{"id":3029,"date":"2025-08-28T17:19:42","date_gmt":"2025-08-28T17:19:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/trusteconomics.eu\/?p=3029"},"modified":"2025-08-28T17:19:42","modified_gmt":"2025-08-28T17:19:42","slug":"mammoth-debt-36-2-trillion-unbridled-deficits-and-the-triffin-dilemma","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/trusteconomics.eu\/index.php\/2025\/08\/28\/mammoth-debt-36-2-trillion-unbridled-deficits-and-the-triffin-dilemma\/","title":{"rendered":"Mammoth Debt $36.2 Trillion \u2013 Unbridled Deficits and the Triffin Dilemma"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The US public debt has exceeded $36.2 trillion or 35% of global GDP, which is estimated at just over $100 trillion \u2013 while the budget deficit that will be added to the debt is predicted by the CRFB to be $22.7 trillion by 2035. The number one problem of the US, however, is its current account deficit \u2013 without balancing which the debt never decreases.<\/p>\n<p>However, the megaton bomb that threatens the planet is the offshore, \u201cunsecured dollars\u201d \u2013 the unregulated offshore money internationally that has reached $75.8 trillion, of which $11.4 trillion concerns loans and bonds, while the remaining $64.4 trillion is offshore dollar derivatives! So the next crisis may be triggered by France or Italy, but its consequences will be unpredictable \u2013 precisely because of the offshore dollars.<\/p>\n<p>The critical issue of the US current account deficit, which, despite the country\u2019s already high public debt (over $36.2 trillion and approximately 35% of global GDP), continues to worsen its vulnerable macroeconomic position. Then, the \u201cTriffin dilemma\u201d is introduced: economist Robert Triffin has pointed out that countries with a global reserve currency, such as the US dollar, are forced to run current account deficits in order to supply their currency internationally \u2013 a choice that conflicts with domestic interests.<\/p>\n<p>However, the article points out that this interpretation completely ignores the functioning of the offshore financial system (e.g. the Eurodollar market), where banking institutions can create foreign deposits \u2013 and thus supply dollars internationally \u2013 without requiring a current account deficit. Furthermore, the US supply of currency is not limited to current account deficits but also extends through the capital account, which records net financial transactions. The article also explains how money is created on a bank\u2019s balance sheet: when a bank makes a loan, it creates new deposits \u2013 a process that involves banks operating independently of reserves.<\/p>\n<p>This analysis essentially challenges Triffin\u2019s theory, arguing that the US can supply dollars internationally without relying solely on current account deficits \u2013 a fact that complicates understanding international fiscal stability and the power of reserve currencies.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The US public debt has exceeded $36.2 trillion or 35% of global GDP, which is estimated at just over $100 trillion \u2013 while the budget deficit that will be added to the debt is predicted by the CRFB to be $22.7 trillion by 2035. The number one problem of the US, however, is its current &hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[482,1015,1016,141],"class_list":["post-3029","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-economics","tag-budget-deficits","tag-current-account-deficit","tag-triffin-dilemma","tag-usa"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/trusteconomics.eu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3029","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/trusteconomics.eu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/trusteconomics.eu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trusteconomics.eu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trusteconomics.eu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3029"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/trusteconomics.eu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3029\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3030,"href":"https:\/\/trusteconomics.eu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3029\/revisions\/3030"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/trusteconomics.eu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3029"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trusteconomics.eu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3029"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trusteconomics.eu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3029"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}