Questions tagged [debt]
Questions related to the accrual of debt, may it be a nation, organization or person in a political landscape. Use this tag alongside the relevant tag in the context of the question i.e. a country if necessary.
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How did the US bring down federal debt ratio after World War II?
I saw this infographic about the ballooning US Federal Debt-to-GDP ratio and how it might exceed WWII levels:
https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2020-debt-and-deficit-projections-hit-records/
But I ...
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What is the debt ceiling and what happens if we reach it?
Over the past few years, there has been debate in congress as to whether or not to raise the debt ceiling.
My question is simple(the answer to it might not be):
What Is the debt ceiling, under what ...
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What are the benefits of the proposed Euro/Corona bonds over conventional government bonds?
This article describes the efforts of several European Union countries to agree to issue "corona bonds" or "Eurobonds", which are a joint EU mechanism to issue joint debt shared between different ...
CDJB♦
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What exactly are the formal rules around US paying off debt?
Is there a precise set of rules (e.g., very specific law, or court ruling?) that explains what specifically does - or does not give the US executive branch the right to choose to default on specific ...
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What will happen if China stops loaning money to the U.S.?
US's external debt to china is a staggering 1.1 trillion US dollars and according to many economists, it's highly unlikely that U.S. will be able to pay back the entire external debt to China in the ...
user17709
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Do separatist nations inherit any national debt?
Do separatist nations inherit any national debt?
For example, given Spain has a debt level of £1.1 trillion at the time of writing, if Catalonia becomes an independent nation is there any legal ...
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What happens if a country becomes bankrupt?
What happens to the citizens of the country? What happens to the sovereignty of the country? What happens to the neighbors?
For example, what will happen if Greece becomes bankrupt?
user4514
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Do Western countries want for Russia to default or not on its foreign debt?
According to TASS, Russia should be able to avoid defaulting on its foreign debt because now, as opposed to 1998, it has enough financial reserves. However, the issue is that a big fraction of its ...
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Implications of governments borrowing from a central bank rather than issuing money directly
Early in the history of the United States the political battle was fought between those who favored a strong central bank of the United States and others who felt the government reserved the right to ...
user117
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What is the point in having a debt ceiling when it can be relatively easily raised?
It makes some sense from a Machiavellian perspective; one can use the threat of a government shutdown to get concessions, but that's like playing chicken, and seems really irresponsible even if your ...
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What effect does state-level refusal to accept the ACA's medicaid expansion have on the ACA's cost?
The Affordable Care Act ("Obamacare") was projected by the Congressional Budget Office to reduce the national deficit. When Obamacare went to the Supreme Court, the court ruled that it was ...
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Who was the last US President to oversee a reduction in debt?
As of 2012, the United States currently has ~16 trillion in debt.
The last five presidents have all added to the overall debt*.
Who is the last US president to decrease the total amount of debt ...
user40
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Has Russia actually defaulted on its foreign debt as of April 11, 2022?
An article from CNN starts out by stating that Russia "has defaulted on its foreign debt", but then appears to qualify the statement by observing that "Moscow has a grace period of 30 ...
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Why does the United States federal government have a debt ceiling? Isn't it entirely redundant to the budget?
In the United States, the debt ceiling limits how much money the federal government can borrow. This ceiling was apparently introduced in 1939.
Why does the debt ceiling exist? Congress approves the ...
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Are there any negative consequences for a country having no debt?
It would seem that having no debt would categorically be a good thing. I have heard Dave Ramsey say many times that:
The Forbes 400 is a list of the richest 400 people in America as rated by Forbes ...
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What is Trump's plan to get the United States out of trillions in debt?
The debt is now close to 20 trillion dollars.
What are Trump's main strategies to reduce this debt?
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Why is it considered acceptable to freeze Russia's foreign reserves, but not acceptable for Russia to default on their debts?
Currently the following things are true:
Western countries have frozen most of Russia's foreign currency reserves
Russia is either in default or would be soon
However #1 is seen as fair and ...
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Who is lending the money for a nation's debt?
It seems most governments (certainly the US, Europe, Australia) have racked up a national debt - but who are the lenders that these governments are indebted to?
Where does the government get the ...
user6298
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Why do governments still assume that "the more land, the better"?
There is constant political struggle for land between two or more nations around the world, where two different countries claiming to own a land area even though another country controls (or "occupy") ...
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Why is it considered controversial to reduce budget deficits instead of raising the debt ceiling?
Every year in the United States, there is usually a disagreement regarding the raising of the debt ceiling, which was especially noticeable in 2013 when it caused a government shutdown. Why is raising ...
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What are the practical effects of having too large a debt load?
My understanding is that Japan has a debt-to-gdp ratio of approximately 200%. It is considered to be one of the worst in the world.
The United States is only in the 100% range. What effects would ...
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Why did Russia default on its domestic bonds in 1998 when it could simply print money?
Russia defaulted on its domestic debt in 1998. It did not have to do so because the bonds were denominated in Russian Ruble and the government could simply have printed money to pay the bonds. Why ...
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How do Democrats "gain leverage" by a three month debt limit increase?
I'm trying to understand some of the comments in the press that Democrats have gained leverage by the three-month extension tied to hurricane relief.
This is what I don't understand - it seems to me ...
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Where did all this deficit come from?
Back in 2008, the deficit was somewhere around $200 billion, until the bank bailout, which was reported at first to be a 1-time bailout of $800 billion. The next year, there was the Stimulus package, ...
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Why all the warnings about failure to raise the U.S. debt ceiling when some argue that Biden could just ignore it?
In this article at CNN, Robert Hockett, a law professor at Cornell University says that the debt ceiling was rooted in the 1917 Liberty Bond Act which was rendered obsolete in 1974.
Part quote from ...
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Has any government made the unwinding of their US bonds and currency reserves a core public policy plank or a legal requirement?
The betting odds (at time of writing) on a partial US debt default this year were 6/4 - Default and 1/2 - No Default.
Considering the odds, this is something of a wake-up call for nations and ...
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What prevents the U.S Congress from adopting a capital budget?
Most American states are required, by law, to balance their budgets. As a result, they do - to a large extent. The United States federal government, however, does not, and has not for many years.
...
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Why do US politicians spend so much on campaigns when the salary is not high enough to justify the expenditure?
Hillary Clinton spent so much on her 2008 presidential campaign that she had a campaign debt of over $30 million. The annual salary of a US president is only $400,000. Even if Hillary were successful, ...
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Why did Japan not raise taxes instead of borrowing to avoid having such a large debt ratio?
According to this article, Japan reached an enormous debt/GDP ratio of about 250%.
The first two answers from here illustrate more about the structure of the debt. My highlights are:
most ...
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Did any legislation ever prohibit fractional reserve banking by introducing something like the Chicago Plan?
The Chicago plan involves to impose a 100% reserve on banks, so that banks can no longer create money by lending out. Recently, IMF published a note called The Chicago plan revisited. I'm no economist ...
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Eurozone countries surpassing their allowable deficit of 3% GDP
What happens when a eurozone country breaks EU fiscal rules that limit the allowable deficit to 3% of GDP?
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What steps can be taken to combat unfunded state and federal pension liabilities in the U.S.?
It's the growing problem that no politicians want to talk about: unfunded pension liabilities. Business Insider ran an article last year which focused on the many upcoming challenges facing U.S. ...
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What would the National Debt's minimum payment warning notice read?
The CARD Act modified what credit cards need to disclose to you on your monthly statements. One requirement was a Minimum Payment warning:
Minimum Payment Warning: If you make only the minimum ...
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Why focus on reduction of public debt when private debt is much larger?
According to the OECD, in The Netherlands, public debt is 78% of GDP and private household debt is 277% of GDP. Eurozone rules require a budget deficit of no more than 3% (not sure if this depends on ...
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Is there legal recourse for creditors if Treasury defaults on any (not necessarily all) of its debts?
This is a follow up to a previous question I had here Fed Authority
I understand that once the government goes into default it triggers a number of different legal steps and procedures, such as CDS
...
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What danger(s) does Chuck Schumer see in using reconciliation to increase debt limit?
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has said that if Congress does not raise the debt limit by mid-October, 2021, the U.S. could default, which could have macroeconomic implications.
The Senate minority ...
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What happens if a country redefines itself?
Consider the following possible scenarios for a country A:
The legislature decides to change the name to B
After a successful revolution or coup d'état, a new country is established having the same ...
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Is Hillary Clinton on the hook for the $30 million debt of her campaign?
In Why do US politicians spend so much on campaigns when the salary is not high enough to justify the expenditure?, it is mentioned that Hillary Clinton has $30 million of debt from her 2008 campaign.
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How does the public view financing policies by increasing the national debt?
A response to a comment here has caused me to wonder: how does the public view financing government programs by increasing public debt?
To make this a more answerable question, I'm asking for answers ...
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How much in interest payments since 2002 has the increase in the debt past the old debt ceiling cost the US?
Wikipedia notes several recent changes to the debt ceiling. Increases in the debt ceiling allow the Treasury to borrow more money and increase the national debt to a level higher than previously ...
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