I balance my checkbook every day. I manage my bank acount . Why does the goverment have so much problems with this? I get large payouts and such but it always seem they are in the neg??

Comments

• moobythegoldensock@infosec.pub ⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  80% of government “debt” is actually in the form of bonds. People voluntarily give the government more money than they’re required in taxes because they believe the government will be strong enough to pay them back interest later. The government does not have to pay down all that debt because the bonds are being cashed out at a predictable rate and people are buying new bonds all the time.

  For example, someone in 1995 buys a series EE bond at $100. It’ll be worth roughly $200-215 now, which is 30 year maturation. But due to inflation, $100 in 1995 is worth $212 today. So even though the US government paid out over $100 in interest, due to inflation it was basically a wash, and they had 30 years to invest that money in infrastructure. So this “debt” was actually a good deal for the US government.

  The short version is the government is fine as long as it can pay the interest on its loans without needing to print so much money to do so that it causes hyperinflation. You don’t have the ability to do that with your personal debt.

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• AA5B@lemmy.world ⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  Part of the problem is some debt is necessary for large or expensive projects. Think of it as similar to your home mortgage: most of us could not buy a home without it. Similarly governments have large or multi year projects that can be difficult to pay as you go and make sense to take out debt.

  But everyone likes being Santa Clause , everyone likes bringing home the pork, and it’s a simple matter of writing a little more debt. No big deal.

  A traditional Republican position is that thinking is insane, it’s not fiscally responsible. We can’t afford that. It makes a lot of sense until you see what republicans actually tend to do. In today’s world I imagine some republicans still have some twisted concept of fiscal responsibility for kicking millions off healthcare, but it boggles the mind to use that plus take on additional debt to give tax cuts to the wealthy. That is very much NOT fiscally responsible. If there is anyone out there who still believes in traditional Republican positions, they should be ashamed of what it’s become

  A traditional Democrat position is we have human services and infrastructure that are important enough to write more debt. That sounds expensive, but again, think of it like that home mortgage: some things are important enough.

  Realistically, the cost of debt rises and falls with a country’s economy, so you can have unexpected results where additional debt causes business to increase, making debt cheaper

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• pinball_wizard@lemmy.zip ⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  I’ve noticed that a number of politicians show signs of sociopathy.

  I think that’s a key difference.

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• Battle_Masker@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  the government is made up of some of the greediest fucks alive who’re upset when that money is in the hands of someone that isn’t them

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• axx@slrpnk.net ⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  Personal, business and government spending are all entirely different things.

  Using one to think about the other makes very little sense.

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• zxqwas@lemmy.world ⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  Their spending is someone else’s income that is then taxed that is then spent that is then taxed.

  Responsibly used some government debt is good. It helps growing the wealth of it’s people both now and in the future.

  Irresponsibly used it’s a headache for the next generation.

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• altphoto@lemmy.today ⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  You don’t pay someone else to calculate it all for you?

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  • Patnou@lemmy.world ⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    no because i can add and subtract…and sometimes if I am in the mood I will multiply…but feeling really slippery when wet I will divide

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• cecilkorik@lemmy.ca ⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  You’re trying to use logic to understand it but you also have to understand that the only actual logic about is the logic we’ve intentionally applied to it, by choice. Money only has the meaning we give it.

  It makes more sense when you realize it’s all fiction. It’s just a game we play our whole lives because so many of us are very competitive and the ones who aren’t still have to compete against the ones who are, and at the highest levels of national policy they’re not even playing the same game anyway. They’re using it to metagame against other countries.

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• resipsaloquitur@lemmy.world ⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  Government spending is private savings.

  Worrying that the government will run out of money is like worrying a basketball referee will run out of points to give for baskets.

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• leadore@lemmy.world ⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  This comes at it from a slightly different angle but explains the difference between us and the government in how money and debt have to be managed: youtu.be/sAKr55O7qaU

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• theneverfox@pawb.social ⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  Because the government doesn’t have a bank account, they have tens of thousands of them all with different rules, and they don’t spend the same money they taxed

  Money is just numbers at this point, and so Congress comes up with numbers to fund everything they want to do, they come up with formulas to tax various things, and the two sets of numbers have no real relationship to each other

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  • jacksilver@lemmy.world ⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    To add to this, some spending is done in chunks for the year or doled out every month.

    Some money may be given back to the government if it isn’t spent.

    Some money is purposefully cryptic in its spending for national security reasons.

    There are a lot of things that make it difficult to accurately track things against the entire government, which is why auditing individual departments/agencies is how it’s usually done. However, even then it should be better than it is.

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• Bronzebeard@lemmy.zip ⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  Because if you can make the currency you pay back the loan with worth less than what you borrowed, you gain. That’s why they want some inflation.

  Problems happen when you keep borrowing more and more each year, and also do stupid shit that shakes the faith of those lending you money in your ability to pay it back

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• Melvin_Ferd@lemmy.world ⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  Government debt and household debt are not the same thing. The politicians know better but they know people don’t. So they really lay it on thick to equate the two things.

  Your debt isn’t creating jobs or industries. Government debt does. You’re not able to sell your debt. Government can.

  I think technically, there isn’t a ceiling for how much debt a country can take on as long as it’s growing. It’s not great, but also I don’t think it’s as bad as people think

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  • AA5B@lemmy.world ⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    Technically there’s no ceiling and as the reserve currency the us used to have special place, but there are consequences, there is “too high”, there can be a spectacular crash when other countries and currency traders get worried about whether you can pay it back. It’s just not clear where that will be.

    US debt is now at proportions that has caused economic crashes in other countries. More importantly, payments toward that debt are now one of the biggest parts of the annual budget, making it tougher to afford other things

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• Steve@communick.news ⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  You have a checkbook‽

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• Corporal_Punishment@feddit.uk ⁨5⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  Because if you run out of money, there’s a consequence…

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