In my opinion, the analogy being made between government and household debt obscures more than what it purports to describe. There is a reality to it, but that reality is valid only if the government chooses to limit its policies to those desired by the financial elite, i.e., to maintain Federal Reserve Notes as legal tender and indebt itself via the issuance of bonds in exchange for the Federal Reserve Notes. There is a policy option that is much more Progressive and beneficial to society and that is to nationalize the privately-owned Fed and have government issue the currency itself, thus avoiding the interest-bearing debt. For a concise explanation of how this would work see http://prosperityuk.com/2000/09/thomas-edison-on-government-created-debt-fre e-money/ . Dennis Kucinich has introduced a bill in the House that would accomplish this, HR 6550, http://kucinich.house.gov/UploadedFiles/NEED_ACT.pdf .
Peter Hollings -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Bill Lear Sent: Tuesday, August 09, 2011 9:55 AM To: Progressive Economics Subject: Re: [Pen-l] More on comparing U.S. debt position to household On Tuesday, August 9, 2011 at 06:39:31 (-0700) Jim Devine writes: >Bill Lear wrote: >> If the U.S. [government's] debt is 90% of GDP, is it valid then to say that is >> similar to a household that earns $100K per year having a $90K debt? >> I realize of course that households cannot tax and cannot print >> money... > >One difference is that the US government owes a lot of money to >itself, i.e., to its own agencies such as the Federal Reserve and the >Social Security system. Another it that the US government owes a lot >of the money that's left (roughly half) to the folks that officially >own it, i.e., the citizens of the US. Ok, but is the relationship that I mentioned above more or less correct? Example: If the US Government was [sic] a family, they would be making $58,000 a year, they spend $75,000 a year, and are $327,000 in credit card debt. --- Dave Ramsey, who advocates we handle money "God and grandma's way" What's wrong with the picture above? Bill _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l _______________________________________________ pen-l mailing list [email protected] https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l
