It’s Crazy That India is More Fiscally Responsible Than America

Remember when Pete Buttigieg, as Secretary of Transportation, was handed over a TRILLION dollars by Congress to spend improving America’s infrastructure?

“The main thing I’m thinking about,” he said, “is how do we make sure we take all this money— you know it’s $1.2 trillion— and actually deliver $1.2 trillion dollars worth of value. . .”

Ah yes, the classic investment strategy—shoot for a 0% return on investment.

But Pete proceeded to fail at even that—for example, the $7.5 billion electric vehicle charging program, which promised 500,000 stations by 2030, has built fewer than 100 after nearly four years.

What makes this worse is that obviously American didn’t have an extra $1.2 trillion lying around. It borrowed the money, adding even more to the debt.

Debt alone isn’t a bad thing if it used to fund investments that create more value than they consume—generate a positive return on investment (via GDP growth) that exceeds the cost of capital.

Yet governments routinely fail to do this. That’s why their debt-to-GDP ratios (easily the MOST important metric of responsible spending) are getting WORSE each year.

Japan’s debt-to-GDP ratio exceeds 260%. Greece, even after years of bailouts and austerity, is still at 150%. Italy sits around 140%.

The United States has crossed 120% and keeps climbing.

And no one seems to care. Congress is completely ignoring the national debt’s ticking time bomb… Instead, America should be leading the way— providing an example to the rest of the world what fiscal restraint and responsible governance looks like.

That’s why it’s so pathetic to see other countries get this right. And the latest example comes from India.

At 56%, India’s debt-to-GDP (the size of its national debt relative to the size of its economy) is less than HALF of the US level.

Yet India’s government is serious about bringing it down.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented their newest budget last week, with the specific goal to bring India’s debt-to-GDP down to 50% over the next five years.

And in order to do that, they’re investing in various sectors where they feel they can generate a strong, positive return— boosting both economic growth and tax revenue.

This includes spending on roads, ports, railways, and other “hard” infrastructure.

By comparison, “infrastructure” in the Biden-era bill was defined as anything which pushed their woke, green dream, from anti-racism to wasteful subsidies.

India is also trying to make smart investments in higher tech infrastructure.

Semiconductors and rare earth minerals are two sectors currently dominated by China—and critical to everything from smartphones to military equipment. So India is proposing to build domestic capacity in both, to ensure they’re not dependent on a geopolitical rival for essential resources.

Their data center play is even more targeted; India is offering tax holidays through 2047 for foreign cloud companies that build facilities there.

Google alone has already committed $15 billion for a data center in southern India.

Compare this to how America spends its borrowed money.

$200 million for “gender equity programs” in Pakistan. $100 billion on Leftist legal graft in California alone—$25 billion on homeless programs without reducing the number of homeless, $33 billion on DEI initiatives and green subsidies. $40 million to help queer and transgender people stop smoking.

And this isn’t even part of the 10% of the federal budget—roughly $600 billion per year—Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent estimated is lost to outright fraud.

But the worst part is the trajectory.

India’s debt-to-GDP is projected to drop significantly over the next several years—mostly due to spending restraint and their investments in growth.

The US, by comparison, can’t seem to stop spending money. Congress keeps spending more, refuses to rein in obvious fraud, and fails to eliminate pointless regulations.

India is also being prudent about uncertainty; they don’t know what the tariff situation is going to look like later this year or next year. So they rationally acknowledged the uncertainty… and refrained from making additional tax cuts.

There are two ways to bring down a debt-to-GDP ratio. You can slash spending. Or you can hold spending steady and focus on growth.

India chose the second path. One can argue whether that’s optimal. But at least they sat down, examined their situation, set a goal, and mapped out what they believe is the best path to get there.

To be clear, India still has plenty of challenges. Their economy is projected to slow as tariffs take effect. They need more private investment. Poverty remains widespread.

And, let’s not be naive: political corruption and graft exist everywhere, including and especially in India.

But they’re at least approaching their fiscal situation rationally. They’ve identified strategic sectors and created incentives so that the private sector can flourish. They’ve prioritized infrastructure that compounds growth. They’ve set measurable targets and are making progress toward them.

This is not radical. It should be the bare minimum for any government to simply put their country on a responsible long term trajectory.

Yet in the United States, with all its advantages—reserve currency status, abundant natural resources, the most innovative companies on Earth—the government can’t manage the basics.

The national debt stands at $38.6 trillion and climbs by roughly $2 trillion every year. Interest payments alone now exceed military spending. Tax revenue covers mandatory entitlements—Social Security, Medicare—plus interest on the debt. That’s it.

Everything else, from the military to national parks, runs on borrowed money.

This is obviously unsustainable.

But it’s not cause for panic. It’s arithmetic.

When debt-to-GDP ratios climb past the point of no return, the playbook is predictable because it’s happened over and over again throughout history. Governments inflate their way out. The currency loses purchasing power.

And real assets— precious metals, energy, agriculture, industrial metals— hold value regardless of what politicians do to the dollar.

Companies that produce these real assets are primed to do extremely well.

Source

Simon Black is an international investor, entrepreneur and permanent traveler. His daily letter is both educational and entertaining, and we suggest that those who want unbiased, actionable information about global opportunities sign up for Sovereign Man’s free, actionable newsletter at http://www.SovereignMan.com.

From Simon Black of SovereignMan.com

Source: https://www.schiffsovereign.com/trends/its-crazy-that-india-is-more-fiscally-responsible-than-america-154368/