No one just chooses to borrow money. What an obnoxious conceit, one that imagines lenders are blithe about those loaned to. More realistically, those with title to money decide who can and cannot borrow. And they’re very strict. Individuals with credit cards know this well. We don’t choose how much debt to run up, […]
Gavin Newsom Would Be “Cheap” If Governor of Mississippi Read More »
Bloomberg recently reported that Amazon is set to raise $15 billion in an upcoming bond sale. The funds will be used to continue Amazon’s AI buildout. Better yet for the purposes of this piece, the sizable bond issuance signals impressive market confidence about Amazon’s future. Entities that are doing well, and expected to do better,
If You’re Desperate, You Likely Don’t Have Much Debt Read More »
Money buys nothing, while products always and everywhere buy products. Which means governments that produce nothing can only spend insofar as they have taxable access to private sector production, not an active printing press. Without the former, they have no spending power. None. The obvious requires stating firstly because Modern Monetary Theory (MMT) is having
If the U.S. Treasury Employed Fraudulent “MMT,” It Would Have No Debt Read More »
The federal debt will soar in the coming decades. The previous truth can be found in the monolithic nature of the proposed debt solutions. Harvard’s Greg Mankiw is hardly alone in saying posssible debt fixes include enormous amounts of economic growth, government default, so-called money creation, sizable reductions in government spending, and substantial tax
Greg Mankiw’s Solutions Are the Path To Much More Federal Debt Read More »
Responding to me, Duke professor Michael Munger writes that, “If the real hawks like John Tamny get their way [full SALT deduction], with the cap going up to $100,000 or more, the loss in tax revenue could top a trillion in the next ten years.” To be clear, I don’t think Munger thinks we
Replying to Michael Munger Replying to John Tamny On SALT, Debt Read More »
Debt is an effect of wealth, not desperation. That’s true for individuals and corporations, but also governments. The power of compounding vivifies this truth, and explains why Apple has lots of debt but the corner store doesn’t, and the U.S. has tens of trillions of debt, but Haiti next to nothing. The Washington Post’s
There’s No Such Thing As ‘Exorbitant Privilege,’ There’s Just Production Read More »
Whatever worries you about what’s going on in the world, stop. The advice is wise not because your fears aren’t potentially valid, but precisely because they’re potentially valid. If they are, rest easy that what keeps you up at night has already been priced. Take the present budget debate between the left and right.
Alarmists On the Left and Right Can Relax, Debt and Default Are Priced Read More »
