The Hill (April 2016) - Trump: I will eliminate U.S. debt in 8 years

[TomCADem]

So, how does a huge tax cut to corporations and the rich eliminate the debt?

http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/presidential-races/275003-trump-i-will-eliminate-us-debt-in-8-years

Donald Trump insists he would be able to wipe out the United States’s debt in eight years.

The Republican presidential front-runner said in a wide-ranging interview with The Washington Post that he’d be able to get rid of the more than $19 trillion debt “over a period of eight years.”
Eliminating that amount of debt in eight years is highly improbable, according to most economists, The Washington Post reported. It could require using $2 trillion a year from the annual $4 trillion budget to pay off holders of the debt.

Trump insisted in the interview that “renegotiating all of our deals” would help pay down the debt by sparking economic growth.

“The power is trade. Our deals are so bad,” Trump said. “I would immediately start renegotiating our trade deals with Mexico, China, Japan and all of these countries that are just absolutely destroying us.”

[L. Coyote]

1. Let me guess, he's going to eliminate corporate taxes entirely, and that will fix everything.

[TomCADem]

3. If It Was Simply a Matter of Who Was For Corporations Versus the People...

...the Democrats would win in a landslide despite the arguments from the Justice Democrats that the reason why Republicans are winning is because they had the more pro-worker message. Democrats would simply point to all of the corporate giveaways being proposed by Republicans. However, its not about being pro-worker. It is about catering to racism and xenophobia.

Rather than ignore social justice issues, Democrats need to point out that Trump's embrace of racism, sexism and hate not only oppresses women and minorities, but it also is used to oppress white men as Lyndon Johnson observed over 50 years ago.

[dalton99a]

11. A timeless quote

[0rganism]

2. by eliminating the U.S.? i think he's got a shot at it

yeah i think 8 years of this kind of incompetent predatory leadership would just about resolve our national debt, the hard way

[BlueStater]

4. I like how this fuckbag always just assumes he's going to get a second term.

I'm hoping he doesn't even make it until the end of this damn year.

[Buns_of_Fire]

5. Of course. He'll use the patented Trump Solution (tm):

He'll just refuse to pay it.

[teezy]

6. By eliminating everything that made America what it was.

And by eliminating lives.

What a win.

[Samantha]

7. The largest holder of U.S. debt is We the People

https://www.thebalance.com/who-owns-the-u-s-national-debt-3306124

The U.S. debt is $19 trillion. Most headlines focus on how much the United States owes China, which is one of the largest foreign owners. What many people don’t know is that the Social Security Trust Fund, aka your retirement money, owns most of the national debt. How does that work, and what does it mean?

* * *

Intragovernmental Holdings. This is the federal debt owed to 230 other federal agencies. It totals $5.554 trillion, almost 30 percent of the debt. Why would the government owe money to itself? Some agencies, like the Social Security Trust Fund, take in more revenue from taxes than they need. Rather than stick this cash under a giant mattress, they buy U.S. Treasurys with it.

By owning Treasuries, they transfer their excess cash to the general fund, where it is spent. Of course, one day they will redeem their Treasury notes for cash. The Federal government will either need to raise taxes or issue more debt, to give the agencies the money they will need.

Which agencies own the most Treasuries? Social Security, by a long shot. Here's the detailed breakdown (as of December 31, 2016).(bold emphasis added)

Check out the rest of the article at the link above.

The fact that The Social Security Trust Fund is a huge owner of a big slice of the U.S. debt (no, it is not China) is the true reason we have heard for years we must do away with this program because it is "nothing but a Ponzi scheme." Uncle Sam would rather abolish the program or privatize it to rid itself of this problem.

Ben Bernanke said in a Senate hearing a few years back the Social Security act itself could be repealed. I could not believe what I was hearing, and I do believe the minute the words were out of his mouth he regretted the slip.

In 2003, George Bush* was up to the same tricks but found out the transition costs alone to a private holder would be Three Trillion Dollars. The U.S. Government did not want to pay that and the recipient of the program would refuse. The only way it could be done would be to have the participants pay the Three Trillion by reducing their benefits....

But if Trump is serious about eliminating U.S. Debt in eight years, he will have to do something about the huge debt owed to Social Security participants, Medicare and oh, yes, Federal employees retirement funds (yes, the Federal Government has borrowed from it as well....) And doing so by defrauding the people who have paid into these programs for years who wake up in their retirement years to find themselves paupers is not acceptable.

Sam

[TomCADem]

10. Didn't He Suggest Defaulting ...

...and negotiating down the amount owe?

[Samantha]

12. He might have but I do not know

That hearing was some time ago. I watched it live, and I was so stunned by Bernanke's statement, I did not hear the subsequent remarks.

Sam

[TomCADem]

14. Donald Trumps Idea to Cut National Debt: Get Creditors to Accept Less

Here is Trump's proposal to simply renegotiate the national debt.

https://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/07/us/politics/donald-trumps-idea-to-cut-national-debt-get-creditors-to-accept-less.html?_r=0

After assuring Americans he is not running for president “to make things unstable for the country,” the presumptive Republican nominee, Donald J. Trump, suggested that he might reduce the national debt by persuading creditors to accept something less than full payment.

Asked on Thursday whether the United States needed to pay its debts in full, or whether he could negotiate a partial repayment, Mr. Trump told the cable network CNBC, “I would borrow, knowing that if the economy crashed, you could make a deal.”

He added, “And if the economy was good, it was good. So, therefore, you can’t lose.”

Such remarks by a major presidential candidate have no modern precedent. The United States government is able to borrow money at very low interest rates because Treasury securities are regarded as a safe investment, and any cracks in investor confidence have a long history of costing American taxpayers a lot of money.

[CentralMass]

8. His debt ?

[erpowers]

9. Mexico Will Pay for the Wall

He also said, during the campaign, that Mexico would pay for the wall on the U.S.-Mexico border. Now he is claiming that Mexico will pay for the wall at a later date. Will he eventually claim the debt will be eliminated at a later date? Will he claim no one knew the U.S. budget was so complicated?

[Liberal In Texas]

13. By an odd coincidence 8 years is how long his term would last

if he were not impeached and then reelected.