Mises.org’s Ryan McMaken writes, “Ultimately, when a media pundit or Janet Yellen predicts the end of the world if debt doesn’t continue to skyrocket ever upward, they are simply calling for a continuation of the status quo.

And what does the status quo mean? It means a world in which the US government continues to spent trillions of dollars it doesn’t have, made possible through monetizing massive amounts of debt and forcing taxpayers to devote ever more of their own wealth and income to paying off an ever-more-huge chunk of interest.

.@ryanmcmaken on why a federal default benefits Americans, whatever statist fantasy media is peddling this week.https://t.co/6egzeRPrvk

— Peter St Onge, Ph.D.?? (@profstonge) October 5, 2021

It also means more government spending, which—regardless of whether it’s funded by debt or by taxes—causes malinvestment and, through the redistribution of wealth, rewards the politically powerful at the expense of everyone else. In other words, its keeps Pentagon generals and Big Pharma executives living in luxury while the taxpayers are lectured about the need to “pay America’s bills.”

Read the entire column.

The post Why Americans would benefit from a government default appeared first on Liberty Tree.

Mises.org’s Ryan McMaken writes, “The media and Democratic politicians assure us that any default will bring about a second Great Depression and financial collapse.

One key component of this strategy is convincing people that the United States has never defaulted before, and has always made good on its financial obligations. This is key because it helps create the impression that were the United States to default, the result would a step into the great unknown, and a ‘financial crisis and a calamity.’

“The US has never defaulted. Not once.”
~@SecYellen @WSJ

“Yet the United States government absolutely has defaulted on debts before—more than once.”
~@ryanmcmaken @mises @jasonzweigwsj https://t.co/1f5kGVhuzl

— Casey Carlisle (@UncleNap) September 29, 2021

This is likely (in part) why, in her September 19 column for the Wall Street Journal, Treasury secretary Janet Yellen repeatedly claims the US has never defaulted. ‘The US has always paid its bills on time,’ she insists, and then repeats the claim in the next paragraph: ‘The US has never defaulted. Not once.’

Yet the United States government absolutely has defaulted on debts before—more than once.”

Read the entire column.

The post Yellen is wrong. The U.S. doesn’t always pay its bills appeared first on Liberty Tree.