As May drew toward its end, the media was full of reports that the world economy was teetering on the edge of catastrophe. If the media is to be believed, the threat came not from the unsold commodities that accumulated due to the COVID aftermath boom. Rather, they said that unless the Democrats and Republicans reached a last-minute agreement to raise the debt limit, the government will be forced into default as the Treasury runs out of money.

In last month’s post, I declared that this crisis was fake. Sure enough, “at the last minute,” the crisis was averted. On Saturday, June 3, President Biden signed the compromise agreement allowing the government to keep borrowing into 2025. The compromise bill sailed through the House of Representatives with 314 voting yes and 117 voting no. In the Senate, the vote was 63-to-36. No small portion of that borrowed money will go to servicing federal government debt, the bulk of which is owned by wealthy capitalists.

Karl Marx on the national debt

Karl Marx wrote:

“The only part of the so-called national wealth that actually enters into the collective possessions of modern peoples is their national debt. Hence, as a necessary consequence, the modern doctrine that a nation becomes the richer the more deeply it is in debt. Public credit becomes the credo of capital. And with the rise of national debt-making, want of faith in the national debt takes the place of the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost, which may not be forgiven.” (Capital, Volume 1, Chapter 31, Genesis of the Industrial Capitalist)

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