This is a guest commentary submitted by local author Anders Odegard:
Our $32 Trillion in Federal Debt is a real problem, folks. At a 3.125% interest rate (a historically low rate for even the most creditworthy
of borrowers) the interest on a debt this size is $1 TRLLION/year. That comes out to roughly $7,400 PER YEAR for each individual taxpayer. It’s more than we spend on national defense. And that number will only grow larger and larger as we, as a nation, have shown absolutely NO ABILITY to exercise Fiscal Responsibility.
Eventually the U.S. Government will run out of buyers for its increasingly JUNKIER debt. The fact that the world is moving away from the U.S. Dollar and toward others (e.g., the Chinese Yuan) to conduct international trade is hard evidence that this is already happening. Eventually, we will face the financial crisis to top all prior financial crises, THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT BOND MARKET COLLAPSE. What happens next will depend on the COMPETENCE level of the U.S. President. At this point there will be TWO OPTIONS: HYPERINFLATION or DEFAULT!
The much easier option to implement is Hyperinflation. Simply pay off the $32 Trillion with 32 crisp and new $1 Trillion bills. While you’re at it pay off the debt of the states and heck why not everybody’s student loans as well? The downside to printing up U.S. Dollars willy nilly? HYPERINFLATION! Under Hyperinflation, your new monthly salary may be $10 Million? Unfortunately, you’ll need $12 Million to buy a dozen eggs. If you think I’m exaggerating just look up Hyperinflation in 1920s Weimar Germany. Things tend to go VERY BADLY in countries without a FUNCTIONING CURRENCY. How will you be able buy gas for your car? Or groceries? Or get your diabetic kid the insulin she needs? I can pretty much guarantee you that if we have Joe Biden or Kamala Harris (or similar) manning the ship when this DEBT CRISIS ON STEROIDS hits, we will go the Hyperinflation route. Again, I encourage you to read up the Weimar Republic era in Germany. The DREADFUL REPERCUSSIONS of the 1920s German Hyperinflation were soon felt in Germany, in Europe, and in the world as a whole.
The preferable way to resolve this is through what is euphemistically called a FINANCIAL RESTRUCTURING. Blunter terms for this include Bankruptcy and Default. Basically, we will let our creditors know we will no longer be paying interest on our debt, and we will be suspending all scheduled repayments of principal. A COMPETENT, ETHICAL President will then divide our creditors into classes. He (or she) will try to minimize the pain for American financial institutions, as their failure, as a result of this default, would have a severely negative effect on American Citizens. China would get STIFFED! Our creditors in the United Kingdom and Japan? Well let’s just say I will not envy the new President.
A COMPETENT, ETHICAL President will then have to cut federal spending 15-20% across the board. Going forward the Federal Government will have to live WITHIN ITS MEANS (welcome to what private businesses and INDIVIDUAL AMERICANS have to do every day). This means things like abolishing the Federal Department of Education and cutting some others (e.g., Transportation, Agriculture, HUD, etc.) by 25%+. It means putting an end to ALL federal spending dedicated to the Democrats’ woke initiatives (btw, which will also help with RECRUITING in our Military). Does this mean pink slips for many federal workers? YES! Again, welcome to what the private sector worker faces every day.
We will need to start acting intelligently. You SIMPLIFY the tax code? You can cut the IRS budget by 90%, or perhaps eliminate it altogether! But we will also have to make 12-15% cuts to Defense, Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and ALL federal retirement programs. Yes, this will probably mean raising the retirement age and capping federal pensions (sorry Anthony Fauci, Mark Milley, and Barack Obama). Yes, this will mean pain and sacrifice, but it still beats the Hyperinflation route by a long shot. And, one GREAT THING that will come out of all this, folks? Going forward, our children and grandchildren will not be saddled with this CRIPPLING DEBT. They also won’t be drawn into new deficit spending for a while, as our federal government’s credit rating will SUCK.
Again, I reiterate this FINANCIAL RESTRUCTURING will require a U.S. President who is COMPETENT and ETHICAL, someone who can lead and INSPIRE Congress and the American People to actually pull this off. Also, I encourage our next President to take the necessary
steps to CONFISCATE all Chinese property in the U.S. (e.g., farmland, other real estate) to PAY FOR COVID (for more see pages 145-146). We would have to move quickly to keep the CCP from salting the land. Proceeds from this would help ease the restructuring. And maybe the CCP assh*les in Beijing would think twice before cooking up and unleashing their next BIOWEAPON.
I also encourage our new President to rally the world around holding the Chinese Communist Party ACCOUNTABLE for COVID. Stepping up the global pressure on the CCP would also help the freedom-loving Chinese People in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Mainland China as they look to eventually relegate the CCP to the ASH HEAP OF HISTORY. I highly encourage you to look into the 1989 Tiananmen Square Protest and Massacre when you get a chance.
Realize that no serious Presidential candidate can even mention the possibility of financial restructuring (aka bankruptcy/default). His or her election would likely (we’re talking 99%+ here, folks) IMMEDIATELY spark the aforementioned bond market collapse. It’s up to us as voters to select a President who has the intelligence, competence, and ETHICS to best handle this dire situation when it INEVITABLY occurs.
For more, check out The Common-Sense Guide to American History.