What is the value of the minimum required national debt?

Question

What is the value of the minimum required national debt?









The correct answer is over $24T. The current national debt is about $6T too low. No wonder we are suffering!

Every federal dollar spent and not repossessed by the IRS is saved by the private sector. Assuming that trade is balanced over the long haul, the national debt is equal to the total savings of the private sector. There is no other legal source of savings.

According to the Social Security Administration, the average of 27 million SS beneficiaries has a monthly income (other than SS benefits) equal to $1,800. If the average American retires at 65 and survives 15 years (180 months), that comes to 180 x $1.8K = $324K in savings needed by each retiree to live decently (?). Halfway to the grave she will have still have $162K, the average amount in savings for all 27 million retirees.  That’s over $4.3T for everyone.

To save $324K over 40 working years and saving a constant amount yearly, an individual should save half of it in 20 years. Allowing for the fact that she will do most of her savings after the midpoint, let’s divide the total by 4 to arrive at an average midpoint savings of $81K. For 250 million adult individuals aged 18 to 65, that comes to over $20T required savings.

For the entire population of adults, the required savings is (over) $4.3T + (over) $20T = (over) $24T. 

That is the value of the minimum required national debt, assuming no accumulated trade deficit.

•	 http://www.ssa.gov/pressoffice/basicfact.htm

LAN · Accepted Answer

Your question shows that you are immune to logic as the real correct answer is zero.  A government should not spend more than is taken in in revenue.  How much money is saves has no impact on this at all.

Anonymous · Answer

there is NO required national debt any more than there is "required household credit"

economics is complicated.

the total amount of money value in the world IS CONSTANTLY CHANGING!
 wealth is access to goods and services. currency is just an accounting trick to keep score.

America has NO RISK on its debt. the lenders risk everything for possible interest gain. right now the interest on american debt is almost Zero but people and counties continue to loan to US because we are the SAFEST holding in the world. sure to be repaid sooner or later.

SS is NOT an investment or insurance policy. those who collect are NOT collecting their own input. each generation supports the retirees of the previous generation.

America is now far more wealthy and also costly than  in 1930 when SS started.
 SS is ashamed national responsibility to those who built it. rich or poor. remove the SS earning cap so that rich continue to pay and it is solvent.

The Taxpayer · Answer

Sounds like complex justification for extremely bad management.  "No wonder we are doing so poorly," cried the democrat.  "We haven't got enough poor and struggling middle-class."

yutsnark · Answer

Asked and answered.  What can I say?

What is the value of the minimum required national debt?

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