"This pork-filled Bill is a disgusting abomination."
"Jamie Dimon warns ... the bloated US debt coupled with the irresponsible disability of [the US] congress to even face up to what a trillion dollars in interest each year means, assures the bond vigilantes will be busting up business-as-usual.
"Dimon opened his remarks talking about Reagan, who sounded the alarm about the national debt back in the early 1980s when America’s debt to GDP ratio was just 35%. Today it’s 122%. And with each passing year the number becomes even worse.
"Dimon warned the audience that 'tectonic plates are shifting,' referring to America’s status as the dominant superpower in the world—which is rapidly slipping.
"'The amount of mismanagement is extraordinary, he said. America has added $10 trillion to the national debt in just five years… and for what benefit? Is the country $10 trillion better off? Did any of that $10 trillion improve the lives of anyone who isn’t in Washington DC?'
"Just covering the interest payments on the national debt now costs taxpayers more than $1 trillion per year. And if the current trend on rates and deficit spending hold, it will reach $2 trillion per year by 2028.
"So, a level of debt that has already caused all major credit agencies to downgrade US credit is on a path to double its cost by the end of President Trump’s term, and yet congress is proposing a behemoth bill Elon Musk, again, described today as a 'disgusting abomination' that will explode federal budget deficits ...
"Musk had earlier said that [Trump's] Big Beauteous Bill undermines everything DOGE set out to accomplish. ...
"Does this porker look like a big winner, sprawling across the US bond universe with his puddling fat? I’ll side with Musk: this pork-filled Bill is a disgusting abomination."
1 comment:
It's astounding to me, who follows this crap, that when I first wrote on the subject at No Minister in February 2019 - This is not going to get better! - the debt was "only" $22 trillion.
As such, as I've continued to write about it I've concluded that it's not going to be changed, that the only way this ends is with a default (as incredible as it might seem for the USA) or the systems driving this, Social Security, Medicare/Medicaid, go bankrupt.
As an aside, my bet is $50 trillion debt by 2030, because there will be another recession/war/pandemic/.... something that will trigger the usual Keynesian bullshit, which will be fully supported by the GOP.
To that end, and given the political impossibilities of changing these systems, I can't help thinking that a political party would do the following:
- Focus on Gen-X, Millennials, Gen-Z and generations beyond, enlisting their support by pointing out what they already know and are discussing; that these systems will not be there for them when they retire. The Boomers will be pissed but be blatantly political and harness the hate that Gen-Z already feels for Boomers anyway.
- Use that support to boost the 401K world of privately controlled retirement funds and add to this similar structures for healthcare and education.
The overall message is "The systems are failing and will not be there for you when you need them - and you already know this. They can't be fixed because anybody that tries loses power. So we're offering you a chance to build alternative systems that YOU control. If we get enough support from you we may also be able to grandfather the existing systems and save you a few bucks that way as well - but that's not a given"
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