The National Debt: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)

18:48 I like you john but not showing President Obamas picture there for signing to continue the Bush tax cuts on the wealthy that were due to expire while criticizing republicans for doing similar things shows your bias and makes for easy arguments against the left . Don't be a menace to left central society while being moderate in the hood.

Of course the country is in huge debt..... When you give great tax cut to big corporations that benefits being in US but fail to contribute.

But... you really don’t have a favorite graphing calculator ?

I really do not think the debt is meant to be fixed, I think its meant to lead to the end. That however is a totally different discussion... but if they wanted to take out the debt instead of paying taxes why not just teach investing in schools and the tax money from income taxes is what Americans use to invest in whatever they want, be it stocks or crypto currencies or whatever and the profits gained from that go to paying the "taxes" and they get to keep the percentage of the profits that was taken out of their paychecks? Seems like a nice way to educate and earn your retirement... I am sure there is a major flaw in this but that's what I have in a nutshell, some kind of idea to be tweaked.

What about stock market derivatives? Also, there are a fuckload of riots in America right now. Other than that... good video, I guess?

"If he's willing to dig a big hole, he's willing to dig a small hole," Thanks for that!!!

1. Lobby to give your industry government contracts, subsidies, and tax breaks. 2. Use the extra cash to buy that debt so that people like you receive an increasing percentage of tax dollars as interest. 3. Dump savings into real-estate and other tangible assets when the system starts looking unstable.

"Even if you preface something that isn't racist with 'This isn't racist', it WILL still sound racist." So true! LOL

How about that dog in the middle of the Greek riot? He was having a GOOD OLD TIME, wasn't he? Beats chasing cars ANY DAY.

Who signed the last stimulus check? She part of the bankruptcy department? US Corp is in bankruptcy.

I’m a conservative but the more I look into liberals the more I realize they aren’t just social justice communist zombies

Republican bad. Democrat good. Blah blah blah.

Nobody knows why the interest rates on the debts have fallen since the 80's...really???!! Just as well as why nobody can explain neither why the interest rates of all our savings account have fallen since the 80's. A savings account that would give me 7% interest in the late 70's nowadays give me 0,5% interest on this exact same account🤔🤔 It somehow feels like the interest rates of the populace have shifted elsewhere.

Sorry John, the US will suffer greatly because of its public, private, and corporate debt in the next decade. The US will face a huge economic crisis in 2023 that will cause a 5-10% contraction in the US economy.

debt is just a concept based on another concept (money). If we all would stop believing in it, guess what - it would go away for ever \o/

So America is a deadbeat worthless citizen and the debt should exclude it from EVER borrowing ANY MONEY EVER!! Get out of China and work for us, the people corporate Americans.

14:40 dog thinks he is playing fetch with a gas canister😂 he looks happy and scared at the same time

kinda shocking that Palin had the career that she did. Guess you gotta elect someone in Alaska

Since the end of the gold standard, and the fact that the US issues its own currency, the national debt is just a historic record. Japan's debt-to-gdp has well been over 200%. The problem with Greece was/is that it's in a monetary union without a federal fiscal union, it had to borrow Euros. US "borrows" the money it literally controls. Our problem is that this money is being spent very badly; money is given to banks on the hopes that the banks will invest... they aren't because they are pessimistic about demand... so they lend the money to corporations who also do not invest but use this money to buy back stock (works for them because directors' jobs and bonuses are tied to stock price) instead of investing in productive activity. We need to cut out these two middlemen.

Is he really trying to convince us 28 trillion in national debt is a, “good investment”?

The reason that interest rates on debt have been decreasing since the 80s despite the debt going up is because the effects of globalization and the fall of the Soviet Union led to the United States becoming the world's dominant economic superpower. American multinational corporations have a huge presence in nearly every country in the world, the dollar is the world's reserve currency, and other countries depend on access to America's financial institutions in order to participate in the global economy. Those factors keep demand for dollars high (which keeps inflation down) while reassuring investors that we'll be able to keep making steady payments on our debt without a risk of defaulting.

The debt is only a problem when it's not your party doing the spending.

Modern Monetary Theory entered the chat

race race race - that's all John Oliver has these days.

Oliver never fails to nail it.

USA has 250 trillions in assets. A mere 25 trillions debt is not a thing to worry about.

Finally good stuff. Not just the T*** shit and Covid stuff.

so wich is it, debt is good or, republicans put us there.

Don’t worry the Republicans are just worried about the future generations. Which is why they want to make tons of money so our future children can afford to pay someone else to solve climate change. 🙃

Debt for growth is what Trump has based his entire life on.....

Spoilers The Futurama Space Garbage ball of Earth Destroying Doom is the future’s problem. Barney From How Met Your Mother explains the circle of yelling

"OMG we're going to be like the Greeks!" ...except that we print our own currency, sure. Everyone worried about the national debt should fight to cut the DOD budget.

Imagine having debt

I may be in the minority, but I wish John would have talked about this a bit more deeply. One big thing is that the U.S. does owe money... mostly to itself. Greece owed money to the EU.

John looking good with the haircut

20:44 The irony of the jab at Elon's flame throwers when those profits were used to get capital for the Boring Company that is trying to improve road infrastructure...

wait, the murder is living freely??

Put 2 economists in a room and you’ll get 3 opinions.

Defense spending didn't cause the national debt to rise, when Regan was president, it was inflation and a depression, a worldwide depression most severe since World War II, which started in January 1980, before he took office.

The reason we don’t know what could happen is because all of it is artificial, self-imposing, and meaningless

You gotta be a real asshole to bring your dog to the frontline of a riot

Honestly, this story is pretty incomplete. It's not going into the depth it really needs to on some parts of this issue, so it probably should have been a multi-parter. Probably the biggest thing it glossed over and shouldn't have is how the nation budget is not like a home budget. Republicans really love to spin the national budget like someone managing credit cards, but that's so laughably wrong. Really should have talked about what makes sovereign debt different, negative interest rates, and the fact that the dollar is the world's reserve currency. Also should have gone harder on republican hypocrisy in more detail. That part is pretty much preaching to the choir, but it really can't be said enough how full of shit they are.

That little ditty about Ted Cruz was so beautiful it brought a tear to my eye.

Just say that you want MMT

The lack of explanation by economists for our debt to GDP ratio reminds me about this old idiom. If you owe the bank $10,000, it's your problem. If you owe the bank $10B, it's the bank's problem. Greece had problems because it wasn't the world's benchmark currency and largest economy in the world. Our debt to GDP isn't a problem because the world, literally every nation on the planet including our agitator states like China and Russia, cannot afford it to be a problem.

0:49 That´s what she said Sorry people

"Uh, yeah, no." John you are so informative and crack me up dude

Tax the Rich & train local entrepreneurs ♡

21:06 RIP 🪦 John Oliver 03.30.2021

Debt to GDP is going up all over the world so it really isn't a big deal if every major economy in the world is doing the same.

Is indentured servitude not a form of slavery? Not chattel slavery, but technically it is slavery until your debt is repaid. It was the most widespread form of slavery along with enslaving your enemies after you conquer them. Chattel slavery, or owning the descendants of slaves in perpetuity is a very unique thing within all of slaveries history.

Wait did he really just start to attack a family and try to discredit a money counting clock to show how irresponsible our spending is based on what one person in the family did? I mean I don’t know the family’s history but he’ll drain the debt out because who has to pay for this ? Us.

First time I’ve ever been completely disappointed by Last Week Tonight. The fact that the Republican party has abandoned all pretense of backing fiscal responsibility does nothing to change the discussion of whether a perpetually growing debt is a good thing or not.

Funny, when solving the debt I first thought of taxing the top 20% earners a lot more, reduce the defense budget, and spend more on useful things like public transport (remember Houston after that hurricane?), social services, education, nuclear and renewable energy and more. Just like John did.

We did have riots last year.....

Huh. Imagine if the GOP would tax the billionaires in this country. Maybe we could fix all that?

I smell piss......

TAX THE BILLIONAIRES, YOU FOOLS!

The left is going off the deep end. Oliver used to have decent points but this is sad.

I am Greek and I am watching this being high. I almost died when I recognised the footage of the riot in my city, Athens 😂 Didn't expect that, instead, I thought it's some country in South America 😅 It's not wrong they call us the Colombia of Europe...

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Our national debt is huge because our fucking economy is huge. No one can make money like America so no one can borrow like America. Not to mention most of our debt is purchased by corporations and even investors such as myself. Fuck the national debt. Much Ado about nothing

I love John Oliver but he actually has got this one wrong and didn’t go far enough. It is very easy to explain why interest rates are low and government debt increasing ....because it’s not really debt. The US government has the power to spend whatever money it wants - they are not borrowing money when they issue treasury bonds...inflation is the only restriction to how much it spends. The government can create the money to pay redeem its ‘debt’ anytime it wants... He needs to check out MMT .

Liberal debt lol

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Remember, literally everything the Republicans do is good, and even the sight of someone who *makes* things better for everyone means you burn it all down.

Tax cheat John Oliver.

It is impossible to be in debt to yourself. It is all Banking Lies

I just hate Sarah Palin so much.

Misleading as fuck. How the hell do you think the rich get richer? Because of genius mindset. Nope. Money printing and debt. There's no risk if the bank bails you out every time.

John blew by how much interest we current pay on the national debt and how it could explode to well over $1T annually. If course, short term debt is beneficial. $30T with interest is a disaster.

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_bang faces in Hawaii_

This isn't an insult but it's going to sound like an insult: Sarah Palin is what Peggy Hill would hallucinate while dying of a brain-rot.

14:39 OMG STRIKE DOGGU PROTECT THE DOGGU

Lol it's not slavery? Right, it's modern slavery. Read about what China is doing in Venezuela and Africa. Oliver is nice, but it's like Q-Anon all the shit gone to just ONE side of the political compass.

i swear this is the most retarded video i have ever seen

Hey John! You like doing deep dives. Audit the Fed! You'll be shocked where all the money is going. I dare you John, Audit the Fed!

The ILLUSION of an economy in Crooked Amerika! How can you create millionaires in an army of the rich? Not difficult. You take one BILLIONAIRE who hires politicians and makes them rich, they support Wall Street and things like Dick Cheney's 9/11. Can you imagine being born a millionaire OVER AND OVER AND OVER!

I wish that end commercial could exist as its own thing. That was awesome.

Stfu dude...this guy needs to just stop

There's no nominal tipping point, it will come whenever the powers that be decide that lending to the US no longer becomes a safe bet. Get some good investments in now America, you'll need it when (If?) the shit hits the fan

So larger and larger dependance on banks is not an issue at all?

"expert economists don't know either " is not comforting .

Of all the businessmen to chose from, you pick the guy bringing us to a sustainable environmental future? Elon has my vote!

All the time I hear people say "a government should be run like a company" I think: then the government should increase their income by raising taxes. But for some reason raising taxes leads to communism.

YOU'RE MY HERO! 🤗🤗🤗🤗🤗🤗🤗🤗🤗

Republicans are so pathetic.

Money is made up. Debt doesn't matter.

OK BOOMER!! 🤣

Oh come on do not pretend to be victims. The national debt have no value for America. It impacts all other countries that use the U.S. dollar like China who is stupid enough to store a lot of it and invest in U.S. debts. Other countries has to produce resources, products and conduct services to earn their dollars. America who bought these products, technologies and services and owes these dumb countries money just turns on the printer and all debts are paid with pieces of IOU notes called the U.S. dollar. If you claim years of hard work and priceless materials are worth a piece of paper just printed and stamped by a money manipulator is fair then go to hell. Stop whining like victims!

It didn’t happen because the world is on the dollar standard. We keep printing more dollars. Give Peter Schiff a call. Hyperinflation is in the rear view mirror stating “objects closer than they appear”. You can’t print your way out of debt. We’re fucked!

This show just keeps getting better and better. Thanks guys, much obliged :)

3 pages of your notes app 😂

Before I paid attention and actually took time to listen to the arguments put forth by both sides and the manner in which they delivered them, I found this show entertaining. Now, today, it is impossible for me not to see the heavy bias that is extant here, it is literally impossible not to see it. People need to pay attention, wise up if you're able and not only listen to what is being said, but also the manner in which it is delivered and the rules followed or not followed during what seems a logical or fair debate, it will reveal far more than the words, concepts and bamboozlement being used in the back n forth...I promise.

John Stossel? Isn't he the idiot that got bitchslapped half to death once by Dr D David Schultz when he said wrestling was all fake? xD

Let’s go to the real issues: *pulls out Nicolas Cage pillow and wolf plate* WHERE DA PARTY AT FAM

“Of course, people won’t riot based on whether you click like on my post...or will they?” *riot footage plays*

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Okay, this isn’t racist, but... Republicans.