[nabla9]

Only $29T is actual meaningful debt. $7.4T is intergovernmental holdings. It's just accounting where one part of the government owes to another.

Best way to reduce debt/GDP ratio is just support politics and policies where debt grows slower than economy grows.

[pirate787]

The intergovernmental holdings are accounting placeholders representing the Congressional raid on past Social Security surpluses. It's absolutely meaningful because those obligations are coming due as the program runs increasingly in the red. As legal obligations, they aren't binding the way public debt is, but current Social Security retirees have been promised these funds, and the government is already borrowing more from capital markets to meet these obligations. The current pace is $4.1 trillion in new borrowing by 2033 according to the Congressional Budget Office.

Basically the intergovernmental holdings are getting converted to more public debt.

https://www.ssa.gov/oact/trsum/

https://www.cato.org/policy-analysis/social-security-trust-f...

[CPLX]

I’m old. They’ve been saying this for 30-40 years. It’s bullshit. We finance social security out of current revenue and always have. If the economy shrinks that creates problems if it grows that does not.

[AbstractH24]

Phew, and I thought we were in trouble. Glad it's only $29T

[CoastalCoder]

Or about 7x Nvidia's market cap.

[AbstractH24]

So the solution to all of America's problems is to nationalize Nvidia?

[CoastalCoder]

Yeah, just 7 times in rapid succession.

[bravesoul2]

You'd need to privatise an already national set of 7 Nvidii.

[jll29]

"Nvidiae", actually - "jealous feelings" if translated from Latin.

[AbstractH24]

The humor on HN on a Sat morning in the summer is fun.

Now off to life in the real world.

[CoastalCoder]

There are narrow windows of time where the anti-humour down voters are distracted.

It's all about timing.

[CoastalCoder]

"Invidia" is 1st declension (feminine), so I'd go with Nvidiae.

But if we're going to make it masculine company name, then hell yeah I'm using Nvidii!