[jhp123]

if the debt ever causes actual problems, e.g. we can't sell our treasury bonds, then our politicians will suddenly remember how to tax rich people.

In the mean time the impossible, unsustainable, terrifying national debt will be used to justify benefit cuts (like the upcoming privatization/cut of social security when the trust fund runs out in 7 years)

[fzeroracer]

I think even in that situation, politicians will try and play ball with the rich since the majority of them are on that same side. But having to implement emergency austerity measures in this scenario would just outright blow up the US economy.

If the wealthy donors and corporate interests were smart they'd take a haircut on their wealth to try and stave off this issue but it seems we're mostly in a loot-and-raze craze. Realistically I would sooner expect an American-style French Revolution before we see the rich grow a sense of self-preservation.

[tmpz22]

The revolution wont be like the French revolution, itll be like the Handmaids Tale.

A massive return to conservatism that manages to create a capitalist first theocracy loosely following American Calvinist principles (you have money because you are gods chosen, you are poor because you deserve it, for the poor here is this underclass to blame your problems on so that you dont aim your murder at the rich).

[fzeroracer]

I don't think it'll work out like that, simply because my fellow Americans are still too used to being towards the top of the economic food chain. When the poor can no longer afford the bare minimum necessities and the middle class can no longer prop up their lifestyle I think people will get really, really mad. Like what happened with the healthcare CEO but on a much larger scale.

They've already been trying to sell some of the Calvanist dogma by trying to soften the blow of tariffs which by all indicators has been a massive failure of a messaging avenue, which is why they've moved towards trying to just ignore it instead.

[ImPostingOnHN]

> I think people will get really, really mad.

Many of them will get really mad at whoever the person to blame points the finger at, regardless how plausible. But what good does getting really, really mad do, against a government with a functioning panopticon and an effective monopoly on force?

Until now, there has never been a time in human history when an oppressive government had the technical means to effectively surveil and control the population en masse in an automated fashion. It doesn't help that they have a monopoly on advanced weapons, lethal drones, and armed goons. As George Orwell put it: "If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face — forever".

[dh2022]

Well, US has more guns than people… I don’t think US will succumb to “you are poor because you deserve it “ without some violent conflicts.

[everforward]

The possibility of taxing rich people would likely be factored in to the market for bonds. There's not really any alpha to "they could tax rich people".

If we genuinely can't sell treasury bonds, even at elevated payouts, we're probably at a point where we will either have to default in the near future. Or maybe intentionally inflating our currency until the debt is serviceable; no idea which is preferable, but would be curious to hear which and why.