How long will it take to pay off the national debt, if we make only the minimum monthly payment?

Photo above - AI generated image based on the prompt "President Biden calls the toll free debt relief hotline on TV for help" . .

Everything is great! Never been better. Don’t worry about household debt. It doesn’t matter if you have $35,000 in credit card balances, a $1,000 a month lease payment on an EV SUV, and apartment rent that goes up 5% each month. You’ll probably die before you have to pay it off. At least, that’s the attitude of the federal government when we ask about the $34 Trillion national debt.

“We always have a budget deficit” (This isn’t true. As recently as the Clinton Administration we balanced the budget)

*Most of the Treasury Bills are NOT held by China and Saudi Arabia. They’re owned by banks, and by ordinary people like you” (That’s supposed to make me feel better, if the government defaults? My bank shuts its doors, and my 401 goes into a death spiral?)

“There’s no law that says we have to pay it off, ever” (Absolutely true. But what happens if we keep printing more paper money? We already got a taste of that with the pandemic stimulus inflation disaster.)

“We can raise taxes on the rich. They’re not paying their fair share” (How so? They’re already paying over 50%, when you add up federal income tax and state income tax. That’s not including real estate tax, capital gains tax, etc. What’s “fair”? 90%?)

*Okay, we’ll just raise taxes on corporations” (Taxes, raw material and labor are added to the selling price of the goods being made. That’s why US cars are so expensive, and the White House is demanding a 100% tariff to keep cheap foreign cars out. And we already can’t afford most of the made-in-America cars.)

*You’re an effing capitalist. I hate you. When the revolution happens, you’ll get arrested and sent to a work camp” (Russia and China already tried this. Those nations lived in poverty for decades)

“Oh just shut the eff up. You’re an idiot. You should be banned from this board. I’m contacting the moderators to have this post removed” (That might work. Censorship is always the impulse of people who feel their arguments are too weak to withstand debate.)

Thank you for being a loyal reader.

I’m just sayin’ . . .