Wednesday, September 13, 2017


OUR

DEBT

THREATS






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FreeThinke’s Blog
Merrily Cheesing Off the Left since 2012

30 comments:

  1. Broke?! We can just keep printing money!

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    1. John Maynard Keynes said

      That's exactly right. My, but you're an exceptionally bright fellow!

      Go to the head of the ass!

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    2. "If something cannot go on forever, it will stop." -- Herbert Stein

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    3. Mordecai Rappahannock Terwilliger said

      Joshua Spitupalocki said it all when rewrote:

      "Things would be so different, if they were not as they are."

      Or was that Marcus Julius Startarow? I often get them mixed up.

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    4. The Ruler Rule:

      The nation whose currency is the benchmark can change the size of the ruler to compensate for its own profligacy.

      Delete
  2. We are in dept up to our eyeballs,Obama wanted to make this country into a Socialist Nation,and thats why I'm now paying other people's mortgages? Is that why I'm now paying for the Nationalization of banking. Is that why I'm now staring in the face of paying for everybody's health care - you know, the ones who don't give a rip about providing for their own families (while we bust our you-know-whats to provide for ours)? You know the ones - who have 15 children b/c they can waltz in & out of a maternity ward, knowing that "the government" (that would be MY TAX dollars) will pay for their medical bills, child care & even now (if Obama has his way) COLLEGE!!! You don't call that Socialism!! Give me a break! Obama did this to America, and lets never forget it.
    Lets hope that Mr. Trump can change that,
    Thats the "Hope and Change" that I want!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, but it started long, LONG, L-O-N-G before Obama. Obama was just a BOIL in the BUTT of the MONSTER that has held us in thrall since "Progressivism" (really a sort of "Marxism Lite") asserted itself and decided we needed to ignore ad ultimately destroy the Constitution "for the Greater Good'

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    2. Yes it did. Really kicked into high gear about 1980. Been going strong since. The boil on the butt has abscessed. Most important is dept to GDP. Or so "they" say.

      Who knows, maybe folks and their government will some day figure it out... Until then? PARTY HARDY!

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  3. Some ideas
    Fixing our healthcare system...Huge cause of the debt.
    Stop giving entitlements our so easily, as Obama did..
    Decrease the time you can be on unemployment
    Stop getting into wars like iraq! 5 trillion bucks trump said himself...War cost a great deal.

    The last thing you want to do is let infrastructure fall apart in your own country and stop investing in your own people.

    Can you imagine how much more debt that stupid incompetent Crooked Hillary would accrued if she got elected?

    At least Trump would stimulate the economy and bring in more revenue. Crooked Hillary would have just continue with Obama's failed welfare driven Left economics with more debt, dismal growth and driving jobs out of America.

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  4. Gratuirtous insults and snide innuendos are FORBIDDEN at this bolog –– as are OFF-TOPIC COMMENTS and BOILERPLATE.

    We have no wish to be POPULAR at the expense of our INTEGRITY and our desire to foster an atmosphere where THOUGHTFUL, CIVIL DISCOURSE may take place.
    .

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  5. As Les pointed out above, the debt-GDP Ratio is the critical measure. In 1980 it stood at 35%. We went over 100% under President Obama.

    Theoretically, if the national debt grows no faster than the economy grows, it is manageable, if it is not too high.

    Unfortunately we are not in that position. Our debt is bigger than our total annual economic output, and it is growing faster than our economy grows.

    Here's a dismal explanation of how interest payments on the debt with double within 10 years.

    Right now, mandatory spending (entitlements) are 64% of the federal budget, and interest is 6%, leaving on 30% of the budget open to cuts.

    In summary, there's no way out. Print more money and kick the can down the road.

    To paraphrase Herb Stein, the trend will continue until it no longer can.

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    1. Keynes should have been disembowelled with a red hot poker.

      The imbeciles in search of expeidient solutions to " social injustices" who LISTENED to Keynes should have been subjected to –– The Death of a Thousand Cuts –– been thrown into cages with wild beasts who'd been systematically starved –– very slowly lowered into cauldrons of boilng oil feet first –– or at the very least been staked out on a series of anthills after being covered with honey.

      It has been the Mercy Freaks and Grievance Junkies who have effectively destroyed Western Civilization.

      Am I KIDDING?

      Not really. Well-meaning fools are far more dangerous than overt fiends.

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    2. Don't blame Maynard Keynes. Irresponsible politicians grossly distorted his economic theories to justify their criminal profligacy.

      Keys did recommend an aspirin, but congress swallowed the whole bottle.

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    3. If you had read me more carefully, you would have seen that I place the blame squarely on the politicians who LISTENED to Keynes.

      Not to worry. NOBODY seems to LISTEN to ANYBODY anymore. LISTENING has become a Lost Art.

      We're all too busy gabbling to bother paying close attention to each other.

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    4. FreeThinke said: "Keynes should have been disembowelled with a red hot poker."

      Delete
  6. There is no political will to do this, so it will never happen, but here is how our government should proceed:

    Start by recognizing these historical and statistical facts:

    * Federal spending has averaged around 23% of GDP for decades.

    * Revenue collection during that same time period has averaged around 18% of GDP for the same time period

    This gap has produced the debt.

    The simple answer is to close the gap: Bring down spending and raise revenue to close the gap. This requires passing a balanced budget every year.

    Another piece of this is to put government accounting on a rational standard like FASB (what businesses must follow). GASB (what state and local governments must follow) is a joke. Put government at all levels on FASB.

    If we took a true and honest accounting of all debt at all levels of government, it would stagger the imagination.

    Restoring fiscal sanity would require us to slaughter herds of sacred cows. No way in hell that will ever happen.

    Our currency is the global yardstick since we have no more global gold standard. We are the world's currency, and most international trade is dollar-denominated.

    This gives us a great privilege to manipulate our currency and print more at will, which we abuse routinely. Everybody knows we do it, and we get by with it because we do it slowly and steadily: Instead of slashing the tire, we hiss the air out slowly.

    The only way this stops is if some other nation's currency challenges us for global dominance and people start trading in that currency. With the dollar no longer being used for international trade, the demand for the dollar goes down, and printing more results in steep devaluation (think old Greek Drachma or Italian Lira).

    That result imposes discipline on a nation, or that nation sees itself slide to the status of Greece or Argentina.

    I have no idea how this ends, when it ends, or even if it ends.

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    1. I CAN ONLY REPEAT:

      Keynes should have been Disembowelled with a Red Hot Poker.

      The imbeciles in search of expeidient solutions to " social injustices" who LISTENED to Keynes should have been subjected to –– The Death of a Thousand Cuts –– been Thrown into Cages with Wild Beasts who'd been Systematically Starved onto a Frenzy of Raging Hunger –– Very Slowly Lowered into Cauldrons of Boilng Oil Feet First –– or at the very least been Staked Out On a Series of Anthills after being Covered with Honey. Possibly Permitted to Live After All Four Limbs Had Been Severed.

      It has been the Mercy Freaks and Grievance Junkies who have effectively destroyed Western Civilization.

      Am I KIDDING?

      Not really. Well-meaning fools offering the public a Free Lunch are far more dangerous than overt fiends.


      Delete
    2. apologies. I didn't mean to rile you. I was only trying to contribute to the discussion.

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    3. I'm not annoyed with YOU at all, Silver. I'm only infuriated by the incredible STUPIDITY, of those in power, and the unbelievable GULLIBILITY and CUPIDITY of a Public who wants to believe FREE LUNCH every day at the expense of "The Rich" is not only a real possibility, but also a RIghteous Goal.

      My remarks, I'm afraid, deserve more than a cursory glance, if anyone wants to undersand what I'm trying to convey.

      Kipling sums up my personal moral, political and economic convictions perfectly in The Gods of the Copybook Headings –– a classic I've quoted more often than I can rightly remember –– and one with which I know you to be thoroughly familiar.

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  7. Hey, Bernie Sanders says we need a $3.2 trillion dollar "Medicare for All" program. We can afford it.... LOL!

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    Replies
    1. After all, we only took in $3.5trillion and spent $4 trillion in 2016. Just double the taxes!

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    2. It's only $2.7 trillion more spending on Medicare than last year.

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    3. 1987 Bernie Sanders refutes 2017 Bernie Sanders on the efficacy of "Medicare for All"...

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  8. ლ(ಠ益ಠლ)╯

    Debit politician debt make L00FA angry!

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  9. I hear very few of our "political leaders" decrying this mounting debt.

    I surmise that they believe that we can spend our way out of debt. How does that work?

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    Replies
    1. Money from the treasury is what keeps them in office. No way they turn off the bribe spigot.

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    2. SF,
      Bribery by any other name is still bribery!

      Corruption at the core -- and for quite a long time now.

      Sheesh.

      Delete
  10. The Truth Has Been SpokenSeptember 15, 2017 at 9:33 AM

    Another reason why these people are too stupid and self-absorbed to realize that it's that it's mindless contempt like this that cost them this election.

    ReplyDelete

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