in the world.
>
>Erik Reuter replied:
>How are we paying off the debt with ease? Filtering the noise (+/- $100B
>or so) the US debt has not gone down in the past 14 years.
[table snipped]
I think that's a point of contention in political debate right now in the
U.S. The term "surplus" refers to the fact that the U.S. government's
*annual* income is larger than it's *annual* budget. We don't have a
deficit (budget bigger than income), but we still have a debt.
Some would say that the surplus is a myth, and that any supposed surplus
should be used to pay down the monstrous U.S. debt, and that we *could* pay
back the dept "with ease" if we used all of that "surplus" money.
Others argue that it's a *good thing* for the U.S. to have a big debt load,
as long as a significant portion of the debt is in the form of U.S. bonds
that provide a safe and relatively stable investment.
Anyone care to explain this better than I did? I'm certainly no
economist...
Reggie Bautista
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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