What will happen if we pay off our national debt?
Opportunity Cost. Instead of paying down debt, you could have invested in schools, health care, research, infrastructure or even form a sovereign wealth fund. Certain investments tend to pay over time by itself, in-turn grow the economy and it is in the best interest to have some debt on the books anyways.
Is the U.S. national debt bad?
well as an econ major let me tell you that debts are not bad....american debt is little over 9 trillion now which might seem a lot to you and me but in reality its not that much. here is a good example, the foreign exchange market trades trillions of dollars EACH & EVERY DAY. the reason we have a debt right now is because of the wars which is pretty normal as far as our history goes. During war time, debt goes up because our government doesn't impose extra taxes on citizens....so you and i don't pay anything for the war, our taxes haven't been changed for the war and so the government borrows money to cover the cost....but after the war....generally speaking....the debt is paid off.....for example just recently in 1995 we had no debt at all....we were a debt free nation just over 10 years ago. many liberals would say that its a bad sign but only because they don't know how the economy reacts to the situation......but rest ashore the debt will be paid off without burdening the population. debt could be also a good thing for example.....when our country borrows money from other countries central banks....it sells 'bonds'....so lets say that japan bought 1 trillions dollar worth of our bonds...than they pretty much own our country by that amount. so we are pretty much selling our country (or at least that small amount of it)....so now japan wants to make sure that our country don't go down because they got money invested in us. so the more debt we have, the more faith other countries have in our economy. (they want us to succeed or they don't get their money back.....also USA is the only country WHO HAS NEVER DEFAULTED....that means we are the only country on the planet who have always paid our debt. russia, england, france, germany, etc...they all have defaulted at-least once....but we have always paid our debt...thats why other countries don't hasitate to lend us money). ps. not to mention that US buys other countries bonds too....so we too own other countries for the amount we bought their bonds for....so its pretty even. don't listen to people who have no knowledge in this subject and they only repeat what they see on their favorite bias news channels.
Impractically, what would it take to pay off the U.S. national debt?
I’m not sure what you mean by “impractically.” There are lots of impractical ways of doing it.In round figures, the on-balance sheet federal debt is $20 trillion. The federal government collects $3.6 trillion in revenue and spends $4.0 trillion. So a straightforward way to pay off the debt would be to increase taxes 20% and cut spending 20% to run a $1 trillion surplus. That would pay off the nominal debt in about 15 years, depending on economic growth and interest rates. It’s less than 20 years, because I assume the surplus grows with the economy and the saved interest expense from paydowns is used to further pay down the debt.Unfortunately, this would do little to close the total fiscal gap, which includes unfunded pensions and entitlements, contingent liabilities and state and local debts. Moreover, I don’t think it’s possible politically anytime soon.If the nominal debt were the entire debt, then there would be no strong economic reason to pay it all off. It would suffice to demonstrate the the government can control its spending as it briefly appeared able to do at the end of the 1990s.The really important thing is not debt, taxes or spending. It’s how much the government tries to do. Regulations can accomplish the same things as taxing and spending. For example, if the government decides to discourage use of incandescent light bulbs, it could tax incandescent bulbs (tax), subsidize alternatives (spend) or just pass a regulation (no fiscal impact). Those are all basically the same things. What matters isn’t which of the three strategies the government picks, it’s that the government has decided to choose lightbulbs for people.So I don’t like debt because it encourages the government to do too much, not because it’s unsustainable economically. The government runs 20% of the economy directly, and controls about another 30% through regulation. I’d like to see those numbers shrink a lot.
Could the U.S. sell Alaska to pay off the national debt?
No. Alaska is one of the 50 states and is protected by Federal Laws. Besides, people own their own land, (privately-owned land) and the U.S. Government cannot sell what is not theirs. Besides, the government would never give up the natural resources.. Read that as OIL. Lol...imagine getting a letter in the mail... Please send all future property tax payments to your new government, North Korea... There goes the neighborhood...
How time would it take to pay off the US's national debt if marijuana were legalized and taxed?
I'm guessing it would take hundreds of years. Cigarettes, which are far more popular than weed, brought in only about $34 Billion in taxes in 2007. Even if we taxed the hell out of marijuana, far more then cigarettes, i can't imagine it bringing in more then the $34 Billion per year. We owe something like 11 Trillion Dollars. That's 325 years. And that also assumes that we instantly start balancing the budget from now on.
What would happen if the US stopped paying back any national debt?
Two things would happen almost immediately:Up to 70 million Americans, whose Social Security and Medicare payments would run out of cash, as most of the huge surpluses are invested in Treasury bonds.This would cause a crisis like no other, with 70 million broke, homes foreclosing, businesses dying for lack of business and huge job loses, spiraling into the vicious cycle we call Depression, a real bummer with rioting seniors, patients dyng for lack of medical care. Within a few months, society would be in a state of total chaos.Externally, where 2/3 of the debt is (Japan, China, US investors and banks) the nations being robbed of the payments due would retaliate and within months, a boycott of US exports would create the worst Depression imaginable, one in which the people are living in chaotic and desperate circumstances and the entire world hates us punishes us. For default would mean that the Japanese economy, the Chinese, and other major investors would see their economies collapse, causing a World Wide Depression of unimaginable human suffering.That’s a fact, but the other important fact is that the debt is not all due at once, but bit by bit, and so as the catastrophic effects were seen increasing, people and even Congress, in a rational world, would stop and reverse course and give the world half a chance to recover. Those guided by dogma, rather than experience, might push, saying that the cure for the original shock of default theory is more default. This logic would lead to what always arises out of chaos and suffering, more war…..which is means by which chaos and suffering are guaranteed. This way would be madness…..but then so is having 7000 nuclear warheads (on which the US is spending a trillion in the next decades to upgrade) which is enough to destroy (along with Russia’s 7000) and how is that self-defense? The nest highest of the 9 nations has 30o, China has 260, total adequate to protect a huge landmass but useless as first attack. That’s madness. Congress just voted $1,000,000,000,000 to modernize our nuclear arsenal.So it is not out the possibilities that anyone crazy enough to destroy the credit of the US, which lives on debt, while putting 70 million vulnerable citizens in immediate crisis might do the mad thing that leads to disaster.
Reducing the U.S. national debt.?
I'd eliminate Free Trade Agreements and start working on fair trade instead. Incoming products would be tarrifed to make their cost equivalent to the cost of US manufactured goods. If we can't protect our industry, we can never correct our debt. Another need is to eliminate the Federal Reserve. Every time we have a spending bill, a Fed bank issues us a loan that we need to pay back at interest, because our treasury is empty. Our taxes end up making interest payments rather than paying for budgetary needs. Finally, we need to stop sending US dollars overseas as foreign aid packages. We're a nation in debt and we can't afford to continue funding others when our own house is not in order. Addressing these issues would be a good start.