The Scary Math Behind the World’s Safest Assets
wsj.com
wsj.com
>>The Congressional Budget Office regularly updates its long-term budget forecasts and says that U.S. debt held by the public will surpass gross domestic product this fiscal year and that interest on that debt will equal about three-quarters of discretionary, nondefense spending.
Insanity.
> They're comparing GDP which is $/year, with debt, which is $. You can't compare different units like that.
Hopefully it's obvious to everyone else here that they're comparing the debt with the GDP of a year.
"The Congressional Budget Office regularly updates its long-term budget forecasts and says that U.S. debt held by the public will surpass gross domestic product this fiscal year and that interest on that debt will equal about three-quarters of discretionary, nondefense spending. "
The way I would explain it to webdevs on this website is: the >= has been defined for these two types.
If instead they had written "debt interest will equal three-quarters of etc.." then you'd be 100% correct. As it is, the above poster is correct that a) debt and gdp have different units, b) the word surpass implies a comparison. All I'm adding is that there's an implied conversion: it's obvious that they mean the gdp of a year.
Similarly power-to-mass ratio is not dimensionless, but it is useful to know the possible acceleration.
Think of Debt-to-GDP > 1 year as "credit card debt exceeds annual salary".
Yes, credit card debt is $, and salary is $/year, and exceeding 1 is not a particular tipping point, but lower values are better than higher.
People back in the days had to be forced to buy govt bonds, nowadays they are the ones outbidding each other for the privilege.
Back in the days people would bet on themselves, we should go back to do that, even if it’s more volatile and more risky than govt bonds , it feels better and there is a reason for it, when you invest in US Govt bonds you are essentially admitting to yourself that you are a scared pussy
If nothing else, GDP grows every year, so debt can safely grow too.
If you disagree don't park your funds in T-Bonds.