Analysis: Coronavirus stimulus will take national debt to wartime levels

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

Governments are launching one rescue package after another in hopes of preventing economic catastrophe as the coronavirus pandemic rampages around the world, shutting down entire industries and costing tens of million of people their jobs.

In most countries, political opposition to spending increases funded by borrowing has vanished in the face of a potential global depression. But the trillions of dollars in support promised to households and businesses will push up budget deficits to their highest levels since the global financial crisis.

And the borrowing binge could result in national debt mountains to rival those last seen in the late 1940s.

The amount of stimulus already committed ranges as high as 20% of GDP in some countries, but economists warn that even more will likely be needed to support workers and companies harmed by the pandemic. At the same time, tax revenue will decline along with economic activity, blowing out deficits even further.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/analysis-coronavirus-stimulus-will-take-national-debt-to-wartime-levels/ar-BB127L56?li=BBnb7Kz

But then debt was no big deal when it came to Republican tax cuts.

[progree]

1. And before someone posts that we did just fine with those WWII wartime debt loads, I feel obliged

to point out that the debt was easily handled and greatly reduced during the next two decades because we ended WWII as the only country with a significant intact manufacturing base. Most of Europe's and East Asia's was bombed out and, well, the Soviet Union was never a competitor when it came to consumer products.

What matters about the debt is the amount of tax revenue that ends up going not to programs, but to Treasury bond holders, by far most of which is owned by the wealthy, and besides, 30% is foreign-owned. So the meme that we're just paying interest to ourselves is bogus baloney.

"The U.S. will spend more on interest payments than on the military by 2027, according to projections by the Congressional Budget Office"

Source: "By Adding to the Debt, Tax Cuts Could Complicate Next Downturn", Wall Street Journal, 1/21/18
https://www.wsj.com/articles/by-adding-to-the-debt-tax-cuts-could-complicate-next-downturn-1516549269

Yes, the WSJ article is pay-walled. There are no more details or source information about this quote in the article than what it in the quote. I did find a March 2017 CBO report with information that was consistent with the above quote. Note the March 2017 CBO report does not include the effects of the $1.5 trillion tax cut enacted in December 2017.

And obviously long before the 2020 Great Shutdown and its so-called "stimulus" spending.

How do you "stimulate" a deliberately shut down economy? And please I don't want to read a bunch of crap about how Amazon and InstaCart and grocery stores are seeing big leaps in sales and are desperate for workers.