On Jun 19, 2006, at 1:02 PM, Julio Huato wrote:
> But the hostages of
> high rates and a strong dollar are not just average manufacturers, or
> regular folks with mortgages and maxed out credit cards. It's also
> the federal government, the guy with the money printer.
Yeah, but the federal debt burden just isn't that great. Gross debt is around 66% of GDP, which is where it was in 1993, just before Clinton started whittling away at it, and well below the 1946 peak of 108%. And a huge chunk of the debt is held by the Social Security system - and if need be, they can always fuck over the beneficiaries. Debt held by the public is 39% of GDP, well below the 1993 level of 49%. Deficits are big, but nowhere near as big as they were in Ronnie's day.
Doug