Off-Topic Discussions

When Bush left office, US debt was expected to hit 100% of GDP in 2040.

Now?

US Debt will be 100% of our GDP in 2018. And getting sooner with each dollar Obama spends that the US doesn't have.

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Theoretically, what happens when debt reaches 100%?

The country in question has no leverage in the world economy.

The US becomes Japan--an economic slave.

Ohhhhh joy...

That's not what I learned in Macroeconomics class but I'm not sure what to believe regarding government spending anymore.

What you learn in macroeconomics depends on the philosophic viewpoint of your teacher.

It also depends on what the spending is on.

"Priming the pump" works, if you actually prime the pump.

Welfare programs don't.

Perhaps. But like I said, I don't necessarily believe it to be true, but I have to learn it.

And it's difficult to fully understand how the economy works because we're just starting to learn about a 3-sector economy rather than a 4-sector economy.

Government spending helped lessen the individual impact of the great depression (although didn't end it until the war broke out) because the money was spent on projects that put people to work, put money in their pockets. We built roads and dams and buildings and supplied the means by which Britain and France could rearm their military. Goods were being produced.

What it's being spent on now are corporate welfare and individual welfare, none of which provides a job or income for people outside of government jobs--which are not productive to the economy since no goods are produced by a government job.

Wow...I must be actually learning stuff because all that made complete sense to me.

Paying attention in a boring class can help sometimes.