[paraclete]

It's been a while since we spoke about a government defaulting but Argentina which has made a habit of profiting by defaulting on its debt and giving bond holders a hard time is right in the sights of some fiesty investors to the tune of $1.5 billion

What Argentina's debt fight is all about and why it matters | News.com.au

What has this got to do with me you might ask, well what's in play is a change to the way the game is played. You all remember Greece and the PIIGS, well Argentina has been as bad for longer. Greece managed to convince a number of countries to help it write off billions, just like Argenina has done before, but Greece didn't sell bonds to hedge funds. If the case before the courts against Argentina gets up, old bond holders will get paid ahead of all that lovely new money, changing the order of things and making national bankruptcy very difficult. How would you like your navy repossessed? it's possible, perhaps the White house could be sold off to pay those trillions in debt? think about it, boggles the mind, but that is exactly what these bond holders tried to do to Argentina to enforce their debt.

For all of us who think that governments should be allowed to spend more than they earn, look out, reality is close at hand, that fleet of F35, or that new Aircraft carrier doesn't look so good, does it, not if it goes with a taste of austerity

[tomder55]

government debt should be controlled but not necessarily eliminated. You hit on an important point . Is the government assets more than their debt ? With the US government land holdings representing apx a third of the nation ,I suspect the government could support the debt with a fire sale.
That being said ,the American debt is out of control and the chickens will come home to roost . Military hardware is small pototoes compared to the issue of long term obligation from 'entitlements'.

[paraclete]

Yes Tom we all have this problem since someone thought it a good idea to have Social Security, some mental giant politician, no doubt. By that don't think I object to pension schemes but the original implementations didn't fund them properly. Yes it maybe your debt is too high, it should be measured against inferstructure in a proper way that accounts for limited life, maintenance and renewal and limited to a certain level of asset value, a prudent bank level is 60% which makes sure some of your own fat is in the fire. This ide of leveraging debt is a real crock. Your's at 100% GDP or more is far too high. You an I both know the problem, you have too few people employed, the participration rate is too low and probably where it really counts in youth, aged and male unemployment

[tomder55]

so we have no jobs and we are encouraging more unemployed to cross the border . Now there's a plan !

[paraclete]

yes it's a great plan, immigration in any form is a crock but unfortunately some of us need more skilled peopel because our education system has failed us, but in your case your education system is producing those with the lack of skills you need so I don't see the problem