I was taught that there are some economic drawbacks to having no debt, just like it harms export to have a strong coin (or whatever the English translation of “strong coin” really is; you know what I mean. Like how the Euro is worth more than USD.)
That may be the case. Although the down side of debt is very real – you end up paying all the more later on. A country doesn’t get wealthy by having a weak currency. The strength of a currency is more of an indicator anyway, and theoretically just reflects the way things are. As I understand it, having a trade deficit is bad only in the sense that it will reduce the strength of your currency and increase the price of borrowing further down the line.
whoa…that’s scary
Casey / 5:08pm / 28 August 2004
I was taught that there are some economic drawbacks to having no debt, just like it harms export to have a strong coin (or whatever the English translation of “strong coin” really is; you know what I mean. Like how the Euro is worth more than USD.)
Wil / 6:07pm / 28 August 2004
That may be the case. Although the down side of debt is very real – you end up paying all the more later on. A country doesn’t get wealthy by having a weak currency. The strength of a currency is more of an indicator anyway, and theoretically just reflects the way things are. As I understand it, having a trade deficit is bad only in the sense that it will reduce the strength of your currency and increase the price of borrowing further down the line.
Ryan / 11:52pm / 28 August 2004