Epiphany

[fccool]

It just so dawned on me that the national debt will not be repaid, and will never be repaid... because it serves a purpose. I'm not sure why in the world I did not see it before! Or maybe I did and it just did not click as clearly as it just did.

Here is M3 graph (or total money supply in US economy over time)

And here's Government debt

M3 and National Debt is basically the same thing! That's why it can't be paid off, because it it would be paid off... there would not be any money in the economy. It's pretty amazing!

The implications of this are staggering. I guess it never hit me as hard as it just did, although it did cross my mind. Pretty amazing isn't it. All of the money in circulation is debt.

[carolaa]

QUITE interesting. Do you have a link for those graphs? They are not very readable, and I'd like to look at them more closely.

[fccool]

image 1

image2

[carolaa]

That's incredible! Look how much the debt has gone up under Bush's administration. Astronomical.

[fccool]

The interesting thing to point out is that at certain points on the graph, the national debt is actually higher than total m3 money supply:

Take a look at the historical numbers here:

http://www.thetrailofgreen.com/

Look under 1995. If M3 represents total money supply in the economy, then how can the debt be more than entire money supply of the country????? Debt was $4,692 billion, and M3 was $4,397.

you can read up on m3 here : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Money_supply

[carolaa]

OK, I admit this is over my head. Why is it noteworthy that the debt is higher than the money supply. I would think because liabilities are greater than assets, but then our assets are more than money, so I'm not sure.

[fccool]

I just find it strange that a debt of certain nation can be greater than total amount of money in circulation... and that nation can be considered economically sound! Has anyone noticed that in 1995?