we shouldn't forget either that the US is not Venezuela in the sense the former can allow itself to indulge in excessive government spending as it can make the rest of the world pay for it, Venezuela included. But isn't that exactly what Trump is hellbent on doing anyway? Whenever I hear him say something, he always ends up saying that [put some country here] should pay for something or bear some part of the expenditures that Uncle Sam is allegedly making for their protection or whatever.
That's an interesting topic, one I'm not certain I know the answer to.
When the former Soviet Union (USSR) ran into issues with debt they weren't able to cover their costs by resorting to military action or forcing others to pay their bills. Most powerful nations on earth have far more debt than liquidity. Forcing foreign nations to cover your debts could be more expensive than paying off debt directly.
Yes, but I'm not saying that the US should necessarily resort to military action. Regarding making others pay their bills, this has been in the books for a few decades already. If you think this is not the case, then what is the US national debt really? If you ask me, it is exactly that, the whole world paying Uncle Sam for his bills.
Prevention could go a long way. When disaster strikes in terms of severe economic or social upheavel it can take decades to fix things. Preventing tragedies associated with deficit and debt from occurring is the only sound strategy.
But we don't know the whole story. Perhaps, they keep the spending beast on a short leash and employ the optimal strategy in this situation. We all know that no debt is better than some debt, but when everyone is indebted you just need to be indebted a little less than the rest of the pack with an allowance for your economic and military muscle. Further, recall the quantitative easings that the Fed had been running for a few rounds. Everyone was expecting the economy should soon switch into a hyperinflation mode but it didn't happen.