Dave Ramsey has seen it all when it comes to predicting the economy. And when it comes to the national debt, he is clear: People have been sounding the alarm about an “economic end of the world” for decades, but so far they have been consistently wrong.
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Ramsey shared his thoughts on the subject, explaining how, in his late 20s, he became deeply concerned about the rapid growth of the national debt. At the time, he thought this could lead to a complete economic collapse. “I’ve seen people in my world write books about the economic end of the world,” he said. “And they keep getting it wrong, so I don’t want to write that book.”
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While he acknowledges that debt is a serious concern, Ramsey does not believe it will cause the economy to collapse. “Is it concerning? Yes, it is concerning. But is it going to cause a crash? Apparently not,” he said.
Ramsey explained that the national debt affects the economy in subtle but important ways. The government finances its debt by selling government bonds, which investors buy because they earn interest. But Ramsey points out that if these investors had put their money into businesses or other productive parts of the economy, it could have created more growth and opportunity.
“In that sense, it steals money from the economy,” Ramsey said. He added that the cost of interest payments on the debt is increasingly consuming the federal budget. “The interest on that alone is becoming a bigger and bigger part of the ‘budget’, as if they have a budget.”
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Despite his concerns about the national debt, Ramsey remains confident in the stock market as a safe place for investment. He admitted that there has always been a certain amount of manipulation in the market, but he still encourages people to invest. “I think it’s still a safe place for people to invest. I have millions and millions of dollars in mutual funds,” he said.
Currently, the national debt is a whopping $36 trillion. It’s such a huge number that it’s hard for most people to wrap their heads around it. In perspective, if you tried to count up to 36 trillion at one digit per second, it would take more than a million years.
This enormous debt burden has real consequences. Much of the government budget now goes toward paying interest on that debt, leaving less money for things like improving infrastructure, supporting education or financing health care.
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This article Dave Ramsey Says Those Predicting ‘Economic End of the World’ on National Debt Have Been Consistently Wrong originally appeared on Benzinga.com
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