Republican Candidate Poll

[Kirkland Laing]

"You cannot taper a ponzi scheme" said Janet to young John. Repeat after me kiddies "You cannot taper a ponzi scheme".

What is this supposed to mean? If you're talking about the Fed tapering QE then they did and interest rates didn't budge at all so clearly the dollar and American debt by your own definition isn't a Ponzi scheme.

[Gandalf]

US national debt is by its nature a ponzi scheme as it will never be paid off. You sell a welfare state based on single mums and welfare then pray and hope the kiddies will pay it off by some miracle in the future despite less and less well paying employment. It is a ponzi scheme. The stock markets are a ponzi scheme. The gold markets are a ponzi scheme. There are ponzi schemes everywhere. Finance is a ponzi scheme. It is money from nothing hoping a few more gullible fools will buy in as a few cash out. Ponzi schemes a plenty. They must go on as long as possible.

[Kirkland Laing]

US national debt is by its nature a ponzi scheme as it will never be paid off. You sell a welfare state based on single mums and welfare then pray and hope the kiddies will pay it off by some miracle in the future despite less and less well paying employment. It is a ponzi scheme. The stock markets are a ponzi scheme. The gold markets are a ponzi scheme. There are ponzi schemes everywhere. Finance is a ponzi scheme. It is money from nothing hoping a few more gullible fools will buy in as a few cash out. Ponzi schemes a plenty. They must go on as long as possible.

So everything is a Ponzi scheme.

Yes, it'll never be paid off. But that doesn't make it a Ponzi scheme. US bonds are the safest investment on the planet as evidenced by the market for them. America will always be in debt but as long as the debt is proportional to its income it doesn't matter. Back in 1988 after Reagan had trebled the national debt in eight years people were panicking about debt levels. Buy gold! Fiat money is a Ponzi scheme! America owed £2.6 trillion. About as much as it spent invading Iraq in 2003. Governments are immortal Miles and debt reduces over time due to a combination of economic growth and moderate 2 percentish inflation. That's why the bond market doesn't panic and dump trillions of dollars of Ponzi scheme debt but keeps buying it even when it pays zero real interest. This is just Janet and John basic facts.

America currently owes roughly 100% of its yearly income. A young couple or individual can get a mortgage for three times their yearly income easily and they're far more of a risk than an entire country which has guaranteed income indefinitely and never retires. US private sector debt is four times national debt and nobody is claiming that private business is a Ponzi scheme or about to go bust. Apart from people who either know nothing about numbers, finance or currencies that is.