Reply #1: One point that Jefff Berwick is missing - and it' s important

[truedelphi]

Can't remember if it was in 1943 or '44 when the USA had over a 100 percent of GDP as its debt (think the actual figure was 144%) - now that amount of government outflow is FINE, as long as the money is used, as the money was in 43-44, to create jobs. (The rationale the government was using was not job creation, but the need for the nation to build planes, tanks, missiles and big aircraft carrier ships, but that still resulted in huge numbers of people being put to work.)

But the picture today is quite different. When the money is basically the Trillions of dollars that have been "loaned" out to the Largest Firms on Wall Street, and their counterparts across the world, and those firms hoard it, shower themselves with bonuses, et al, then the job creation is nil, and then there is no growth in the economy.

And please don't bother telling me these trillions of dollars have been paid back - they were given US dollars, and they paid back with their investment papers of dubious value.

So I think that it is important to mention what the "debt" is used for.