Debt Is Not A Reserve Asset

Daniel Lacalle 16/01/2020 5

Upside-down economics’ defenders say that deficits create savings.

The process never starts with deficit spending, but with the assets and wealth of the economy, which can be leveraged only to a certain extent and never decided by the borrower but the lenders.

Borrowing is never the first step neither endless.

Saying that governments issue financial assets that create savings is as incorrect as believing that a company that constantly issues shares generates wealth. Diluting wealth is not the creation of savings.

Deficit spending is borrowing. Either it destroys the citizen’s savings via inflation monetizing the deficit or destroy it with higher taxes in the future.

Deficit spending is not “supplying a good” but extracting others’ wealth (via higher taxes or inflation in the future).

If deficit spending created citizen savings global debt would be zero. Complete nonsense. Deficit spending does not create savings, it extracts future and current wealth via inflation or higher taxation in the future.

Government deficit spending confiscates private wealth.

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  • Dylan Peters

    I estimate that about 80% of the population has zero understanding of the federal budget.

  • Julia Richards

    Enough said

  • Daniel Eaton

    The debt will never be paid off.

  • Thomas Hickey

    We've already reached the tipping point.

  • Kirsty Rowan

    Thanks for being honest on this.