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

Global debt surges to $250 trillion in the fiscal year 2019.

Olivia London

2019-12-28 09:36:00 Saturday ET

Global debt surges to $250 trillion in the fiscal year 2019.

Global debt surges to $250 trillion in the fiscal year 2019. The International Institute of Finance analytic report shows that both China and the U.S. accou

+See More

Value investment strategies make investors wiser like water with core fundamental factor analysis.

Jacob Miramar

2018-04-17 12:38:00 Tuesday ET

Value investment strategies make investors wiser like water with core fundamental factor analysis.

Value investment strategies make investors wiser like water with core fundamental factor analysis. Value investors tend to buy stocks below their intrinsic

+See More

U.S. bank oligarchy has become bigger and more resistant to public regulation after the global financial crisis.

Laura Hermes

2020-02-19 14:35:00 Wednesday ET

U.S. bank oligarchy has become bigger and more resistant to public regulation after the global financial crisis.

The U.S. bank oligarchy has become bigger, more profitable, and more resistant to public regulation after the global financial crisis. Simon Johnson and

+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

America and China cannot decouple decades of long-term collaboration in trade, finance, and technology.

Becky Berkman

2019-12-16 11:37:00 Monday ET

America and China cannot decouple decades of long-term collaboration in trade, finance, and technology.

America and China cannot decouple decades of long-term collaboration in trade, finance, and technology. In recent times, some economists claim that China ma

+See More

Michael Kors pays $2.3 billion to acquire the Italian elite fashion brand Versace.

Joseph Corr

2018-09-27 11:41:00 Thursday ET

Michael Kors pays $2.3 billion to acquire the Italian elite fashion brand Versace.

Michael Kors pays $2.3 billion to acquire the Italian elite fashion brand Versace. In accordance with Michael Kors's 5-year plan, the joint company grow

+See More