[OutsiderFan]

Maybe people in North Dakota have realized their money will soon have no value and are finding other ways to support themselves? I know this seems crazy, but we are on the path to hyperinflation if the Fed doesn’t stop printing money to buy assets nobody wants and continue artificially inflating the stock market.

At some point, people are just going to have to accept massive losses. They can come in the form of bankruptcies that result in creditors losing money they thought they were getting. They can come in the form of massive taxing events. They can come in the form of holding the bag after buying equities much higher than you find them currently worth. 

We seem to have this mindset that we can get out of debt by printing money. It’s almost like central banks have realized it’s easier to devalue currency and slowly deliver pain to people over time, than it is to allow massive metaphorical financial earthquakes to re-set the landscape.

I'll be curious to see how the Dems choose to address this.  Will they raise enormous taxes on the wealthy, the upper class, the upper-middle class, less so for the middle class, and not quite as much for the lower-middle class?  I don't really see any other way to get there.  Confiscatory estate taxes?  I would imagine so.  Anything that nudges us towards Socialism.

I have an idea, let's not call things that aren't socialism "Socialism."

Socialism is the government owning the means of production. Cuba is a socialist country. Even China isn't.  So let's make sure to use the correct terms so the correct discussion can happen, unless you want to argue there are people in the United States in positions of power who want to become Cuba?

No, what the United States is, is a welfare state that doesn't raise enough money to pay for its outlays, be it in the form of direct payments or tax reductions. Social Security and Medicare are the most solvent welfare programs we have because they are paid for through consistent payments. The percentage contribution rate hasn't increased since the 1980s. People claim those programs are at risk of going bankrupt.  Yes, they will, if contribution inputs aren't adjusted to reflect the inflation that has happened since they were last adjusted. We have other federal programs like WIC (food stamps) to make sure we feed people who can't afford to eat otherwise. Then states have their own welfare programs.

Then you have corporate welfare. That's subsidies to ADM to grow crops nobody wants. That's tax breaks to oil companies for drilling wells. That's lower taxes on corporate profits. That's allowing companies to do business in the U.S. and have their HQ in Bermuda so they don't have to pay the full tax bill they would pay if their HQ was in the U.S. That's bailouts to companies who gambled and lost.

What do you want to do Mick?  Print more money or tax more? Because people need to eat and be sheltered. Those are the only two choices.  I'd argue taxing existing money is way more in the interest of the masses than making our money worthless by printing and giving away more.

One thing that should terrify everyone is that China is reducing its U.S. debt.  For a long time China was always a reliable buyer of treasuries. If they stop, the only alternative for the U.S. to raise money other than taxes is to print even more money and buy U.S. treasuries. They call it "Quantitative Easing" to make it sound highbrow when in fact it literally is just printing money and giving it to the government. 

Our deficit is greater than our GDP now. I don't think most people truly understand how terrible of a place we are in.

[OutsiderFan]

Maybe people in North Dakota have realized their money will soon have no value and are finding other ways to support themselves? I know this seems crazy, but we are on the path to hyperinflation if the Fed doesn’t stop printing money to buy assets nobody wants and continue artificially inflating the stock market.

At some point, people are just going to have to accept massive losses. They can come in the form of bankruptcies that result in creditors losing money they thought they were getting. They can come in the form of massive taxing events. They can come in the form of holding the bag after buying equities much higher than you find them currently worth. 

We seem to have this mindset that we can get out of debt by printing money. It’s almost like central banks have realized it’s easier to devalue currency and slowly deliver pain to people over time, than it is to allow massive metaphorical financial earthquakes to re-set the landscape.

I'll be curious to see how the Dems choose to address this.  Will they raise enormous taxes on the wealthy, the upper class, the upper-middle class, less so for the middle class, and not quite as much for the lower-middle class?  I don't really see any other way to get there.  Confiscatory estate taxes?  I would imagine so.  Anything that nudges us towards Socialism.

I have an idea, let's not call things that aren't socialism "Socialism."

Socialism is the government owning the means of production. Cuba is a socialist country. Even China isn't.  So let's make sure to use the correct terms so the correct discussion can happen, unless you want to argue there are people in the United States in positions of power who want to become Cuba?

No, what the United States is, is a welfare state that doesn't raise enough money to pay for its outlays, be it in the form of direct payments or tax reductions. Social Security and Medicare are the most solvent welfare programs we have because they are paid for through consistent payments. The percentage contribution rate hasn't increased since the 1980s. People claim those programs are at risk of going bankrupt.  Yes, they will, if contribution inputs aren't adjusted to reflect the inflation that has happened since they were last adjusted. We have other federal programs like WIC (food stamps) to make sure we feed people who can't afford to eat otherwise. Then states have their own welfare programs.

Then you have corporate welfare. That's subsidies to ADM to grow crops nobody wants. That's tax breaks to oil companies for drilling wells. That's lower taxes on corporate profits. That's allowing companies to do business in the U.S. and have their HQ in Bermuda so they don't have to pay the full tax bill they would pay if their HQ was in the U.S. That's bailouts to companies who gambled and lost.

What do you want to do Mick?  Print more money or tax more? Because people need to eat and be sheltered. Those are the only two choices.  I'd argue taxing existing money is way more in the interest of the masses than making our money worthless by printing and giving away more.

One thing that should terrify everyone is that China is reducing its U.S. debt.  For a long time China was always a reliable buyer of treasuries. If they stop, the only alternative for the U.S. to raise money other than taxes is to print even more money and buy U.S. treasuries. They call it "Quantitative Easing" to make it sound highbrow when in fact it literally is just printing money and giving it to the government. 

Our deficit is greater than our GDP now. I don't think most people truly understand how terrible of a place we are in.