Re:When Does Federal Debt Reach Unsustainable Levels?
by refulgentis on Tuesday October 10, 2023 @11:41AM
(#37833565)
> If the US was an IMF country it would be way off the reservation.
That's not even wrong.
I don't know where to start without coming off as aggressive, lecturing, talking down, or putting words in your mouth. Tough place to be in.
Instead, I'll volunteer a general pattern that helps avoid this intellectual trap.
I'm old enough now to have seen it wax and wane and take different forms, from Ron Paul to BRICS, and there might be one key fallacy uniting all those.
It's not dissimilar to what I've seen from independent large, unorganized, groups discovering Tether every 18 months.
It's that _you and the people you are learning new info from are not uniquely blessed, and not everyone is on your timeline_. It's likely there's a sizable # of people have had the idea before.
If the US was so heavily indebted it was in a worse place financially than other "IMF country", Argentina, Egypt, Ecuador, Tunisia...we'd see at least some of the same problems. There isn't a mass delusion, psychosis, or enough dumb people in the world to have the US in that category of country but still treated the way it actually is.
To some extent, I wonder if this short-sightedness is due to polarization. We spend 4 years being told everything is falling part and fundamental values are broken whenever the other party holds the presidency. In reality, US was _by far_ the most economically successful country during COVID, the last decade. It's earned it place and will continue to for a very long time. I highly, highly suggest reading information from a foreign perspective, Economist is great, if anything, they have a slight antipathy toward the US. And they don't swing for home runs via takes, ever.
That's not even wrong.
I don't know where to start without coming off as aggressive, lecturing, talking down, or putting words in your mouth. Tough place to be in.
Instead, I'll volunteer a general pattern that helps avoid this intellectual trap.
I'm old enough now to have seen it wax and wane and take different forms, from Ron Paul to BRICS, and there might be one key fallacy uniting all those.
It's not dissimilar to what I've seen from independent large, unorganized, groups discovering Tether every 18 months.
It's that _you and the people you are learning new info from are not uniquely blessed, and not everyone is on your timeline_. It's likely there's a sizable # of people have had the idea before.
If the US was so heavily indebted it was in a worse place financially than other "IMF country", Argentina, Egypt, Ecuador, Tunisia...we'd see at least some of the same problems. There isn't a mass delusion, psychosis, or enough dumb people in the world to have the US in that category of country but still treated the way it actually is.
To some extent, I wonder if this short-sightedness is due to polarization. We spend 4 years being told everything is falling part and fundamental values are broken whenever the other party holds the presidency. In reality, US was _by far_ the most economically successful country during COVID, the last decade. It's earned it place and will continue to for a very long time. I highly, highly suggest reading information from a foreign perspective, Economist is great, if anything, they have a slight antipathy toward the US. And they don't swing for home runs via takes, ever.