100% debt-to-GDP sounds like some fundamental threshold when it's actually just a Schelling point. It's 1.00 GDP-years of debt, which is a number with an arbitrary time unit in it (why not GDP-month or GDP-decade?)
croes 55 minutes ago [-]
Yearly income is a usual metric
scuff3d 52 minutes ago [-]
We don't hear anything about it because the Republicans are in charge. If a Democrat was in the White House right now you wouldn't be able to shut Fox News and it's ilk up about how the national debt is a harbinger of doom for the entire country.
SilverElfin 37 minutes ago [-]
It’s not just US debt that’s a problem. It’s also state level and local level. Every part of our government is spending irresponsibly. A lot of the debt is hidden too. A pension with more future liabilities than it can pay for isn’t going to show up as deficit on this year’s budget. A state putting out bonds may count interest payments in the budget numbers that show up in press conferences, but the actual total debt isn’t talked about much.
I’m not sure why anyone expects differently. Politicians corruptly waste money to helping themselves, their careers, their party, and their causes. It’s other people’s money that they are spending. And most of them never had substantial experience in private industry to learn the skills it takes to manage billions of dollars of budget. Governments are far, far more wasteful and inefficient than anyone realizes.
dangus 22 minutes ago [-]
A lot of American waste and spending is due to our incredibly wasteful and short-sighted perception of what urbanism looks like:
I very often think about how much money Americans spend just on basic infrastructure needs compared to people who live in places built at a more sensible scale.
If I got a job in Arlington Texas right now, I’d first need to load myself up with a car payment and spend 4-5 figures per year just for basic needs like groceries and work, even if I lived within walking distance of that job.
Arlington, with a population of over 350,000, has no scheduled route public transportation service.
American towns and cities never seem to think about things like like “how many feet of sewer line/streets/utility lines and miles of road do we need for each resident?” or “how much population/economic activity per acre do we need to break even on services?”
expedition32 1 hours ago [-]
Remember the Tea Party?
But yes you don't hear anyone about this because politicians waste no time on things they know they can't fix. DOGE was a fucking embarrassment.
In the 1930s the Dutch cabinet knew very well that they likely couldn't keep up neutrality. But they also knew there was no chance in hell that they could build up an army in 3 years that could stop Hitler. So what did they do? Lie to the public and secretly open Canadian bank accounts.
Rendered at 20:42:34 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time) with Vercel.
I’m not sure why anyone expects differently. Politicians corruptly waste money to helping themselves, their careers, their party, and their causes. It’s other people’s money that they are spending. And most of them never had substantial experience in private industry to learn the skills it takes to manage billions of dollars of budget. Governments are far, far more wasteful and inefficient than anyone realizes.
https://www.strongtowns.org/journal/2020-8-28-the-growth-pon...
I very often think about how much money Americans spend just on basic infrastructure needs compared to people who live in places built at a more sensible scale.
If I got a job in Arlington Texas right now, I’d first need to load myself up with a car payment and spend 4-5 figures per year just for basic needs like groceries and work, even if I lived within walking distance of that job.
Arlington, with a population of over 350,000, has no scheduled route public transportation service.
American towns and cities never seem to think about things like like “how many feet of sewer line/streets/utility lines and miles of road do we need for each resident?” or “how much population/economic activity per acre do we need to break even on services?”
But yes you don't hear anyone about this because politicians waste no time on things they know they can't fix. DOGE was a fucking embarrassment.
In the 1930s the Dutch cabinet knew very well that they likely couldn't keep up neutrality. But they also knew there was no chance in hell that they could build up an army in 3 years that could stop Hitler. So what did they do? Lie to the public and secretly open Canadian bank accounts.