Noob/ serious question. Why can't the USA just print more money to pay off the $19 trillion debt?

a reply to: NewzNose
If you think US dollars are worth nothing then I am happy to provide some bank details for you to donate any of your worthless dollars to....
Value of a currency is nothing to do with being backed by any commodities.

The US dollar is a mini Ponzi scheme...the one left with the dollars at the end of the day has nothing....
Those with the goods that the dollars bought that day, have the goods....

originally posted by: AugustusMasonicus
I believe the actual amount of printed/minted dollars in circulation world wide is roughly $600billion.

That's why I quoted (and linked to) the site from which I got that information--the Federal Reserve. If they claim it, it's the best I can do.

Of course, trusting the Fed is like trusting that Bill Clinton knows all the definitions of "is," so take it with a grain of salt, I guess.

a reply to: ScepticScot

There is no value on the dollar except it having been the fiat currency. major countries no longer use the dollsar as fiat currency because it is debt and worthless.

a reply to: Richsac89
The real questions you must ask yourself (or anyone else for thar matter) is "just who do we owe this monetary debt to" and " to who do we pay the money to"?
Now quite a few on here will answer the IMF or the world banks. But when it comes to the bottom line it's the worlds top governments that the debt is owed. Yes, you've got it, we owe the debt to ourselves and we're paying ourselves back the debt we owe.
Silly isn't it. But a fantastic method for keeping the populations under control through them believing that they owe so much and are duty bound to repay it.

originally posted by: NewzNose
a reply to: ScepticScot

There is no value on the dollar except it having been the fiat currency. major countries no longer use the dollsar as fiat currency because it is debt and worthless.

Pretty sure the US still uses the dollar and also reasonably sure US is a major country. The dollar clearly isn't worthless as most foreign countries seem quite keen to hold dollars.

a reply to: ScepticScot

Ya think so, huh?
.

60% of the World's GDP producing countries has abandoned using the dollar.... 23 countries.

China, Russia, France, Germany, UK, India to name a few.

Yeah, the dollar is going strong!

It cannot be paid off. It is a literal scam. Imagine paying off a mortgage if your only form of income was a credit with interest from the same bank you financed through.

Enough dollars could never be printed. Print 19 trillion and you will owe 25 trillion on that 19.

a reply to: imjack

Must have been a stupid question.

Seriously though, not just printed money, what is "in circulation" in the USA verses USD owned by foreign parties that spend it?

Would this not mean creating money would simultaneously devalue the dollars OTHER COUNTRIES have, while literally injecting the stolen value into our own economy?

originally posted by: NewzNose
a reply to: ScepticScot

Ya think so, huh?
.

60% of the World's GDP producing countries has abandoned using the dollar.... 23 countries.

China, Russia, France, Germany, UK, India to name a few.

Yeah, the dollar is going strong!

Those countries have never used the dollar. What I assume you talking about is the declining use of the dollar as the primary reserve currency. There have always been other reserve currencies and the dollar remains by far the dominant one with +75% of foreign exchange.
The US countries runs a balance of payment deficit and foreign investors continue to hold US debt. These things which people assume are a negative are actually indicators of confidence in the US economy. Foreign business and governments are willing to trade real goods and services in order to hold a currency that is not backed by any collateral. That does not indicate that they think the dollar is in trouble.

In general, the money can only be loaned into existence.

originally posted by: imjack
a reply to: imjack

Must have been a stupid question.

Seriously though, not just printed money, what is "in circulation" in the USA verses USD owned by foreign parties that spend it?

Would this not mean creating money would simultaneously devalue the dollars OTHER COUNTRIES have, while literally injecting the stolen value into our own economy?

Not sure why you would think of foreign owned dollars as stolen. The US got real stuff in exchange for numbers on a screen.
However you are correct that mass increasing of the base money supply could potentially have a greater impact on foreign dollar holders. That is one reason why foreign owned debt is not a major concern. It is when they stop wanting dollars you need to worry.

a reply to: ScepticScot

No. You misunderstood. It's pretty simple how inflation works with a money supply. New money 'steals' value from old money.

What is not understood(by me) is why people only consider the money supply to be in the United States.

If new money is 'printed', it can only be assumed inflation has lowered the value of dollars that are overseas, and the new money is not accessible to them.

So in otherwords, yes inflation effects us, but the closer you are to the "new money" is not only not a disadvantage, it's a benefit.

The assumption seems to be that when new money is created in the United States, you will not be apart of it.

How in the world do you think other countries feel when the only way they're getting a piece of the new money is through business? How do you think they feel about old business deals for set amounts, when we will inevitably lower the value of that money, especially when statisitcally foreign partys normally invest our money and don't spend it?

I agree this is why foreign debt is not an issue, because in respect to the OP, we can just print money to pay the debt because it devalues foreign dollars the most.

I disagree that printing money has a connect to the actual demand of payment. They won't decline to be paid on the principle we just created it, ever, in favor of just letting the debt go unsettled. If they don't want the dollar, they don't want the debt.

This idea is twofold hilarious, because the easiest way to improve the economy after we pay the debt with printed money, is to print more money, and this will effectively again lower value of overseas dollars, and the 20 trillion we just paid will again be worth less, while our debt is completely satisfied.

Read 'The Creature from Jekyll Island', by G. Edward Griffin. That book will explain what has be done to this country (and the world) with fiat (fake) money. The Federal Reserve Act has taken a limited Federal servant government and turned it into your evil master. The 'debt' is nothing more than an accounting trick to give the federal government unlimited resources. A government with unlimited resources is, by definition, not limited. The book is a long dry read, but you will know more than any 'economist' when you're done.

No, you are wrong. The world is using Federal Reserve Notes. It may say 'dollar', but the definition of a dollar is:


DOLLAR

money. A silver coin of the United States of the value of one
hundred cents, or tenth part of an eagle.

Source: Bouviers Law Dictionary 1856 Edition

a reply to: ScepticScot

Because the way the monetary system is set up, if one prints more, it only creates more debt.

There is no money in the system.

This thing we call money is actually nothing but IOU's, or debt notes.

The more funny money one prints, the higher the debt becomes.

Nope, it doesn't work for anyone but the banks, and it is designed that way....

originally posted by: craterman
No, you are wrong. The world is using Federal Reserve Notes. It may say 'dollar', but the definition of a dollar is:


DOLLAR

money. A silver coin of the United States of the value of one
hundred cents, or tenth part of an eagle.

Source: Bouviers Law Dictionary 1856 Edition

a reply to: ScepticScot

Yes because nothing has happened since 1856.

a reply to: imjack
My apologies I did indeed misinterpret what you meant and thought you were referring foreign debt as stolen.
I don't stealing from old money is particularly useful analogy as it oversimplifys however I understand what you mean.

Inflation and debt would skyrocket.

originally posted by: MyHappyDogShiner
Because the way the monetary system is set up, if one prints more, it only creates more debt.

There is no money in the system.

This thing we call money is actually nothing but IOU's, or debt notes.

The more funny money one prints, the higher the debt becomes.

Nope, it doesn't work for anyone but the banks, and it is designed that way....

All money is an IOU. It is requirement of something being used as money. In this respect Fiat money is no different from commodity backed money.