Who's ignoring it? What you count depends on what question you are asking.
Trading in Federal securities can affect interest rates, investment, employment, and GDP. The accretion of publicly-held debt is uncertain and by long-run projections, unsustainable. Accumulation of non-tradable securities by the SS Trust Fund is foreseeable, sustainable, and already baked into the cake. So it can make sense to distinguish between the two. The SS draw on cash outside of annual 'tax income' (proceeds of payroll tax and income tax on SS benefits) is inside of 1.5% of GDP over the next 80 years and grows very slowly once the baby boom has retired. I am less than fully confident in 'modern monetary theory' though it is growing on me. Fr. Devine -- As far as drinking goes, I find it impairs my considerable sexual powers. On Fri, Apr 22, 2011 at 8:52 AM, Doug Henwood <[email protected]> wrote: > Max, you joyous Keynesians always focus on U.S. Treasury debt in the hands > of the public - I just heard it from Jamie Galbraith too. But what about > that giant wad in the hands of the Social Security system? That represents a > massive obligation that they're going to have to make good on, either by > taxing, borrowing, or cutting benefits. Why ignore that? > > Doug > _______________________________________________ > pen-l mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l >
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