posted
What about in the 1990s? I have always been told (by propaganda?) that there was a surplus. At least, that is how reporters are always talking. Not that I would be surprised they spun things to sound like that was the case. I mean, "balanced budget" might not be what it sounds.
Posts: 2207 | Registered: Oct 2003
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posted
Just because the budget is balanced, does not mean debt is paid off.
When there is a "surplus" in the budget one would think that it should go to pay down the national debt. Instead at least part of it usually goes to tax rebates, etc.
Posts: 21182 | Registered: Sep 2004
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posted
The owners of the debt do not want it paid back. They like (a) the interest and (b) the ownership of the US.
Posts: 12266 | Registered: Jul 2005
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posted
Considering most of the owners of US debt are people in the US (by a huge amount), I don't think it is terribly unreasonable for them to be proud of owning a part of the US gov't's future revenue.
The attractiveness of US debt is a strength, not a weakness, of our economy. Whether or not we have issued too much is a separate issue.
Posts: 15770 | Registered: Dec 2001
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posted
The USSR is among many countries that owe the US money. Unfortunately, as the USSR no longer exists, it seems unlikely that we will ever collect the debt.
Posts: 1214 | Registered: Aug 2005
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quote: Russia has laid to rest the financial ghosts of the Cold War, paying back its entire Soviet-era debt to western countries.
The Kremlin claimed Russia has now become a fully-fledged member of the developed world after paying back $22bn (£12bn) of debt owed to the Paris Club - a group of 17 creditors including the US and the UK.
The Paris Club debts of, originally, about $60bn date from the fall of communism, when Russia took on all the foreign debt owed by former members of the USSR.
Almost half of it was lent by Germany. Russia had at times threatened to default on the debt, arguing that it should not be held to ransom because of the commercial shortcomings of the previous, discredited regime.
The payment is the latest sign of the country's financial independence, and illustrates how dramatically high oil and gas prices have transformed the country's economy.
posted
Russia assumed the USSR's debts to the US, and they're quite small nowadays (they've paid them off, mostly).
However, you're mistaking situation. The debt we're talking about is debt the US owes people for giving the US government money, in the form of bonds.
edit: Mucus beat me to part of the response.
edit again: I believe some of it was paid off in exchange for cooperation on nuclear disarmament, but only a drop in the scheme of things.
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