Post #67,501
12/9/02 10:52:12 AM
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Do deficits really matter when there is no chance that ...
the debt will ever be repaid? Isn't the trick to just make everyone believe that someday, somehow, somewhere they'll actually get back what they lent us?
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Post #67,505
12/9/02 11:05:49 AM
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in sheer dollars its huge, as a % of GNP
it is in acceptable limits. thamx, bill
will work for cash and other incentives [link|http://home.tampabay.rr.com/boxley/resume/Resume.html|skill set]
Opera was the television of the nineteenth century:loud, vulgar and garish with plots that could only be called infantile. "Pendergast"
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Post #67,517
12/9/02 11:16:15 AM
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Yes
Remember, each individual person doesn't care about whether the whole debt gets paid. Just so long as their bond does.
Cheers, Ben
"Career politicians are inherently untrustworthy; if it spends its life buzzing around the outhouse, it\ufffds probably a fly." - [link|http://www.nationalinterest.org/issues/58/Mead.html|Walter Mead]
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Post #67,532
12/9/02 11:39:48 AM
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Leverage
More to box's point....its not the debt that matters...a certain debt level is actually >good< to carry...its the economy's ability to sustain that level of debt.
In that light..our debt is "within acceptable limits". It may be high in sheer dollar terms...and even high in terms of overall leverage...but we maintain the ability to service that debt.
And our credit is still decent...thus we can continue to cycle debt.
If we hit triple c in the world credit market...we're in trouble.
You were born...and so you're free...so Happy Birthday! Laurie Anderson
[link|mailto:bepatient@aol.com|BePatient]
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Post #67,578
12/9/02 1:48:55 PM
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Nah, that's what the nukes are for.
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Post #67,591
12/9/02 2:30:22 PM
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Novel approach to calculating a D/E ratio, I suppose.
You were born...and so you're free...so Happy Birthday! Laurie Anderson
[link|mailto:bepatient@aol.com|BePatient]
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Post #67,609
12/9/02 3:27:36 PM
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But note...
If we hit triple-C in the world credit market, then the whole world would be in trouble, not just us.
There are a lot of people with a large vested interest in keeping the current status quo working...
Cheers, Ben
"Career politicians are inherently untrustworthy; if it spends its life buzzing around the outhouse, it\ufffds probably a fly." - [link|http://www.nationalinterest.org/issues/58/Mead.html|Walter Mead]
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Post #67,655
12/9/02 6:48:29 PM
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Yes. We have quite the pyramid scheme going, don't we?
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Post #67,690
12/9/02 9:34:26 PM
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Think you may need to revisit some definitions.
and maybe your public and corporate finance texts.
Debt is by design.
You were born...and so you're free...so Happy Birthday! Laurie Anderson
[link|mailto:bepatient@aol.com|BePatient]
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Post #67,718
12/9/02 11:49:05 PM
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Happily I majored in Mathematics.
Pure mathematics, that is. If it smelled liked an application (and I do mean smelled) I avoided it like the plague.
Hence, I did not have "corporate finance" books in my curriculum. I'm just a poor old dumb North Carolina boy who was taught that a "debt" was something that you eventually paid back. Or else you declared bankruptcy, which is akin to conceding that you failed. ;-)
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Post #67,759
12/10/02 6:39:33 AM
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Well it is!
But when you have lots of collateral...you can take out alot...and you can stagger it so as to have alot out all the time. And when you're a business there are people who calculate the "correct" amount of debt for you to carry.
Methinks you know these things already ;-)
You were born...and so you're free...so Happy Birthday! Laurie Anderson
[link|mailto:bepatient@aol.com|BePatient]
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