Recommended Book on GDP and Government Debt for dummies

[Anonymous]

I was a STEM major and never had an economics class, so I’m looking for something to make sense of GDP. Specifically, interested in the health of the economy. Maybe the different philosophies at play currently. Something fairly simple to understand. Maybe put in terms analogous to a household?

Is it healthy to have high government spending if the government is just borrowing money? I mean if I make $200k/ and borrow another $100k, I can’t shouldn’t say I made $300k last year, can I?

Should GDP include government spending? Or should government. Spending be a separate metric?

Then, there’s all the spending necessary to maintain friendships with other countries. It is pay to stay friendly, right? If we don’t spend / invest in our friends, they won’t be our friends any longer and will look to others, maybe people we don’t like, for that friendship.

At the end of the day, I’m wondering if we’ve been too optimistic about the health of our economy for the past several years under Biden, and if what Trump is doing will actually lower the interest on our debt.

I need an education on the basics before I can get a better understanding of what is happening. I want to get past the blinkers that just see everything as this side is good and that side bad which we get online and in the media.

[Anonymous]

The biggest things to add trillions to our debt in the last 30 years have been a.) Iraq and Afghanistan wars and b.) Bush and Trump tax cuts for the rich.

But they are peddling a misleading narrative claiming it's "bloated government, unelected bureaucrats, social security and medicare."

[Anonymous]

You cannot add to the national debt by tax cuts.

Taxes are not the government's to begin with. People and organizations EARN income and then give some of it to the government to sustain it. But that money is not the government's to begin with.

70+% of federal spending are transfer payments (mandatory spending). So no, Iraq and Afghanistan weren't the biggest drivers. The biggest drivers of debt has been the welfare state.

BTW, go look at the national debt clock (all government supplied numbers) to see where the money is going.

We're spending more on interest on the national debt than defense.

https://fiscaldata.treasury.gov/

[Anonymous]

If you want a book, The Ascent of Money by Niall Ferguson will give some useful historical perspective on money and, most importanly, debt.

https://www.amazon.com/Ascent-Money-Financial-History-World/dp/0143116177/ref=asc_df_0143116177?mcid=fa9adb0ecf7733a8851da6d1db025c2e&hvocijid=17272779159894940858-0143116177-&hvexpln=73&tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=721245378154&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=17272779159894940858&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9053018&hvtargid=pla-2281435177138&psc=1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The biggest things to add trillions to our debt in the last 30 years have been a.) Iraq and Afghanistan wars and b.) Bush and Trump tax cuts for the rich.

But they are peddling a misleading narrative claiming it's "bloated government, unelected bureaucrats, social security and medicare."

Ok, where can I read about that all works? I want to see the math / equations to show that works. Or doesn’t.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you want a book, The Ascent of Money by Niall Ferguson will give some useful historical perspective on money and, most importanly, debt.

https://www.amazon.com/Ascent-Money-Financial-History-World/dp/0143116177/ref=asc_df_0143116177?mcid=fa9adb0ecf7733a8851da6d1db025c2e&hvocijid=17272779159894940858-0143116177-&hvexpln=73&tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=721245378154&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=17272779159894940858&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9053018&hvtargid=pla-2281435177138&psc=1

Thanks you. Is this a good unbiased / apolitical look at how tbings work? I’m not looking to be told this way is good or bad.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I was a STEM major and never had an economics class, so I’m looking for something to make sense of GDP. Specifically, interested in the health of the economy. Maybe the different philosophies at play currently. Something fairly simple to understand. Maybe put in terms analogous to a household?

Is it healthy to have high government spending if the government is just borrowing money? I mean if I make $200k/ and borrow another $100k, I can’t shouldn’t say I made $300k last year, can I?

Should GDP include government spending? Or should government. Spending be a separate metric?

Then, there’s all the spending necessary to maintain friendships with other countries. It is pay to stay friendly, right? If we don’t spend / invest in our friends, they won’t be our friends any longer and will look to others, maybe people we don’t like, for that friendship.

At the end of the day, I’m wondering if we’ve been too optimistic about the health of our economy for the past several years under Biden, and if what Trump is doing will actually lower the interest on our debt.

I need an education on the basics before I can get a better understanding of what is happening. I want to get past the blinkers that just see everything as this side is good and that side bad which we get online and in the media.

Have you searched through your preferred bookseller site? Hopefully you didn't pay anything for college if you went through and didn't have to take an econ class. It should be required for all as should other classes such as Physics and Statistics, but these courses are not even required in high school All of them plus a few more should be required. Here are few old ones from grad school that may be of interest.

[Anonymous]

You have to learn how money is created and how fractional reserve banking works. There's plenty of Youtube videos on it.

The Creature from Jekyll Island is also a good one.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You cannot add to the national debt by tax cuts.

Taxes are not the government's to begin with. People and organizations EARN income and then give some of it to the government to sustain it. But that money is not the government's to begin with.

70+% of federal spending are transfer payments (mandatory spending). So no, Iraq and Afghanistan weren't the biggest drivers. The biggest drivers of debt has been the welfare state.

BTW, go look at the national debt clock (all government supplied numbers) to see where the money is going.

We're spending more on interest on the national debt than defense.

https://fiscaldata.treasury.gov/

Ahh you must be one of those "taxation is theft" people. You should refresh yourself on the US Constitution. Some of you dopes pride yourselves on carrying around a "Pocket Constitution" yet never seem to have actually read it. The Federal Government's power to collect those taxes is granted by Article I, Section 8, Clause 1 of the U.S. Constitution, otherwise known as the Taxing and Spending Clause. If you hate the US Constitution and taxes so much then I suggest you go move to Somalia where they don't have any meaningful taxation (and as a result no functional government).

And, I will reiterate some facts - of the $36 trillion in current debt, close to $13 trillion of that is due to Bush and Trump tax cuts and the Iraq war. They were SIGNIFICANT drivers and this will continue to be a problem while Trump continues to pursue tax cuts. Anyone with common sense should know that you can't reduce debt by cutting income.

The "entitlement" problems driving deficits are also self-inflicted wounds being driven by Republicans, given they cling to our current overpriced for-profit healthcare model, and refused to enact common-sense things like raising the contribution cap on Social Security which would have kept it solvent for the next 75 years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You cannot add to the national debt by tax cuts.

Reducing income creates a deficit. If you don't understand that, you are unqualified to even be speaking on the subject.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was a STEM major and never had an economics class, so I’m looking for something to make sense of GDP. Specifically, interested in the health of the economy. Maybe the different philosophies at play currently. Something fairly simple to understand. Maybe put in terms analogous to a household?

Is it healthy to have high government spending if the government is just borrowing money? I mean if I make $200k/ and borrow another $100k, I can’t shouldn’t say I made $300k last year, can I?

Should GDP include government spending? Or should government. Spending be a separate metric?

Then, there’s all the spending necessary to maintain friendships with other countries. It is pay to stay friendly, right? If we don’t spend / invest in our friends, they won’t be our friends any longer and will look to others, maybe people we don’t like, for that friendship.

At the end of the day, I’m wondering if we’ve been too optimistic about the health of our economy for the past several years under Biden, and if what Trump is doing will actually lower the interest on our debt.

I need an education on the basics before I can get a better understanding of what is happening. I want to get past the blinkers that just see everything as this side is good and that side bad which we get online and in the media.

Have you searched through your preferred bookseller site? Hopefully you didn't pay anything for college if you went through and didn't have to take an econ class. It should be required for all as should other classes such as Physics and Statistics, but these courses are not even required in high school All of them plus a few more should be required. Here are few old ones from grad school that may be of interest.

I went to a T20 university. 🤷‍♀️ It was top three in the my area of study. The only econ we did was all related to corporations (eg, depreciating corporate assets).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You have to learn how money is created and how fractional reserve banking works. There's plenty of Youtube videos on it.

The Creature from Jekyll Island is also a good one.

Thank you. How money is made sounds exactly like the kind of question I’m thinking of. So many terms like fractional reserve banking are foreign to me.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You cannot add to the national debt by tax cuts.

Reducing income creates a deficit. If you don't understand that, you are unqualified to even be speaking on the subject.

Oy. See this kind of talk is above my head. -OP

[Anonymous]

How about we leave things to the experts? You aren’t an economist. I’m tired of d*psh!ts “doing their own research” and pontificating half understood ideas and conspiracy theories.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How about we leave things to the experts? You aren’t an economist. I’m tired of d*psh!ts “doing their own research” and pontificating half understood ideas and conspiracy theories.

Hey, yourself. I can’t follow the conversation if I don’t know the terms mean, and I ca t just nod in agreement or disagree if I don’t understand.

And experts?? There is so much cult of personality and politics at play, it is hard to know who is reliable if you don’t even know the basics.

You seem like someone who wants people to follow experts with an agenda without question. It is this attitude that led to “my team’s” lost in November. Don’t question, just do as your told.