Quote from: Unknown Op on July 20, 2025, 07:32:52 PM

Debt is burden on the economy of the country. USA government took debt and billions if dollars are required to pay but that is not possible in future years and government is taking more money and that amount will increase in the future. Our children will pay the debt which government is taking and they are using this amount for their benefit which are showing the work of government. In the next 4 to years government will change and politician will take more debt to give stability to the middle class people but that is not good for country and government will apply more taxes on the common people because they have no other resources to pay taxes .As they are take debt for giving relief to the public and public will pay the next installments .

You are seeing the cycle for what it is. Every new government promises to help the middle class, but it is always by borrowing more money that future generations will have to pay back, usually with higher taxes or fewer opportunities. They are handing out short-term relief, while sending the bill to our kids

And yeah, once this cycle starts, it is hard to stop. Each set of leaders just tries to "patch up" the problems for a few years, hoping the next group will deal with the real pain. The debt keeps growing, the interest costs pile up, and the only real option is squeezing ordinary people even harder, whether through taxes, inflation, or cuts to basic services

This is not just an American problem, but it is getting worse in the U.S. because the numbers are now so big, and the willingness to actually change course is so small

Maybe the only way out is for people to see that short-term fixes do not actually solve anything. If we keep asking governments for instant relief, they will keep borrowing and passing the problem down the line. At some point, everyone pays, sometimes without even realizing it

Quote from: Fortify on July 20, 2025, 09:14:14 PM

This can be a rather elastic situation, as you say - it requires politicians to make hard choices and impose them on the population that ultimately decide whether they get into power next time. While I love democracy and think it is the best way, it is cursed by the relatively short 4-5 year timescales and seems to have evolved into simply preparing for the next election. That means that painful decisions are forever kicked down the road, because they might mean lost votes and it is much easier to "bribe" citizens with things like tax cuts. It's not unfixable but it does require more actual politics with the main parties coming together to back sensible policies on debt reduction, instead of constantly trying to find the extremes without any compromise.

Great point. Everyone wants long-term stability, but when elections are always just around the corner, nobody wants to be the adult in the room and say, "This is going to hurt, but we need to do it". So, yeah, the cycle of short-term thinking continues: tax cuts today, tough reforms postponed until "next time", and the real cost gets bigger for the next generation

Totally agree, democracy is still the best system we have got, but it is almost built to avoid real pain, at least until it is too late to avoid all the pain. In the U.S. now, both sides chase easy votes with promises, and nobody wants to be first to call for sacrifice or real change, because it is political suicide

I would add: The only way out seems to be some kind of political courage, or, like you said, a grown-up agreement across parties. But history shows that usually does not happen until things break, not before. And when they do break, regular people get the worst of it

Quote from: philipma1957 on Today at 01:26:53 AM

Quote from: slapper on July 09, 2025, 06:57:44 AM

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Social security is not a promise.

You paid it in and when you get old you are entitled to get it back.

Pretty much it is like an annuity you have legal rights to collect it.

Some do feel Social Security is basically a contract. You pay in, you get paid back, simple as that. Legally, you are not wrong: it is built like an annuity, and you should have a right to what you contributed. But when the money coming in cannot cover what is going out, that "entitlement" gets political, fast. The trust fund is expected to run out in about eight years. If nothing changes, the law says benefits get cut by about 21% across the board. No real "promise" left to keep, just the numbers

Your point hits at something bigger: a lot of what people feel entitled to (social safety nets, steady jobs, even a stable dollar) just is not as guaranteed as it used to be. Feels like the old contract between people and government is getting rewritten in real time