Hi all,
I just watched and read a leaked idea that says the U.S. might use a digital money plan to cut a huge part of its debt, and I want to explain it in plain words so you can understand what might happen and what to do.
The theory says the U.S. has about $37 trillion in debt. That is a lot. If the plan is true, the government might use digital money, like special stable coins or a digital dollar (sometimes called a CBDC), to change how debt works. People say this could make debt shrink in value and move wealth from most people to those with the most assets. I want to tell you how that might happen and how we can prepare.
Who owns the debt and why it matters
I want you to picture $37 trillion. If you divide it by households, it looks like a huge number per family. Most of this debt is owned by regular people and big investors inside the country. That means regular savings, 401(k) accounts, bonds, and pension funds are tied to this debt. If the value of the dollar falls, many of those savings could lose buying power.
If a country owes a lot, it can try to grow faster, raise taxes, or print money.
Growing the economy fast enough to pay back $37 trillion would need many years of big growth, which is unlikely.
Raising taxes too high would push people and companies away.
Printing lots of money can cause inflation.
So governments look for other ways. History shows empires often choose to reduce the real value of debt by letting inflation do some of the work.
🏛 Ancient Rome: When Rome ran out of money, it made coins with less silver in them. At first, this trick made it easier for Rome to pay its bills, because they could mint more coins with the same amount of silver. But soon, people caught on — prices for food and goods shot up, and trust in Roman money fell - an early form of inflation.
🇬🇧 Britain after World War II: The U.K. had huge war debts, so the government allowed the pound to lose value. Prices rose, debt looked smaller in real terms, and the burden denominated in Pounds slowly faded.
🇺🇸 The Nixon Shock (1971): The U.S. stopped backing the dollar with gold, meaning money was now based on trust, not metal. That made it easier for the government to create more dollars when needed.
📈 1970s America: Inflation ran high. Debt became easier to pay back because wages and prices went up — but ordinary people felt poorer because daily costs rose faster than savings.
🇯🇵 Japan (1990s–Today): Japan tried to fight slow growth by printing money and keeping rates near zero. It helped asset prices and rich investors, but regular workers didn’t see much benefit, and their savings earned almost nothing.
These stories matter because they show governments sometimes use money tools, like printing money or changing how money works, to reduce how bad debt feels.
How inflation helps reduce the real value of debt
Inflation means prices go up. If your money buys less, it has lower value.
Debt is paid back with money. If money becomes worth less, debts are easier to pay in real terms.
If you owe $100 and the dollar loses value, repaying $100 later is easier for the borrower.
So causing inflation is a way for governments to make big debts smaller in real terms. But this hurts people who keep lots of cash and fixed incomes, and transfer wealth to the rich who owns assets
What are stablecoins and CBDCs?
Stablecoins: These are digital tokens that try to keep their price stable, usually tied to the US dollar or to U.S. government bonds. Companies make them so people can use a digital version of a dollar. Example: Tether is one stablecoin many people know.
CBDC (Central Bank Digital Currency): This is a digital dollar made and controlled by the government (the Federal Reserve in the U.S.). It would be the government’s own digital money, not a private company’s token.