We owe you an explanation of the national debt that will hold your interest. Get it? Interest? Anyway, here’s the video. (LD will be posted early next week.)
TIME STAMPS:
Basic Concepts 6:35
Framework and Definitions 28:07
Pro Arguments 44:55
Con Arguments 1:02:14
Final Thoughts 1:18:59
SOURCES:
New York Times 2018 (Great overview of debt in current policy context): https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/09/upshot/the-era-of-fiscal-austerity-is-over-heres-what-big-deficits-mean-for-the-economy.html
United States Debt Clock: http://www.usdebtclock.org/
Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, Actual 2018 Deficit Numbers (Oct. 2018): http://www.crfb.org/blogs/treasury-2018-deficit-was-779-billion
The Hill, 2019 Deficit Projection: https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/397445-white-house-budget-projects-1-trillion-deficit-in-2019
The Balance, Who Owns the U.S. National Debt? (December 2018): https://www.thebalance.com/who-owns-the-u-s-national-debt-3306124
A Solid, Brief Summary of Keynesian Theory from IMF: https://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/fandd/2014/09/basics.htm
Keynes vs. Hayek “Fight of the Century” Rap Battle: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GTQnarzmTOc
Heritage Foundation, How the Debt Will Weaken the Economy (2013): https://www.heritage.org/budget-and-spending/report/how-the-united-states-high-debt-will-weaken-the-economy-and-hurt
Caner, Grennes, Kohler-Geib, Finding the Tipping Point: When Sovereign Debt Turns Bad (2010): http://siteresources.worldbank.org/INTDEBTDEPT/Resources/468980-1238442914363/5969985-1295539401520/9780821384831_ch03.pdf
CRFB, Can the Budget Be Balanced Without Cutting Social Spending? (2015): http://www.crfb.org/blogs/budget-can-realistically-be-balanced-without-touching-social-security-or-medicare
NYT, What Could Raising Taxes on the 1% Do? (2015): https://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/17/business/putting-numbers-to-a-tax-increase-for-the-rich.html
Peter G. Peterson Foundation, Summary of Actual Plans to Reduce the Debt: https://www.pgpf.org/finding-solutions/comprehensive-plans
CBO Debt and Deficit Projections Through 2048 (Full Analysis): https://www.cbo.gov/system/files?file=2018-06/53919-2018ltbo.pdf
CBO Projections at a Glance (with money quotes on future harms): https://www.cbo.gov/publication/54477
CBO Budget Projection Slides (contains specific interest rate projections at slide 9) (Also, slide 22 has a nice “solution” scenario for reducing debt to GDP growth): https://www.cbo.gov/publication/54472
The Balance, Explaining How U.S. Treasury interest rates affect private interest rates: https://www.thebalance.com/how-are-interest-rates-determined-3306110
The Balance, On Greek Austerity Measures: https://www.thebalance.com/austerity-measures-definition-examples-do-they-work-3306285
2011 U.S. Army War College Thesis on Debt as National Security Threat: https://apps.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a564995.pdf
Brookings Institution 2012, The Real National Security Threat: America’s Debt: https://www.brookings.edu/opinions/the-real-national-security-threat-americas-debt/
James Buchanan, The Deficit and Our Obligation to Future Generations (1987): https://imprimis.hillsdale.edu/the-deficit-and-our-obligation-to-future-generations/
Mises Institute, Deficit Spending is a Moral Issue (2017): https://mises.org/power-market/deficit-spending-moral-issue
Rich Roberts, Medium, Do the Rich Capture All the Gains from Economic Growth? https://medium.com/@russroberts/do-the-rich-capture-all-the-gains-from-economic-growth-c96d93101f9c
Forbes, Federal Debt Is Reaching $20 Trillion & That’s Not A Bad Thing (2017): https://www.forbes.com/sites/michaelfoster/2017/11/08/federal-debt-is-reaching-20-trillion-and-i-dont-care/#b324f0f32ba4
Frances Coppola, Forbes, (Basically Summarizing Why Debt Isn’t A Problem) (2018): https://www.forbes.com/sites/francescoppola/2018/04/17/everything-youve-been-told-about-government-debt-is-wrong/#2d885306314f
Center for Budget and Policy Priorities on why balancing the budget would be disastrous (2018): https://www.cbpp.org/research/federal-budget/constitutional-balanced-budget-amendment-poses-serious-risks
Economic Policy Institute, A Balanced Budget Amendment Would Be Extraordinarily Dangerous for the Economy (2018): https://www.epi.org/blog/a-balanced-budget-amendment-would-be-extraordinarily-dangerous-for-the-economy/
Alice Rivlin, Congressional testimony on why growth and debt reduction must go hand in hand (2013):
https://www.brookings.edu/testimonies/growing-the-economy-and-stabilizing-the-debt/
New York Times, Storm Clouds on the Horizon for American Economy (November 2018): https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/28/us/politics/us-economy-health-recession.html
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