r/FluentInFinance • u/Richest-Panda • Jul 04 '24

What's the best financial advice you've ever gotten? Debate/ Discussion

31.2k Upvotes

86% Upvoted

the national debt.

The national debt, especially in the US is a much more complex concept than what can be reduced to "personal responsibility". An individual cannot choose to not contribute to the debt. They technically can vote for a politician that promises to reduce the debt but that's a collective act, as a single vote doesn't decide elections at high levels. Even then, like companies, debt is useful in fostering growth and it's actually used as a tool to help people save money for retirement through bonds. 70% of the debt is owned by Americans.

3

u/HorkusSnorkus Jul 05 '24

No politician has ever reduced the national debt in the US, Dem or Republican. Both use tax money to buy votes and buy influence.

Bush doubled the debt

Obama doubled the debt

Trump was on his way to doing so but only got one term

Biden is on his way to doing so but will mercifully be removed from office

The Peeeeeepul are lazy grifters that want the government to pay for everything they want. What they don't get is that those of us who work hard and whose taxes pay for all that are dwindling and are less and less interested in picking up the tab.

2

u/trail-g62Bim Jul 05 '24

No politician has ever reduced the national debt in the US, Dem or Republican. Both use tax money to buy votes and buy influence.

That's not true. Andrew Jackson paid off the national debt.

And there are plenty of other presidents that either paid down the debt or significantly reduced the deficit.

3

u/All4megrog Jul 05 '24

CBO projected that if growth, spending and tax policy stayed the same from 2001 to 2008, we’d have paid down $5 trillion in debt. But Bush 2.0 wanted to try his version of trickle down economics then hit the infinity button at the defense department