The U.S. federal government debt has risen from less than 40% of total GDP about a decade ago to 78% as of May 2018.

John Fourier

2018-06-01 07:30:00 Fri ET

The U.S. federal government debt has risen from less than 40% of total GDP about a decade ago to 78% as of May 2018. The Congressional Budget Office predicts that this ratio will surge to 96% in 2028. Although many blame the Trump tax cuts as the key root cause, the increases in health care and retirement benefits suggest a different real reason for U.S. deficit severity.

Harvard professor Martin Feldstein attributes the recent rise of U.S. budget deficit from 4% to 5% of total GDP to increases in Medicare and social security retirement benefits for middle-class older Americans. These increases in core health care and retirement benefits account for about 2.7% of total GDP. The neoclassical Sargent-Wallace thesis suggests that the central bank cannot finance incessant increases in core deficits with government bond issuance regardless of money supply growth. This money supply expansion would lead to inexorable inflationary pressures that defeat the dual mandate of both maximum employment and price stability in the suboptimal fiscal-monetary policy coordination. Inflation serves as a seigniorage tax that would in turn dampen real macroeconomic variates such as household consumption, capital investment, labor supply, and total economic output. In light of this ripple effect on sustainable financial market growth and prosperity, the law of inadvertent consequences counsels caution.

 


If any of our AYA Analytica financial health memos (FHM), blog posts, ebooks, newsletters, and notifications etc, or any other form of online content curation, involves potential copyright concerns, please feel free to contact us at service@ayafintech.network so that we can remove relevant content in response to any such request within a reasonable time frame.

Blog+More

Goldman Sachs follows the timeless business principles and best practices in financial market design and investment management.

Chanel Holden

2020-02-26 09:30:00 Wednesday ET

Goldman Sachs follows the timeless business principles and best practices in financial market design and investment management.

Goldman Sachs follows the timeless business principles and best practices in financial market design and investment management. William Cohan (2011) M

+See More

Stock Synopsis: Top China Internet companies continue to enjoy global reach, business model monetization, and new improvements in sales and profits.

Dan Rochefort

2024-10-27 07:56:01 Sunday ET

Stock Synopsis: Top China Internet companies continue to enjoy global reach, business model monetization, and new improvements in sales and profits.

Stock Synopsis: China Internet tech titans continue to grow amid greater competition. We launch our unique coverage of top 25 China Internet stocks. In t

+See More

Joel Mokyr suggests that economic growth arises from a change in cultural beliefs toward technological progress.

John Fourier

2023-11-07 11:31:00 Tuesday ET

Joel Mokyr suggests that economic growth arises from a change in cultural beliefs toward technological progress.

Joel Mokyr suggests that economic growth arises from a change in cultural beliefs toward technological progress. Joel Mokyr (2018)   A culture

+See More

Tencent Music Entertainment debuts its IPO on NYSE to strike a chord with stock market investors.

Amy Hamilton

2018-12-19 17:41:00 Wednesday ET

Tencent Music Entertainment debuts its IPO on NYSE to strike a chord with stock market investors.

Tencent Music Entertainment debuts its IPO on NYSE to strike a chord with stock market investors. Tencent Music goes public and marks the biggest IPO by a m

+See More

All of the 18 systemically important banks pass the annual Federal Reserve stress tests.

James Campbell

2019-07-30 15:33:00 Tuesday ET

All of the 18 systemically important banks pass the annual Federal Reserve stress tests.

All of the 18 systemically important banks pass the annual Federal Reserve stress tests. Many of the largest lenders announce higher cash payouts to shareho

+See More

President Trump delivers his second state-of-the-union address to U.S. Congress.

Olivia London

2019-02-06 10:36:49 Wednesday ET

President Trump delivers his second state-of-the-union address to U.S. Congress.

President Trump delivers his second state-of-the-union address to U.S. Congress. Several key themes emerge from this presidential address. First, President

+See More