Why does it matter if we (the US) have a national debt?

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Like how does it affect the average citizen on a day-to-day basis?

Why do we have a national debt in the first place (as presumably the richest country in the world)? Who lends us the money, and do we have to pay them back?

Also, as I understand it, we can’t really get rid of the national debt, but we can slow down the amount of spending. Why does the rate of our debt accumulation matter?

If we’re already trillions in debt, what difference would it make at this point to spend indefinitely to improve our country?

In: Economics

14 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

It doesn’t, as long as the rest of the world believes we can pay it off.

Just like for you. It doesn’t matter if you have a car payment, or a mortgage, the debt itself isn’t bad. But if the bank doesn’t think you can pay it, they won’t give you the loan, and if you stop paying, they change the locks on your house or repo your car.

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