The Truth About America's Debt [Reupload]

The US national debt is over $35 trillion. But how big of a problem is this? This video explores how we got here, where the money goes, and what economists think.

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Chapters-
00:00 - Intro
01:34 - The Politicians
15:36 - The Budget
24:58 - The Debt
34:16 - The Economists

[PikeProductions]

Hi there, thanks for watching. Just some notes and corrections:

15:42 - I make it a point to display sources on all of my infographics. However, showing the sources here wouldn't have worked with the animations. The sources for the budget graphs come from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) and USA Facts.

25:17 - This is a Series EE bond, which is not transferable on the secondary market. I choose to use it for illustrative purposes given its design similarities to US dollars. Most treasuries are tradable, but not the Series EE bond.

27:30 - Medicare holds more intragovermental debt than Medicaid.

32:56 - "Boosting the economy" is technically not a Fed objective. The Fed has a dual mandate to achieve maximum employment and stabilize prices. These objectives are mainly pursued by managing interest rates and monetary supply.

[johnpro]

The US has not got a debt problem..The lenders have a re payment problem.
Like lending money to a broke relative. You are unlikely to get it back

[learnwithmrfinancer]

So, eventually the younger generation is cooked ?

[Lawliet]

5:00 That 90s background music is from Ryan George's Pitch Meeting!

[A_to_Zappa]

A quiet foreigner investor in the U.S. Economy is the Netherlands.

[geetee]

Wow very informative video on how US debt works. I never took the time to really understand it fully, but thanks to you, I have a much better understanding. Knowledge is power.

[patricksullivan]

A million dollars with $100 bills is “40 inches high, a trillion dollars in $100 bills is 630 miles high, 40 Trillion of $100 bills will go ALL THE WAY AROUND EARTH! Hello!🙄

[peterbohren]

Good video - it does however miss certain things for a complete picture: A) Government assets - these, at least relatively liquid ones should be deducted from the total debt to receive net federal government debt. B) Local and regional (State) net debt (Gross debt - assets) - these are not zero so should be added to get at a complete picture of the US fiscal situation.

[hannojaanniidas]

Excellent vidéo. I can only quibble here and there.

As for MMT, I really have my doubts. Exogenous shocks can destabilise the low inflation criterion, and then printing money to redeem the debt will launch hyperflation.

[mb]

MMT is extremely stupid. Who takes these fools seriously. These are the people who are very happy on spending other peoples wealth.

[crazyedswonderfulworldofso]

U.S. Debt: $36 trillion
Population: 350 million
Per Capita Debt: $102, 857

To put this in perspective, when Greece went bankrupt they had a per capita debt of $47, 000. Canada’s present per capita debt is: $21, 400 (U.S. dollars).

[joshwilliams]

Good video, but strictly speaking it is not correct to credit the President with changes to defense spending. For instance, in Trump's first three years the budgets he submitted included reduced military spending, and it was Congress that instead passed increased military spending. Although, in every other instance since the end-of-Cold war peace dividends Congress and the President agreed on increases, so it's not much of an inaccuracy.

[the_new_project]

Well this video is bringing back a lot of bad memories.

[AL-lhht]

good news is with the massive downsizing of the govemerne, loss of million jobs, loss of benefits for normal peoples, the debt was only increased to 3 trillion, stonks!!!!

[Gheyda]

It's okay, if we all make about $38, 000 and are left with $3, 000 at the end of the year. We can pay it off in about 34 years. With home prices nowadays, who needs a home mortgage anyways.

[OmegaFire]

Never been this early before, shoutout the late comers (the rest of you)

[markovermeer]

Economists like to define wealth as GDP per capita, but that's totally bullshit. Wealth is a social term: how much quality of living do people get. When you have to work 2 jobs, pay for 3 cars in your household, spend 80% on your mortgage, and your street is full of potholes, then your income might be high but your life sucks.

[picandvideo]

If printing is so great then continue 😅😂🤣👏👏👏

[rigelkent]

Who benefits from national debts the exporters

[garethmills]

China owns about $1trillion of US government debt. With average interest on US debt of around 3% ish - that means an awful lot of tax dollars and US currency flowing directly out of the US into China every year. Go figure!!!