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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Is it true that the United States currently has no debt ceiling?
This article states that the debt ceiling was not raised in the deal enacted 2013-10-17, but rather that it was suspended allowing effectively unlimited borrowing until 2013-02-7.
Is this accurate? ...
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If Congress refused to raise the debt ceiling, would it force the federal government to balance its expenditures/revenue?
The US continually increases the debit ceiling whenever it is reached. It has been raised over 30 times in the last 30 years. The debt ceiling as explained by the Government Accountability Office is:
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How many times has the US defaulted on its debt?
I have heard that it would be an unprecedented occurrence, and that it has never happened.
If Congress refuses to raise what’s called the debt ceiling, America would not be able to meet all of our ...
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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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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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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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Is the US Government being shut down affecting the deadline for the debt ceiling?
The US government is shut down, and has been for one week as of writing. The government is also supposed to require a debt ceiling increase by Oct 17, or else the government will fail to be able to ...
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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 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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If the US Debt Ceiling is not raised what happens to Mandatory/Discretioary spending? [duplicate]
Since Obama took office there have been repeated fights over raising the US Debt Ceiling. The Treasury Secretaries have said that for a short period of time they can 'juggle money around' to keep the ...
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Why did the U.S. government shut down, if the Fed was providing funding through the bond buying program?
I understand that the current Federal Bond Buying program ($80 billion a month) is allowing a fixed supply of money to the American Government.
If this is the case, then why did the government "shut ...
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What are the guarantees that international debt will be payed back ever?
Related: Are there any negative consequences for a country having no
debt?
Why would a country ever allow another country to be deeply in debt to the first one? Why not just stop exports at the ...
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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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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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Repaying high debt in a country, without get ruined, is it possible? Example?
In another question it was asked what it means to a country if it has a high debt. I'd like to know whether there are there examples of a country paying back high (100%+ Debt to GDP ratio) debt?
I ...
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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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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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Does the treasury get to decide which parts of the budget to not fund if the debt ceiling is reached?
I am bit confused as to what the debt ceiling actually means.
From my understanding congress passes a budget that instructs the treasury to spend money on specific programs. When the debt ceiling is ...
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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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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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What are the criteria for avoiding the fiscal cliff?
One of the biggest items in the news is that we will go off the "Fiscal cliff" (large amount of tax increases and spending cuts) if Congress doesn't come to an agreement of some kind.
My question is: ...
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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 countries have (at some point in history) been able to significantly reduce their country's debt and what policies are generally attributed?
As we here in the US (and many others in other countries) worry about our mounting debt, I wonder if there are any historical examples of countries (including the US) which have been able to ...
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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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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 ...
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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