BONUS: George Hall on Financing World War II and Managing Post-War Debt
Macro Musings with David Beckworth
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The Importance of Running Primary Surpluses
After the wars, we would consistently run primary surpluses after the wars. After Vietnam, that ends. And I couldn't help but think who in that room is looking out for the bondholder? The Federal Reserve owns about 20% or a little less like 17% of the debt. You have all these Social Security trust funds and retirement accounts that own 20%. you have foreigners that own 25%. domestic bondholders own about 35, 36, 37% somewhere in there. Many of us don't realize what we own because it's in some retirement account buried away.
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