At interest rate of ~1.5%. Is that what a credit card interest rate looks like?
Interest on debt looks like ~450B / yr, like 2.1% of our GDP to maintain the debt. Would you say someone who spends 2% of their income to maintain debt as someone in danger of collapse?
I agree we have way too much debt and need to consolidate it and practice fiscal responsibility. But fortunately the debt is insanely far within manageable status. Were that money used wisely (it isn't) on investing in infrastructure and research, the yield would be much higher than the interest.
Then the interest payments are the same number as the over-bloated defense budget: 750 billion a year.
So, the old question: Guns? Or butter?
An aside:
In my lifetime, the highest interest rate was roughly 20%. That would cause monetary collapse in the US today with an interest load of 6 trillion bucks a year.
I'm with you that debt could become a liability and it would be wise to balance the budget. On the other hand, ye old money printer can always just buy it out :/
> I wouldn't call debts of 30 trillion 'economically strong'.
> Anybody can live well if they are happy using their credit card and never expecting to pay it back.
You realise that countries do not retire, yes? And they have a goal of ensuring that their inflation is set between specific, low-but-positive bounds? This is what countries do and have done for centuries - they pay off the interest until the principle is eaten away by inflation. When you are functionally immortal this is an effective strategy.
We live in a period of historically low bond yields and interest rates. If a country has to effectively pay near zero interest, it is in their interests to loan as much as possible. So long as the debt load year-on-year is insignificant compared to the GDP, it is money for jam. The bond terms do not change just because domestic interest rates increase.
This is why you rarely hear non-partisan economists complain about debt load in the US. It's not a huge problem, especially compared with the degradation of secular institutions.