I would also like you to take a look at  https://www.usdebtclock.org  , the upper left-hand corner. 

 

That entry shows you how quickly the national debt is going up in real-time (quite literally), compounding on itself. 

 

Yes, the clock is accurate - I have verified that myself many times over the years when checking it, anticipating what is going on in the meantime.  The debt even gets paid down a little from time to time when tax collections come in - as reflected on the clock when that happens (yes, it does even go down a little from time to time!).  The effect does not last long - the debt is now compounding on itself so quickly that the effect of the paydown is absorbed very quickly and the debt is on to new highs.

 

Please also note that when Fed chairpersons go before Congress to ask Congress to do something about the deficits and (total) national debt, they have always talked about the debt being a problem for our children and grandchildren if it is not brought under control.

 

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) also talks in such terms.

 

It does make me wonder if any of these people have a clue what the consequences of an exponential are, especially a debt exponential - which is what is depicted on the graph.

 

It should be noted that not everything that is on an exponential track will automatically go exponential - but we are dealing with a debt exponential here.

 

A debt exponential happens when more and more debt gets added over the course of time.

 

The United States has been doing this for decades, as the graph shows.

 

What happens when more and more debt keeps being added?

 

More and more money just keeps being owed over the course of time!

 

The debt actually starts feeding on itself.

 

Such a situation is absolutely (mathematically) guaranteed to go exponential eventually!

 

(More and more debt is simply owed as time goes on!  The debt does not become less or stop!)

 

And, by the way, the recently drastically lower interest rates won't help - federal debt instruments don't get paid off early.  

They go to the currently prevailing interest rate when they mature and get rolled over (into new ones).

 

The majority of Treasuries currently outstanding are multi-year, not multi-month. 

 

Some of them go out decades.  

 

Given how quickly the national debt is going up in the meantime, compounding on itself, there is simply no way the system is going to be able to get ahead of that anymore and start reversing things. 

And, in the meantime, interest rates are back up again. They are nowhere near their lows anymore. In fact, it looks to me like the low is in for this cycle.

 

Can't the Fed simply do something about the debt situation?

 

Per the Constitution of the United States, all money matters, including the federal budget, must formally originate in the House of Representatives, the representatives of the people.  So legally, (only) Congress controls the budget, and therefore the deficit and national debt.  It is the purview of Congress, really only the House of Representatives, per the Constitution. The Fed knows that.

 

The Fed has no control over it.  So all the Fed can do is go to Congress and beg and plead.

 

Why doesn't Congress do something about it?

 

We are in a late-stage democracy - Hell will freeze over before Congress will get around to doing something about it!

 

When did America at least effectively become a democracy (as opposed to a Republic)?  In 1913, when Constitutional Amendment 17 was ratified.  That amendment changed senators from being appointed by the states to being elected by the people.

 

By the way, the Federal Reserve was authorized later the same year, in late 1913, just before Christmas.

 

And Constitutional Amendment 16 was also ratified in 1913.  It made the income tax legal (it was unconstitutional before).  Just so you know.