Date: 2024-05-18 Page is: DBtxt003.php txt00025965
TVM ... ISSUES WITH THE NEWS
PUBLIC FINANCE
PBS NEWS November 21st 2023 ... Discussion of the Debt and Deficits
PUBLIC FINANCE
PBS NEWS November 21st 2023 ... Discussion of the Debt and Deficits
Original article: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/november-21-2023-pbs-newshour-full-episode
Peter Burgess COMMENTARY
Peter Burgess
PBS NEWS November 21st 2023 ... Discussion of the Debt and Deficits
Written by Peter Burgess
November 21st 2023
Most of the time, I am comfortable with the reporting of the daily .. and weekend ... PBS newshour.
But today ... November 21st 2023 ... there was a segment that I found very disturbing. The subject was the US economy with a presentation by Congressional Reporter Lisa Desjardins... and moderated by Geoff Bennett
The facts presented were correct, but their role in the functioning of the economy was 'assumed' ... and the assumption that was likely to be the 'takeaway' was unclear or perhaps even downright wrong.
The National Debt
As someone who got some professional training in accountancy, I am familiar with the idea of a balance sheet with assets and liabilities and an operating statement that has both revenues and costs. In the real world that people live in as well as in the business world, this is the way accounting is done. But not so much in government and national accounting where huge numbers are talked about without ever being put in any sort of meaningful context. Talking about the 'national debt' is pretty much meaningless. It needs to be put in context. Putting the national debt in context is not particularly easy. There are a lot of factors to be taken into account, not least of which is the 'unit of measure'. In the case of the United States, the national debt is denominated (numbered) in US dollars ... but what exactly is a US dollar?
Daily interest on the National Debt
Interest for the Year
Defense Budget for the Year
Social Security, Medical and Interest
Social Security, Medical and Interest
Social Security, Medical, Interest and Discretionary
Moody Analytics
Congressional Debate
Historic reality