This is a terrifying big picture look at the federal deficit, how the bureaucrats are dealing with it, and how it impacts us.

Every part of this has been previously discussed, but this does a great job of bringing the whole picture together.

Helped me better understand why my paycheck and expenses appear detached from what media and government present as reality.

TTT after almost paying $10.99 for a single 12-pack of carbonated sugar water (coke) last night.

Prices are insane.

I've gotten too lazy to watch videos like this. Google Gemini summary below for those interested:

I've often thought the easiest way to "get rid" of the deficit is to inflate our way out of it. Maybe true. The suggestion is to buy gold, real estate and crypto. I am definitely going to diversify and do some of that.

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This video, titled "How the U.S. Is Quietly Erasing $38 Trillion in Debt" by The Coin Financials, argues that the United States government is undergoing a "soft default" on its national debt through a process of financial repression and inflation [03:03].
Core Argument: The "Soft Default"
The video posits that since the U.S. cannot realistically pay back its $38 trillion debt through taxes (austerity) and refuses to explicitly default (which would collapse the global system), it has chosen to inflate the debt away [01:49]. By keeping interest rates lower than the rate of inflation, the "real" value of the debt shrinks, effectively paying back lenders with money that has significantly less purchasing power [03:15].
Key Mechanisms of Debt Erasure
The narrator outlines three primary "tools" the government uses to manage this crisis:

• The Captive Buyer: Through regulations like Dodd-Frank, banks and pension funds are legally required to hold U.S. Treasuries, creating "artificial demand" and allowing the government to borrow at suppressed rates [06:57].
• CPI Manipulation: The video claims the government has rewritten how the Consumer Price Index (CPI) is calculated (using substitution and hedonic adjustments) to underreport true inflation, thereby reducing the cost of inflation-linked payments like Social Security [07:43].
• Fiscal Dominance: The Federal Reserve has lost its independence; its primary role is now keeping the Treasury solvent by printing money to buy the debt that foreign nations no longer want (Quantitative Easing) [08:56].

Societal Impact

• The Cantillon Effect: New money enters the economy through the financial sector first. This allows the wealthy to buy assets before prices rise, while the middle and lower classes receive the money only after inflation has already eroded its value [11:31].
• Forced Speculation: The "60/40" portfolio and traditional saving are described as "financial suicide." Citizens are now forced to gamble in stocks, real estate, or crypto just to preserve their wealth [13:02].
• The "Endgame": The video warns that Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) are being developed to remove the "exit" of physical cash, allowing the government to implement negative interest rates or even expire money to control the economy [13:24].

Conclusion
The video concludes that the American dream of "saving your way to prosperity" is over [14:58]. It suggests that the only way to survive this "great wealth transfer" is to own scarce, unprintable assets like real estate, gold, and Bitcoin [14:45].

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Meh, it's not being addressed because it is not popular with the people to address it or scale back on deficit spending via entitlements. Add, democrats actually see it as a good thing as it will bankrupt the American people so that's part of the reason but let's not pretend the republicans are a bunch of saints about it.

Quote:

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I've often thought the easiest way to "get rid" of the deficit is to inflate our way out of it. Maybe true. The suggestion is to buy gold, real estate and crypto. I am definitely going to diversify and do some of that.

Quote:

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Quote:
This video, titled "How the U.S. Is Quietly Erasing $38 Trillion in Debt" by The Coin Financials, argues that the United States government is undergoing a "soft default" on its national debt through a process of financial repression and inflation

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Yeah, it's certainly the easiest way and also the way that leads to implosion that happens after the current people in power are gone. Kicking the can down the road is US economic policy.

And I don't think this video needs to "argue" anything. A "soft default" through financial repression and inflation is fact and reality. There will be no spending cuts that matter.

The only thing that might forestall implosion is de-population and that assumes we cut spending proportional to that de-population. It also assumes we don't implode before the population curve starts bending downwards.

No one group of people wants to suffer the pain of paying down the debt and eliminating deficits so we will suffer the pain of constant inflation and erosion of the value of our non physical or non growth assets. Assets that inflate in value in terms of dollars at least help the investor class mitigate the damage. The wage labor consumer class will suffer more.

AggieKatie2 said:

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TTT after almost paying $10.99 for a single 12-pack of carbonated sugar water (coke) last night.

Prices are insane.

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I can actually wrap my head around the soft default and why it's arguably the best option to address the deficit, but without fixing/balancing the budget and stopping or at least slowing additional debt, it's pointless and it's an endless death spiral.

I could live with this if someone said, hey we are doing this and balancing the budget going forward, and it'll take 10 years and then things will be eased off.

AggieKatie2 said:

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TTT after almost paying $10.99 for a single 12-pack of carbonated sugar water (coke) last night.

Prices are insane.

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My HEB has a 24pk of Dr Pepper Zero for $12.48

Houston Lee said:

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AggieKatie2 said:

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TTT after almost paying $10.99 for a single 12-pack of carbonated sugar water (coke) last night.

Prices are insane.

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My HEB has a 24pk of Dr Pepper Zero for $12.48

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Looks like convenience store pricing like Walgreens, etc.

The consumer products guys know they can juice the price cause you are grabbing it in a hurry… for convenience… and don't care as much about the price.

Don't ever work out what the case equivalent sale price of 20oz plastic bottles of sodas are.

And liquids are heavy and transporting them is sensitive to fuel costs. Should see some relief in grocery goods from cheaper oil / gas.

AggieKatie2 said:

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TTT after almost paying $10.99 for a single 12-pack of carbonated sugar water (coke) last night.

Prices are insane.

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Switch to beer. Same price

Houston Lee said:

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AggieKatie2 said:

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TTT after almost paying $10.99 for a single 12-pack of carbonated sugar water (coke) last night.

Prices are insane.

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My HEB has a 24pk of Dr Pepper Zero for $12.48

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A 12 pack always costs more per unit.

Wal-Mart has 12 pack of Diet DP for $8 and a 24 pack for $12.

Soft drinks are terrible for you anyway. Consider it a sin tax. Switch to water.

Soft default is the way gutless politicians also choose. Read The Big Print by Lawrence Lepard. It is just a matter of time. Short answer: Buy stuff that cannot be printed out of thin air to protect yourself.

inb4 "boomers are destroying the universe ree".

AggieKatie2 said:

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This is a terrifying big picture look at the federal deficit, how the bureaucrats are dealing with it, and how it impacts us.

Every part of this has been previously discussed, but this does a great job of bringing the whole picture together.

Helped me better understand why my paycheck and expenses appear detached from what media and government present as reality.

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is there a way to disable the auto-generated closed captioning?

Why is that now a thing with videos on youtube? It's annoying as hell.

The problem with the current approach is you eventually hit a level where the middle class can no longer exist in the system without suffering. Once that happens, any future attempts of extending and pretending through stimulus, FED intervention, or further inflation only add fuel to an already raging fire.

Essentially, as long as there are no shocks to the system, this can go on longer. But the next shock likely breaks the camels back. At that point, it's downhill, and there's nothing they can do to stop it.

AggieKatie2 said:

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I could live with this if someone said, hey we are doing this and balancing the budget going forward, and it'll take 10 years and then things will be eased off.

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That would require leadership to have the balls to explain themselves. They don't.

Probably locally owned, but ..

Does corporate not have the ability to set these guys straight?

Stock only down 1.77% right now, but if it takes a plunge, shareholders are going to be pissed off.

Surely someone can kick these guys in ass and and make them cut it out

agracer said:

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is there a way to disable the auto-generated closed captioning?

Why is that now a thing with videos on youtube? It's annoying as hell.

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You cannot as it is a part of the video, not an add-on by Youtube.

This is put in there by some people so that you can "watch" it without needing to listen to it or needing headphones. Sometimes it helps but can also be annoying.

Austerity does NOT need to have a tax increase component.

An outgoing 2 term POTUS or an incoming POTUS who is OK with only one term needs to start the conversation and put the blame and responsibility at the feet of Congress where it 1000000% belongs.

Eliminate SS, Medicaid/care, any federally funded benefits (housing, childcare, etc.), SNAP, school lunches, etc. and also state that no state, city, county or ISD will receive federal $$ to balance their budget and fill the gap. Eliminate the SBA, any government involvement in student loans and secondary mortgage makers. As well, no more foreign aid in terms of $$ at all, period, not one penny. We will provide humanitarian assistance via tangible goods and limited services. Lastly, zero funding to any and all NGOs and non-profits as well as academic research.

If you did all of that and kept taxes the same the debt would be under control and manageable with existing tax and fees revenue streams.

Taxes are not the problem. Spending is the problem and much of what I have laid out above is not the right or responsibility of the federal government, periods. Worse, much of it is unconstitutional though has been deemed to be legal.

All of that stuff needs to be handled at the local or state level, if at all.

Jarrin Jay said:

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Austerity does NOT need to have a tax increase component.

An outgoing 2 term POTUS or an incoming POTUS who is OK with only one term needs to start the conversation and put the blame and responsibility at the feet of Congress where it 1000000% belongs.

Eliminate SS, Medicaid/care, any federally funded benefits (housing, childcare, etc.), SNAP, school lunches, etc. and also state that no state, city, county or ISD will receive federal $$ to balance their budget and fill the gap. Eliminate the SBA, any government involvement in student loans and secondary mortgage makers. As well, no more foreign aid in terms of $$ at all, period, not one penny. We will provide humanitarian assistance via tangible goods and limited services. Lastly, zero funding to any and all NGOs and non-profits as well as academic research.

If you did all of that and kept taxes the same the debt would be under control and manageable with existing tax and fees revenue streams.

Taxes are not the problem. Spending is the problem and much of what I have laid out above is not the right or responsibility of the federal government, periods. Worse, much of it is unconstitutional though has been deemed to be legal.

All of that stuff needs to be handled at the local or state level, if at all.

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Unfortunately, the path of least resistance described in the video will continue to enable lying politicians that claim voters can have their cake and eat it too. It blurs the line between cause (deficit spending) and effect (inflation).

[Do not bypass obscenity filters -- Staff]

Buy gold and land. All I can say.