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No, Bitcoin Won’t Solve Our National Debt
By Ben Ritz
PPI's VP of Policy Development
for Forbes
At a Bitcoin conference last weekend, Senator Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.) announced forthcoming legislation that would direct the Treasury to buy 1 million Bitcoin, or roughly 5% of the global stock, over five years (which would cost between $60 billion and $70 billion at today’s prices). Lummis claimed that the federal government would be “debt-free because of Bitcoin” if her proposal is enacted, because these Bitcoin could be sold by the federal government at a profit after 20 years. Unfortunately, there are both mathematical and conceptual problems that prevent such an approach from solving the federal government’s budget problems.
Let’s start with the math: The U.S. national debt today stands at nearly $28 trillion (or $35 trillion, if one includes “intragovernmental debt” the general fund owes to other internal government accounting entities such as the Social Security and Medicare trust funds). This year alone, the federal government spent roughly $2 trillion more than it raised in revenue, which had to be covered by borrowing that gets added to our national debt.
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New from the Experts
PPI's Taylor Maag and Stuart Malec: Democrats must prioritize the workforce to win back the working class
⮕ The Hill
Stuart Malec, PPI's National Political Director: Listen up Democrats: Don't Forget Health Care
⮕ PPI Blog
Bruno Manno, PPI Senior Advisor: An Education and Training Agenda for Working-Class Families
⮕ The Liberal Patriot
Kamala Harris Needs a 3 P.M. Agenda, ft. Progressive Policy Institute
⮕ New York Times
Trade Fact of the Week: U.S. public debt 99% of GDP and rising above 166% by the time November’s 18-year-old voters turn 50.
⮕ PPI's Trade Fact of the Week
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The past several years have been marred by turbulent economic times for the U.S., with the COVID-19 pandemic, stubborn inflation, and high interest rates threatening Americans’ economic well-being. Despite these headwinds, some companies continue to show their faith in America’s future by making significant capital expenditures. PPI released their annual Investment Heroes report this week highlighting the top 25 companies with the highest capital expenditures in the United States for 2023.
For the fifth year in a row, Amazon leads the list, investing an estimated $36.8 billion in the U.S. in 2023. This brings Amazon’s total investment in the U.S. to $183 billion since 2019. Such substantial spending has not only created hundreds of thousands of jobs but has also helped hold down consumer price increases.
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Mosaic Moment
The TRIUMPH Framework, ft. Talila Millman
On this episode of Radically Pragmatic's Mosaic Moment, Mosaic alumna Talila Millman joins PPI's Sarah Paden to discuss her new book, "The TRIUMPH Framework." Millman draws upon her decades of experience in high-level Fortune 500 roles to provide her seven keys to leadership for the next generation of women leaders.
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Don't Miss These PPI Reports
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Staff Spotlight: Peter Juul
 Peter Juul
Director of National Security
Peter Juul is the Director of National Security at the Progressive Policy Institute. In this role, Peter aims to craft a new foreign policy narrative that reaffirms the vital importance of active American engagement in the world and backs it up with substantive analysis of key issues relating to the defense of America’s interests, values, and prosperity.
A veteran for nearly two decades of the politics and policy world in Washington, DC, Peter previously worked on foreign policy and national security at the Center for American Progress and edited the start-up online politics and policy publication The Liberal Patriot. In both positions, Peter focused on the politics of national security, Middle East strategy, and defense issues as well as pursuing personal interests in aerospace policy and space exploration.
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