So if we're not going to pay down the debt...

I've discussed the national debt on multiple occasions. It's very clear that we as a people are far too childish and needy to do what must be done to take responsibility and pay off the debt, and even if we weren't a bunch of overgrown babies, our attention spans are too short to work towards a 100 year goal. There's more - there is the consideration of the growing population, and the effect on the world that would occur if we started to pay down the debt. There's the fact that if interest rates rise, even a little, our government wouldn't be able to handle the increased cost.

So yes, I think it's safe to assume that we are not going to pay down the national debt. So what does that mean?

It must mean that the FED will continue to create money and suppress interest rates. In other words, QE Forever.

The US government cannot let interest rates rise, and must continue to try to extend the rollover of the debt as far as possible. This is something the whole world is trying to do. Recently Switzerland issued 10 year debt with negative yields. Mexico indicated they would issue 100 year debt! The US will keep pushing longer yield times and lower interest rates, to try to buy more time and keep the cost of the debt down. Meanwhile this will increase the magnitude of the debt, but stabilize the interest we are paying each year.

This near decade long easy money policy has already created asset bubbles and massive malinvestment. The NASDAQ has more than tripled since the last market correction while the housing sector, which crashed so spectacularly with the "Great Recession" and which is generally considered to be a strong indicator of the health of the economy, has taken 6 years to recover to a mere 45% of its former heights. The last time the housing sector crashed this hard was during the Savings and Loan Crisis, which, incidentally was followed up by the.. drum roll... Dot Com Bubble. Yes, the markets are soaring on waves and waves of easy money, created by the FED and pumped in by their asset purchases. Everyone is wearing rose colored classes and loving the euphoria - they're addicted to it.

Does anyone think the FED can uncreate the monster it has created? Unwind the asset purchases and tighten the money supply without creating an international firestorm? I didn't think so.

So again, what does it mean?

I think it means, and maybe someone else will dissuade me, that the FED will be forced to hyperinflate and destroy our currency and our debt along with it. It's happened before, and will happen again. The only question is how much damage will it cause when it does happen. Of the $18+ trillion in US debt, over $5 trillion is intragovernmental - social security, medicare, pensions, etc. That will all be gone. Another $6.5 trillion belongs to Americans, individuals, 401ks, IRAs, businesses, banks, etc.; only about a third of our debt is foreign. So when it gets wiped out, so does the capital/savings of an enormous number of Americans.

I don't know if we will really end up carrying heaps of worthless cash in a wheelbarrow to buy a loaf of moldy bread, but again, it's happened before. I hope we can avoid it somehow.