The debt clock [0] shows each citizen is owed $100,000 (each tax payer $260,000), so a few years of work owed. The treasury [1] confirms this and is not where we want to be.
Still, the economy is not dead and an average US citizen works 42 years, so a few years of wages lost is not the end of the world. Also, most of the debt is held within the US borders, so foreign debt is big but only 30% [2]
> The debt clock [0] shows each citizen is owed $100,000
Nitpick: “owes” (not owed)
> so a few years of wages lost is not the end of the world.
How would anyone pay off a few years wages, while using their wages to live, and paying interest on the balance until it is zero?
Essentially, every tax payer has a small mortgage on the past to pay off.
And the debt is growing!
Sooner or later, the debt will have to be paid down with printed money. Which both reduces the balance, and devalues the balance (due to the increased money supply).
The ability to do that at any time is the primary reason a government can run otherwise unsustainable debt without going bankrupt.
Nitpick: “owes” (not owed)
> so a few years of wages lost is not the end of the world.
How would anyone pay off a few years wages, while using their wages to live, and paying interest on the balance until it is zero?
Essentially, every tax payer has a small mortgage on the past to pay off.
And the debt is growing!
Sooner or later, the debt will have to be paid down with printed money. Which both reduces the balance, and devalues the balance (due to the increased money supply).
The ability to do that at any time is the primary reason a government can run otherwise unsustainable debt without going bankrupt.