Out of everything that is driving me crazy in this moment -- there are many -- the thing at the top is the misunderstanding of the nature of the US debt.
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Since the dawn of Reaganism, exploiting misunderstanding of US debt is one of the primary ways the rich fracked their way into the working class's vote.
Bonds are *also* indicators of faith in said country to pay back said loan. I doubt any of us would buy bonds issued by North Korea or the Congo.
Which is to say: the more bonds are purchased from a given country, the stronger (economically, faith in its general strength and resilience, etc) it is
Or to put it another way: a country's debt *can* be directly correlated with its strength/reliability. Obviously not always -- there are many ways to rack up debt -- but if the debt is incurred via bonds, this is the relationship.
What makes the dollar the "world reserve currency?" People/countries buying the dollar, i.e. buying assets in/of/with the dollar, i.e. buying US bonds. It means that it's a currency basically *everyone* owns to some degree or another, and thus can and do trade in.
The more bonds issued, the stronger the dollar, the stronger the country, the higher debt. All of these things go hand in hand. You *can not* lower one without lowering all the others. They are reflections of the same thing.
This is why "paying back the debt" just...isn't, and wasn't ever, a thing. Debt can be scary to individuals, but to businesses and countries, it's the gas the engine runs on.
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You don't have to squint too hard to see that this will, inevitably, result in debt for the country in question.
Which is to say: the more bonds are purchased from a given country, the stronger (economically, faith in its general strength and resilience, etc) it is