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

British Prime Minister Theresa May faces her landslide defeat in the parliamentary vote 432-to-202 against her Brexit deal.

Charlene Vos

2019-01-27 12:39:00 Sunday ET

British Prime Minister Theresa May faces her landslide defeat in the parliamentary vote 432-to-202 against her Brexit deal.

British Prime Minister Theresa May faces her landslide defeat in the parliamentary vote 432-to-202 against her Brexit deal. British Parliament rejects the M

+See More

Bidenomics better balances fiscal deficits and government expenditures with new corporate and capital income tax hikes.

Apple Boston

2021-08-01 07:26:00 Sunday ET

Bidenomics better balances fiscal deficits and government expenditures with new corporate and capital income tax hikes.

The Biden administration launches economic reforms in fiscal and monetary stimulus, global trade, finance, and technology. President Joe Biden proposes s

+See More

Apple becomes the first company to hit $1 trillion stock market valuation.

Becky Berkman

2018-08-01 11:43:00 Wednesday ET

Apple becomes the first company to hit $1 trillion stock market valuation.

Apple becomes the first company to hit $1 trillion stock market valuation. The tech titan sells about the same number of smart phones or 41 million iPhones

+See More

Trump imposes tariffs on steel and aluminum in a trade war with some exemptions for Canada and Mexico.

Olivia London

2018-03-01 07:35:00 Thursday ET

Trump imposes tariffs on steel and aluminum in a trade war with some exemptions for Canada and Mexico.

Trump imposes high tariffs on steel (25%) and aluminum (10%) in a new trade war with subsequent exemptions for Canada and Mexico. The Trump administration&#

+See More

North Korean leader and president Kim Jong-Un seeks peaceful resolution and denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula.

Olivia London

2018-04-11 09:37:00 Wednesday ET

North Korean leader and president Kim Jong-Un seeks peaceful resolution and denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula.

North Korean leader and president Kim Jong-Un seeks peaceful resolution and denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula. When *peace* comes to shove, Asia

+See More

Warren Buffett points out that it is important to invest in oneself with better interpersonal communication.

Daphne Basel

2017-12-17 11:41:00 Sunday ET

Warren Buffett points out that it is important to invest in oneself with better interpersonal communication.

Warren Buffett points out that it is important to invest in oneself. Learning about oneself empowers him or her to lead a meaningful life. This valuable inv

+See More