Quote Originally Posted by elevatethis View Post
Exactly what I said, spending more than you make is not sustainable. By your logic, as the economy got better and the government kept accumulating debt, wouldn't they just continue to spend more and more? There needs to be an end somewhere.
They were accumulating debt at the time. However, once the economy starts to thrive, the government should cut their spending, and keep taxes where they were, while leaving the free market to do its thing.

This did not happen. If it did, then the monies that the government spent, would have come back to them two fold as the economy continues to grow under less regulation, and if they would have cut their spending, it would have paid their debt. These increased monies from foreign buyers, and increased spending that people can contribute because of the still low taxes pay the debt in sales tax revenue.


Same principal with the student loan thing. You are in debt while going through school, and after, but as you grow your own little economy (career), you cut your spending, and use your increased profits from your higher education to pay your debt, and after a time your debt is paid, you are better off than when you started and you have money to spend.

But this did not happen. Taxes were raised, and regulation was forced back onto the free market. Hence where we are today.


Case in point. In the sixty's we were something like 60% energy independent. The fed instituted some serious regulations on drilling and production here. Now we are something like 90% energy dependent on foreign oil. Now, instead of us putting our monies into our oil, we are sending it overseas, so the money that could come from that and put money back into our budget, is going elsewhere.

Yes, but you also can be smart about it!!

If you have $200, you can set up a basic snake rack yourself that works, and you can tailor it so that it does what you want it to do. Or, you can take out a loan and buy a really fancy snake rack online and end up paying back the money for a while afterwards. Either way you get a healthy snake. See where I'm going with this?

(I know you wouldn't normally take a loan out for a snake rack but I am trying to make an example.)
I hear what you are saying, and yes that is the safe way to do things. But if you use the loan wisely, and build it fast, then you can make the money back faster, and pay your debt faster than you could have if you just saved and did a little at a time. But many people do not do this. They, like the gov, get their higher paying job, and instead of paying off their debt fast while living on what they need, instead of what they want, they accumulate more debt.

It is all about proper planning.