{"id":35675,"date":"2018-07-02T16:35:18","date_gmt":"2018-07-02T21:35:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/olduvai.ca\/?p=35675"},"modified":"2018-07-02T16:35:18","modified_gmt":"2018-07-02T21:35:18","slug":"unfunded-promises","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/?p=35675","title":{"rendered":"Unfunded Promises"},"content":{"rendered":"<header>\n<h3><a href=\"https:\/\/www.mauldineconomics.com\/frontlinethoughts\/unfunded-promises#venus\">Unfunded Promises<\/a><\/h3>\n<\/header>\n<div class=\"body\">\n<p>In describing the global debt train wreck these last few weeks, I\u2019ve discovered a common problem. Many of us define \u201cdebt\u201d way too narrowly.<\/p>\n<p>A debt occurs when you receive something <em>now<\/em> in exchange for a promise to give something back <em>later<\/em>. It doesn\u2019t have to be cash. If you borrow your neighbor\u2019s lawn mower and promise to return it next Tuesday, that\u2019s a kind of debt. You receive something (use of the lawn mower) and agree to repayment terms \u2013 in this case, your promise to return it on time and in working order.<\/p>\n<p>One reason you try to get that lawnmower back on time and in the proper condition is that you might want to borrow it again in the future. In the same way that not paying your bank debt will make it difficult to get a bank loan in the future, not returning that lawnmower may make your neighbor a tad bit reluctant to lend it again.<\/p>\n<p>Debt can be less specific, too. Maybe, while taking your family on a beach vacation, you notice a wedding taking place. Your 12-year-old daughter goes crazy about how romantic it is. In a moment of whimsy, you tell her you will pay for her tropical island beach wedding when she finds the right guy. That \u201cdebt,\u201d made as a loving father to delight your daughter, gets seared into her brain. A decade later, she does find Mr. Right, and reminds you of your offer. Is it a legally enforceable debt? Probably not, but it\u2019s at least a (now) moral obligation. You\u2019ll either pay up or face unpleasant consequences. What is that, if not a debt?<\/p>\n<p>These are small examples of \u201cunfunded liabilities.\u201d They\u2019re non-specific and the other party may never demand payment\u2026 but they might.<\/p>\n<p>\u2026click on the above link to read the rest of the article\u2026<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Unfunded Promises In describing the global debt train wreck these last few weeks, I\u2019ve discovered a common problem. Many of us define \u201cdebt\u201d way too narrowly. A debt occurs when you receive something now in exchange for a promise to give something back later. It doesn\u2019t have to be cash. If you borrow your neighbor\u2019s [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[195,8226,7758,825,20751,827],"class_list":["post-35675","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-economics","tag-debt","tag-john-mauldin","tag-mauldin-economics","tag-unfunded-liabilities","tag-unfunded-promises","tag-united-states"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35675","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=35675"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35675\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":35676,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35675\/revisions\/35676"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=35675"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=35675"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=35675"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}