Cannashroom said:

Well, the government gets loans the the Fed, its central bank which goes towards whatever it is being spent on.  The taxpayer Pays this back to the fed in taxes through the IRS.  But since the loan must be paid back with interest, there is never enough money to pay back to loan.  Therefore our global monetary system is set up to funnel the wealth of all into the pockets of very few.

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blewmeanie said:

Think of the dollar as a variable unit of measurement in relation to the value of commodities like oil, or other national currency. The proportion of that measurement is basically set by the federal reserve (that's really over simplifying it). They print us a certain amount of money at interest. In order to pay that interest back, and not go into debt (just like a personal loan) we have to export more than we import, and make more than we spend. Its just like a business, just on a much larger scale.

You have to remove the idea of money being a symbol of value, and start thinking about it as a variable measurement. Today a dollar is worth a certain amount of one commodity or the next, if the value of the dollar drops, it will not be equivalent to the same amount of what ever commodity you are measuring.

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Okay, now I feel stupider than I did before, because I have no idea WTF you guys are talking about.  I'm going to leave this stuff to the exp3rtz.  Thanks for trying to help, tho!

Quote:

So if the United States is perpetually in debt ...
... then how do we ever spend money?

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Psilocybeingzz said:

Find out WHY a GOLD backing is important for currency,
and there you will find your answer.

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HB said:

Evan said:

I may be wrong but I believe the way the system works is that we borrow from one person and give to another and constantly just keep borrowing to pay off another person.

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Hmm, that makes sense ... but who would be stupid enough to loan money to a country that's billions of dollars in debt?  I wish I could get loans with a credit score of 0 ...

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Psilocybeingzz said:

Quote:

So if the United States is perpetually in debt ...
... then how do we ever spend money?

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Because your money isn't backed by anything!
Find out WHY a GOLD backing is important for currency,
and there you will find your answer.

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Psilocybeingzz said:

Find out for yourselves.

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no, I want YOU to explain it to me.

... please? 

Psilocybeingzz said:

Right. But your money isn't backed by any real world marker.
So essentially it has no value. Fiat currency is what it's called.
There are millions of books, docs, and articles online.
I'm not typing all that shit out though, no sir.
I made my point. And after clarification. I stand by it.

Find out for yourselves.

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HB said:

Okay, now I feel stupider than I did before, because I have no idea WTF you guys are talking about. 

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Prisoner#1 said:

HB said:

Okay, now I feel stupider than I did before, because I have no idea WTF you guys are talking about. 

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TACO FLAVORING!!!

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Oh man, I almost forgot about the taco flavoring!  Now I feel smart3r again.  Thanks priz!  Now I know why they call you "#1" ... 

Baby_Hitler said:

Don't forget about fiberglass. That dollar's going to need some kind of flavor when it's devalued so much you can't buy food with it.

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"$17million for a cup of coffee, damn, you guys must be having a sale"

Ferris said:

Wow, ok, a lot of you have no fucking idea what you're talking about.  I'll try to give my very basic understanding of it.  So we borrow money from the IMF (international monetary fund), the Paris Club, other governments (sometimes through trade deficits through import/exports).  The loans usually don't have to be paid back for something like 30 years, so we are paying back loans including interest, but only the ones that we have to, which a large percentage of our taxes go to (half a trillion, out of 2.6 trillion).  The only reason this is feasible is because of the continual increase in our countries Gross Domestic Product (not inflation as some of you think, although it does serve its role in our economy, that's a whole different story).  If we hit a real recession, we'd have a much harder time with that debt and would have to pay down a higher percentage of it to stay solvent.

Of course, we take in so much right now, that all we'd have to do is float our military for a few years by simply maintaining what we have rather than buying all the latest shit in bulk, and maybe cutting down on service members by a bit, and we'd be balanced, possibly even in surplus.  I wouldn't bet on it, I'm just using it as an example of how we're not exactly screwed. 

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Ferris said:

Of course, we take in so much right now

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