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Politics : The Castle -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Tom C who wrote (470)	11/14/2002 11:01:38 AM
From: Neocon	Respond to of 7936

Not quite right. It is more like rolling over debt, for the most part. The problem with long term debt is not the principal, per se, since that amounts merely to a perpetual deferment of payment, rather than additional expense. What takes a bite out of one is the interest payments. Thus, only that proportion of debt service that represents the payment of interest is a net loss. I am not sure what that may be, but it is far less than 20%. Even if we paid down principal, it would just be retiring an outstanding obligation, rather than paying a premium. Now, good debt managers will take advantage of opportunities to pay down the principal, I am not arguing against that. I am merely saying that there situation is not so urgent that we should harm the economy through tax increases, or defer tax relief......