The federal government could default on its debt as soon as July, a new forecast from the Bipartisan Policy Center warns, raising pressure on Congress for action.

The prominent think tank forecast Monday that the so-called “X-Date” would likely arrive between mid-July and early October.

  • eric5949@lemmy.world
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    Bring on the collapse of the United States, I will never forgive the idiots who brought this chaos about.

    • BassTurd@lemmy.world
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      Everyday that passes makes it easier to justify writing out family. Gonna be some hard truths with the family I care about in the near future as various family events are getting planned. But, I don’t hang with fascists, so that’s how it goes.

      • EvilBit@lemmy.world
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        I get that disrupting family dynamics sucks, but “I don’t hang with fascists” has gotta be like the easiest and most beneficial life rule anyone could ever adopt. My dad’s a piece of shit. I walked away and have never looked back.

      • eric5949@lemmy.world
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        I don’t hang with fascists but if any of them want to admit they were wrong I’ll gladly fight alongside repentant former fascists to get my country back. They can’t expect forgiveness from me though, ask God instead.

        • BassTurd@lemmy.world
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          I said it in a comment a while back, my brother didn’t vote, but his rhetoric leading up to and to my understanding even after the election were almost just as bad. I’ve said that at the next election, I’ll determine if we will ever talk again depending on the state of the country and the my loved ones. The only reason he has that chance is because he didn’t vote.

          If any of these people decide that they were wrong and truly want to help turn shit around, I’ll accept the help, but that’s where the buck ends. We will never again have a relationship.

      • ToiletFlushShowerScream@lemmy.world
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        One of the best decisions I’ve ever made was cutting contact with the most racist and hateful in my family. It was much easier than I thought, I sleep much better at night. Last I heard, half of my siblings and a few nieces have followed suit. Don’t let their poison hurt you.

  • SoupBrick
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    We all agree to swap to the metric system after the collapse, right?

    • MagicShel@lemmy.zip
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      I mean when we all have to become chicken farmers to eat, yeah eggs will be dirt cheap.

    • BrianTheeBiscuiteer@lemmy.world
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      We need to stop invoking this mantra. Joe didn’t really do much to make egg prices go up [or down] and Trump clearly isn’t trying on that front either. If/when they do come down you’ll just vindicate the other side. I actually have seen lower prices at my local grocery. 2022 prices? IDK, but definitely lower than a couple weeks ago.

      • Auli@lemmy.ca
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        I mean Trump campaigned on lowering egg prices. So I think it’s fair. I believe he said day one.

      • partial_accumen@lemmy.world
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        Joe didn’t really do much to make egg prices go up [or down] and Trump clearly isn’t trying on that front either.

        To the best of my knowledge Joe never made claims either way on egg prices. trump campaigned on lowering egg prices.


        Speaking next to a table of packaged goods during an August press conference, Trump promised, should he be re-elected, to lower grocery prices on “day one.”

        “Grocery prices have skyrocketed. Cereals are up 26 percent, bread is up 24 percent, butter is up 37 percent, baby formula is up 30 percent, flour is up 38 percent, and eggs are up 46 percent,” he said. “When I win, I will immediately bring prices down, starting on day one.”

        source

        So egg prices continue to rise and what is trump’s response to the American people after getting elected? “Shut up about egg prices”.

        "The new numbers come days after Trump posted a link to an article with the headline “Shut Up About Egg Prices ― Trump Is Saving Consumers Millions,” written by right-wing activist Charlie Kirk, on Truth Social. "

        source

      • just_another_person@lemmy.world
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        The problem is that he lied to people to gain votes about handling. We absolutely DO NOT need to stop invoking it whatsoever. Every lie he told should be constantly spouted back at him and his cronies.

        • BrianTheeBiscuiteer@lemmy.world
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          Then I would say make his promise a key part of the criticism. Other people are going to parrot, “How about those cheap eggs?” but probably have nothing else to go off of if/when eggs aren’t so expensive anymore. Just don’t give people a “Jerkstore” insult (Seinfeld) and leave them with no backup.

        • Ferrous@lemmy.ml
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          Every lie he told should be constantly spouted back at him and his cronies.

          Why? Honest question. What’s the point?

          • just_another_person@lemmy.world
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            If you honestly do not understand the point, then your parents must have failed to instill in you the very basic concept of civics and responsibility, or you’ve just chosen to be the kind of person that is constantly steamrolled and taken advantage of and have no intention of fighting back against injustice.

            Either way, I’m so sorry for you.

            • Ferrous@lemmy.ml
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              Way to dodge the question. I’ll try again: what is to be gained by highlighting Trump’s hypocrisy?

              The fact that you not only dodged the question, but got hostile, makes me think you already have an idea.

              • just_another_person@lemmy.world
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                No dodging. If you truly don’t understand, then it’s like trying to explain the flavor of an orange to someone who has no tastebuds and has never tasted anything before.

                From the most practical standpoint and at a bare minimum, it’s pointing out his lies and failures to people who may have voted for him to erode his support and form a larger resistance to his wants and wishes. Say nothing, and do nothing.

                • Ferrous@lemmy.ml
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                  pointing out his lies and failures to people who may have voted for him to erode his support

                  What evidence do you have that this works? If anything, the last decade has demonstrably proved that this idea is false.

                  You can appeal to facts and logic until the cows come home, but you’re not going to make a dent in his approval rating or quell fascism. This is pure liberalism: the idea that the marketplace of ideas is what ultimately turns the wheel of history - the idea that with an epic enough slam, with enough scathing blasts, with enough late night talk show hit pieces, with enough appeals to facts and logic, you can convince a fascist to reason themselves out of being fascist. Although that might work once in a blue moon, it’s not how you systematically stop fascism. Fascism thrives when material conditions for working-class people start to deteriorate, so the only way to stamp it out is either to kill the fascists or make material changes to the daily lives of working people. The dems have shown zero interest in doing either. It is pretty scary to me that your idea of “fighting injustice” ultimately just boils down to virtue signaling online about how you’re so much smarter than the fascists who fail to see (or simply dont care) about Trump’s hypocrisy. Liberals are getting mighty jumpy since the only recourse they have included in their poltical framework is linking politifacts on Facebook and hoping fascism magically dies.

      • Fluffy Kitty Cat@slrpnk.net
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        If that happens we might as well do a Communist Revolution and do away with money entirely because at that point the whole system’s fried, literally dysfunctional

        • MagicShel@lemmy.zip
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          That’s the point. You can’t add to the debt if no one is willing to lend the money (I mean it’s more complicated, but that’s the essence of it). Borrowing is going to become very expensive for us if no one trusts us to pay our debts, and it will probably trash the bond market which is where anyone nearing or after retirement probably has all of their savings.

          • whyrat@lemmy.world
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            Adding further onto your point emphasizing why this will be severe: Borrowing will become more expensive, and we can’t just stop spending to stop borrowing. Much of the current debt is in short term positions that regularly get re-issued. The cost of issuing new short term debts just to replace the current ones coming due will increase even if spending stays the same (or decreases).

            And of course, there’s a huge impact to the dollar’s value internationally if major financial markets shift away from holding US debt. You know the trade deficit Republicans like to rage about … Yeah, it’ll get a lot worse when fewer people want to hold US dollars for the purpose of investing in US bonds.

        • arrow74@lemm.ee
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          National debt doesn’t work like personal debt. It’s much more complex.

          Anyway if all government spending stopped due to a default it would get very very bad. Like you don’t have food to eat bad

        • NaibofTabr@infosec.pub
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          Governments incur debt by selling bonds, which guarantee a certain repayment at a certain date. If the government fails to make the bond payments, fewer people will buy bonds in the future. You can’t “just add more” debt if no one is willing to actually lend you money.

          Even talking about not making the payments damages the value of future bonds. This kills the dollar.

          The really crazy part is that the US is absolutely solvent and capable of paying its debts. There is no good reason for this to even be a point of discussion. Not making the payments only hurts the country.

          China would benefit most from the collapsing value of the US dollar.

        • ShittyBeatlesFCPres@lemmy.world
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          Beyond basic debt stuff, most of the global financial system uses US Treasury bonds/bills as a base. Argentina can default. But when people talk about a foreign central bank owning “dollars,” they don’t have stacks of hundred dollar bills in a cellar. They have interest-paying treasuries. Probably 99% of countries and major corporations use US treasuries as collateral for loans. Every retiree who can afford it shifts from stocks to bonds because bonds are supposed to be the ultimate safe asset. Contracts between companies often assume U.S. debt instruments are the safest asset.

          So, if the U.S. actually defaults, the house of cards comes crashing down and there’s chaos and anarchy. Not the imaginary fun kind of anarchy, either. Most corporations probably fail. (And having Bitcoin on your gaming PC isn’t going to save you when there’s riots and no electricity or internet.)

          My guess is that if it really happened, it’d be reversed within hours or they’d mint the trillion dollar coin or do some shenanigans to keep society from collapsing. The U.S. cannot default on debts.

          The whole reason MAGA Republicans use the debt ceiling as leverage is because it would cause societal collapse. They’re basically saying, “I don’t give a fuck about the financial system. Cut aid to poor people or we’ll blow it all up.”

        • meeeeetch@lemmy.world
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          But we’ve made every payment on that debt since we started borrowing. If lenders can’t count on those debt payments, they lose some faith in the currency that undergirds the world economy.

          This is quite bad, regardless of where you live.

          Future borrowing, both public and private, becomes more expensive (higher risk demands higher returns). This is bad if you live in the US.

          People involved in international trade start questioning if the USD is really what they want as the reserve currency (the Dollar is the go between for all other currencies, so if you’re in Europe trading with Japan, you exchange euros for dollars for yen, which while a bit cumbersome, is wonderfully predictable) and what they might want to use instead (euros? renminbi? rubles? The chaotic world of direct exchanges of currencies?). This is bad if the country you live in imports goods that you need or exports goods that other people need.

    • Xanza@lemm.ee
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      It’s actually difficult to state how bad it would be. People use the United States dollar as a reserve currency because it’s a trusted currency. It generally maintains its value.

      It’s in a precarious situation because it’s not backed by anything but the Word of the United States Government. As soon as that government starts to default on loans there’s absolutely nothing propping up the dollar as a reserve currency.

      People will start to look for alternatives immediately. Which will absolutely tank the value of the dollar which will lead to more people looking for alternatives which will take the value which will lead to more people looking for alternatives which will tank the value…

      Essentially you’re looking at runaway hyperinflation until the value of the dollar reaches somewhere between literally shitting in your hand and a punch directly in the face…

      You think the price of eggs are high now? Imagine how high they’re going to be when nobody will accept cash for them, only barter. Literal fucking Pokémon cards are going to be worth more than the dollar very very soon. And the worst part of that statement is it’s barely an exaggeration.

      • Treczoks@lemmy.world
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        There are so many dollars stored away by countries all over the world primarily because it is a currency accepted nearly everywhere, especially for oil. If this domino falls, the currency will tumble. There are calculations that this would bring the us dollar down to 10 to 15 Euro-cent.

    • Coreidan@lemmy.world
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      First term was for setting the stage and for loading the courts with corrupt judges.

      This term is for executing the agenda.

  • ceenote@lemmy.world
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    It’s very unlikely to happen. Republicans don’t want it to happen while Trump is in office. Democrats don’t want it to happen at all; this isn’t like a government shutdown - it would be a catastrophe. The only question is what riders will slip in.

    • athairmor@lemmy.world
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      I’m afraid there are American oligarchs who do want it. They could end up owning everything. They don’t care how much people suffer if it consolidates wealth and power for a few.

  • BigMacHole@lemm.ee
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    If the People who will Feel the Pain First and Hardest were told to ALSO Stockpile Guns and Ammo I would be VERY Worried as a Politician! But FORTUNATELY we DONT live in that type of Country! We live in a Country where Dead Kids are a UNITING ISSUE and not a Polarizing one!

    • frezik@midwest.social
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      Nobody knows. The world economy is built around America always paying its debts.

      But there is one thing: build mutual aid networks that can thrive without money being involved.

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      As crazy as it sounds, bitcoin, if US market crashes, all markets crash.

      Gold would be good too, but I find it to be just as valuable as bitcoin in the real world - worthless to me, but a way to store wealth.

    • 50MYT@lemmy.world
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      Positioning to take the smallest impact.

      Gold, Bitcoin will be ok, but still traded to the US dollar.

      EU stocks, but they will take a hit too, but might not be as bad.

      Market short positions, but the sell on this is still us dollars.

    • gravitas_deficiency@sh.itjust.works
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      I think it’s very possible. And I think orangeboi will threaten the people doing the ratings in various nonsensical ways. And when the default does happen, the world will probably begin to move away from the USD standard, which is probably good for the world in the long term.

      • Coreidan@lemmy.world
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        Nah. Too many rich cunts afraid to lose their stolen goods to let that happen.

        • gravitas_deficiency@sh.itjust.works
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          Dude, they’ll just shift their assets into GBP or Euro. The UK will probably offer tax incentives and sweetheart deals, because being the world reserve currency actually gives you shitloads of soft power (so long as you don’t plot a flight plan into a mountain, which is what we’re doing right now).

          • Sludgeyy@lemmy.world
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            You can not simply “shift” billions of dollars from one currency to another.

            As much as the rich people with billions want to get rid of the USD, the people willing to give GBP or Euro for USD don’t have to accept. Why would they want to be holding on to the USD if the others don’t?

            They could be slowly doing it right now, but if the shit hits the fan, the exchange rate would jump.

            • gravitas_deficiency@sh.itjust.works
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              Yeah- lots of things would “jump” it would be a catastrophic process. That’s my entire point. Lots of people would stand to lose a lot of money, but those who have inside knowledge stand to be able to save a large fraction of their wealth, while everyone else becomes a serf, because all of their investment and savings will be worth jack shit. And I think that’s one of the points of this whole circus.

          • Coreidan@lemmy.world
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            All of those currencies will fall before USD.

            USD is king. It has to stay that way otherwise they lose everything. It won’t happen.