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Thursday, January 19, 2017

U.S. National Debt: Will An Autopsy Be Done?

Then (January 19, 2008)...which was the beginning of the financial crisis, culminating in a catastrophic drop of the S&P 500 Index, along with other U.S. and foreign stock markets, to the lows of March 2009 (which was stemmed by U.S. government bailouts of the financial system)...


S&P 500 Index Monthly

Now (January 19, 2017)...


The question is...did the cost of the government bailout (including all attendant Federal Reserve monetary measures...and government fiscal policies/programs enacted, if any) produce the kind of economic results/benefits, to date, that it intended? In other words, did the U.S. get its due "bang for the buck?" 

It seems to me that it would be prudent for the new Trump administration to include such an analysis/autopsy so as to incorporate the conclusions and considerations when preparing forecasts as part of shaping new domestic and foreign economic policies and programs for the next four years. In other words, will the U.S. get its due "bang for the buck" by January 2021? How will elected Senate and Congressional officials be held accountable for those results and what kind of transparency will they allow with regard to those questions? And, what will the U.S. National Debt look like then?

Lots of questions, as we approach the U.S. Presidential Inauguration at noon tomorrow...