the government debt exists largely because it is recognized that the number of dollars in circulation, i.e. that private people and companies possess, are exactly equal to the amount by which the government is in debt.
in other words, if both governments and companies stayed in the positive numbers with the dollars they own, that would mean that the commoner people would have to own a negative number of dollars in total, and per person on average. government debt is a way to avoid that.
Note: the total number of dollars in existence worldwide is roughly zero, because one person’s dollar is another person’s debt. that’s how the modern financial system works, roughly speaking.
the government debt exists largely because it is recognized that the number of dollars in circulation, i.e. that private people and companies possess, are exactly equal to the amount by which the government is in debt.
in other words, if both governments and companies stayed in the positive numbers with the dollars they own, that would mean that the commoner people would have to own a negative number of dollars in total, and per person on average. government debt is a way to avoid that.
Note: the total number of dollars in existence worldwide is roughly zero, because one person’s dollar is another person’s debt. that’s how the modern financial system works, roughly speaking.
Source on this at all? Would make for interesting reading if so.
source: what i gathered from private discussions and various lemmy comments in the last few years.