According to C.I.A. report, we're broke.

CIA Factbook ^ | February 24, 2010 | Central Intelligence Agency

[bmwcyle]

No one would buy today.

[Rapscallion]

If we were Napoleonic France, say, we’d be trying to sell Louisiana to the quickest bidder.

And using the guillotine on our aristocrats in congress.

[silverleaf]

we can’t be broke! there’s still more checks in the checkbook!

[silverleaf]

Didn’t Clinton sell coal rights to the Riady’s? (Indonesians working with Chinese military intelligence)

or did he just nullify its value by locking it up as a federal preserve so the Riady coal holding in Indonesia became the world’s largest source of “clean” coal

obama now in process of trying to expand federal control over western land, to make it a protected wasteland.

[silverleaf]

excellent!

[jersey117]

We’re broke! I’ve got an idea.... let’s pass a trillion dollar healthcare plan.

[Screaming_Gerbil]

Ok, We’re broke.

Now please forgive me for asking what may be a stupid question, but what does this really mean?

I mean for all practical purposes.

With my current situation, I have a job, the paychecks get deposited, my credit card still works, I can take cash out of the bank, people and companies still accept it as payment, I can still buy things like food, gasoline,pay my bills by check, etc.

What am I not seeing?

[listenhillary]

I wonder what percentage energy imports are?

[Toddsterpatriot]

According to C.I.A. report, we're broke.

I blame poor reading skills. Did you have a link to a CIA page that said we were broke?

Or do you not know what Current Account Balance means?

How about Capital Account Balance?

Balance of Payments?

[east1234]

I think as a percentage of GDP we’re in much better shape than this indicates. But we have to balance our budget, which means cutting everything, medicare, medicaid, social security which should be means tested. Then eliminate capital gains taxes to free up trillions of capital, stop offshoring our manufacturing (screw free trade) and reclaim our position as the dominate economic force in the world. (I actually believe we still are) We gotta drill and mine, someone doesn’t play fair in trade we slap em with huge tariffs, China causes trouble, void our notes to them. They get $&!^^# with us, sink their navy.

[Ronbo1948]

Relax! We are, “TOO BIG TO FAIL!” :-)

[bruinbirdman]

"they don’t need to spend US dollars on military hardware or to spend it on US contractors."

The U.S.A. offers our allies plenty that is never black and white.

They buy our debt and some excess military production, we pay interest and principal at maturity and guarantee their secutity.

U.S.A. maintains the greatest benefit in the financial markets, "liquidity". Try buying/selling anything on the European market for anything close to the price that runs across the ticker.

yitbos

[ctdonath2]

What am I not seeing?

History.

At some point soon, the paper currency will be valued for what it is (nothing), you won't be able to take cash out of the bank because there won't be any there (only a tiny fraction of deposits is available in cash right now), and your credit card won't work because nobody will believe you have any cash to pay it off with (which you won't).

Look up "hyperinflation". The country owes so much more than it has that accounting games will soon fail (watch the treasury bond markets) and the only way to pay up is to (A) confiscate all income thru insanely high taxes (as if 50%+ wasn't crazy already), and (B) start printing dollars (dollars is what was agreed for payment dollars is what it will be paid in - devaluation wasn't prohibited in the contract).

[ctdonath2]

Latest example:

Real currency

And a guy using it to pay for lunch

No, I'm not kidding.

[OB1kNOb]

Look up "hyperinflation". The country owes so much more than it has that accounting games will soon fail (watch the treasury bond markets) and the only way to pay up is to (A) confiscate all income thru insanely high taxes (as if 50%+ wasn't crazy already), and (B) start printing dollars (dollars is what was agreed for payment dollars is what it will be paid in - devaluation wasn't prohibited in the contract).

Not to mention 3) confiscate all IRA's and 401K pension plans to help pay down government debt, offering a government provided annuity pay out in return. They are already making rumblings about that idea.

[ctdonath2]

Well, yeah, the idea is take all wealth however confiscation can be tenuously justified.

I just had a hideous thought.
Taxes impute ownership to the collector. Gov’t could just “pay” someone by reassigning the power to collect taxes. Example: as property taxes mean your land isn’t yours, the gov’t could just negotiate a deal whereby creditors would accept your property tax payments (indefinitely) in lieu of normal interest/principle payments - to wit, transferring ownership of your property to, say, People’s Republic of China.
(Why not?)

[familyop]

...sorry. I was talking about the ChiCom/Russian/Indian military hardware. It’s bought and sold between cheap currencies. I wasn’t specific enough...was fighting sleep here to solve a structural problem (done).

[dragnet2]

All things considered, #2 and #3 are quite interesting.

Rank	country	Current account balance	Date of Information

1	China	$ 296,200,000,000	2009 est.

2	Japan	$ 131,200,000,000	2009 est.

3	Germany	$ 109,700,000,000	2009 est.

4	Switzerland	$ 79,180,000,000	2009 est.

5	Norway	$ 58,560,000,000	2009 est.

6	European Union	$ 51,400,000,000	2009 est.

7	Russia	$ 42,080,000,000	2009 est.

8	Taiwan	$ 34,040,000,000	2009 est.

9	Netherlands	$ 33,720,000,000	2009 est.

10	Korea, South	$ 30,380,000,000	2009 est.

11	Hong Kong	$ 28,340,000,000	2009 est.

12	Malaysia	$ 27,760,000,000	2009 est.

13	Kuwait	$ 26,780,000,000	2009 est.

14	Singapore	$ 26,220,000,000	2009 est.

15	Saudi Arabia	$ 24,560,000,000	2009 est.

16	Sweden	$ 18,930,000,000	2009 est.

17	Thailand	$ 14,660,000,000	2009 est.

18	Argentina	$ 14,430,000,000	2009 est.

19	Indonesia	$ 10,700,000,000	2009 est.

20	Denmark	$ 10,410,000,000	2009 est.

21	Philippines	$ 8,160,000,000	2009 est.

22	Azerbaijan	$ 7,231,000,000	2009 est.

23	Brunei	$ 7,101,000,000	2008 est.

24	Libya	$ 6,502,000,000	2009 est.

25	Algeria	$ 5,523,000,000	2009 est.

26	Israel	$ 5,465,000,000	2009 est.

27	Angola	$ 4,941,000,000	2009 est.

28	Uzbekistan	$ 4,505,000,000	2009 est.

29	Qatar	$ 3,786,000,000	2009 est.

30	Luxembourg	$ 3,100,000,000	2009 est.

31	Bangladesh	$ 2,808,000,000	2009 est.

32	United Arab Emirates	$ 2,558,000,000	2009 est.

33	Venezuela	$ 2,558,000,000	2009 est.

34	Trinidad and Tobago	$ 2,460,000,000	2009 est.

35	Iran	$ 2,249,000,000	2009 est.

36	Turkmenistan	$ 2,011,000,000	2009 est.

37	Bahrain	$ 1,808,000,000	2009 est.

38	Latvia	$ 1,640,000,000	2009 est.

39	Timor-Leste	$ 1,161,000,000	2007 est.

40	Estonia	$ 1,084,000,000	2009 est.

41	Finland	$ 970,000,000	2009 est.

42	Burma	$ 924,000,000	2009 est.

43	Bolivia	$ 725,000,000	2009 est.

44	Oman	$ 612,000,000	2009 est.

45	Gabon	$ 537,000,000	2009 est.

46	Nepal	$ 537,000,000	2009 est.

47	Lithuania	$ 482,000,000	2009 est.

48	Namibia	$ 180,000,000	2009 est.

49	Bhutan	$ 164,000,000	2008 est.

50	British Virgin Islands	$ 134,300,000	1999 est.

51	Afghanistan	$ 85,000,000	2008 est.

52	Cote d'Ivoire	$ 65,000,000	2009 est.

53	Cook Islands	$ 26,670,000	2005 est.

54	Suriname	$ 24,000,000	2007 est.

55	Palau	$ 15,090,000	FY03/04 est.

56	Comoros	$ 8,000,000	2007 est.

57	Lesotho	$ 1,000,000	2009 est.

58	Guinea-Bissau	$ -6,000,000	2007 est.

59	Tuvalu	$ -11,680,000	2003 est.

60	Kiribati	$ -21,000,000	2007 est.

61	Laos	$ -23,000,000	2009 est.

62	Tonga	$ -23,000,000	2007 est.

63	Samoa	$ -24,000,000	2007 est.

64	Micronesia, Federated States of	$ -34,300,000	FY05 est.

65	Kyrgyzstan	$ -39,000,000	2009 est.

66	Anguilla	$ -42,870,000	2003 est.

67	Chile	$ -50,000,000	2009 est.

68	Vanuatu	$ -60,000,000	2007 est.

69	Sierra Leone	$ -63,000,000	2007 est.

70	Sao Tome and Principe	$ -64,000,000	2009 est.

71	Dominica	$ -72,000,000	2007 est.

72	Uruguay	$ -76,000,000	2009 est.

73	Central African Republic	$ -77,000,000	2007 est.

74	Belize	$ -80,000,000	2009 est.

75	Gambia, The	$ -88,000,000	2009 est.

76	Papua New Guinea	$ -131,000,000	2009 est.

77	Grenada	$ -138,000,000	2007 est.

78	Swaziland	$ -141,000,000	2009 est.

79	Solomon Islands	$ -143,000,000	2007 est.

80	Burundi	$ -144,000,000	2009 est.

81	Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	$ -149,000,000	2007 est.

82	Togo	$ -152,000,000	2009 est.

83	Ukraine	$ -162,000,000	2009 est.

84	Saint Kitts and Nevis	$ -163,000,000	2007 est.

85	Mauritania	$ -184,000,000	2007 est.

86	Saint Lucia	$ -199,000,000	2007 est.

87	Rwanda	$ -208,000,000	2009 est.

88	Antigua and Barbuda	$ -211,000,000	2007 est.

89	Cape Verde	$ -212,000,000	2009 est.

90	Djibouti	$ -212,000,000	2007 est.

91	Malawi	$ -216,000,000	2009 est.

92	Liberia	$ -224,000,000	2007 est.

93	Guyana	$ -232,000,000	2009 est.

94	Honduras	$ -247,000,000	2009 est.

95	Barbados	$ -254,000,000	2007 est.

96	Eritrea	$ -254,000,000	2009 est.

97	Seychelles	$ -281,000,000	2009 est.

98	Tajikistan	$ -288,000,000	2009 est.

99	Paraguay	$ -289,000,000	2009 est.

100	Niger	$ -321,000,000	2007 est.

101	Zambia	$ -364,000,000	2009 est.

102	Maldives	$ -370,000,000	2009 est.

103	Congo, Democratic Republic of the	$ -402,000,000	2007 est.

104	Congo, Republic of the	$ -405,000,000	2009 est.

105	Mali	$ -446,000,000	2007 est.

106	Burkina Faso	$ -480,000,000	2009 est.

107	Guinea	$ -502,000,000	2009 est.

108	Fiji	$ -507,000,000	2007 est.

109	Benin	$ -514,000,000	2009 est.

110	Malta	$ -527,000,000	2009 est.

111	Haiti	$ -566,000,000	2009 est.

112	Zimbabwe	$ -597,400,000	2009 est.

113	Moldova	$ -611,000,000	2009 est.

114	Botswana	$ -621,000,000	2009 est.

115	El Salvador	$ -621,000,000	2009 est.

116	Slovenia	$ -657,000,000	2009 est.

117	Costa Rica	$ -662,000,000	2009 est.

118	Equatorial Guinea	$ -669,000,000	2009 est.

119	Cameroon	$ -673,000,000	2009 est.

120	Macedonia	$ -798,000,000	2009 est.

121	Peru	$ -817,000,000	2009 est.

122	Uganda	$ -829,000,000	2009 est.

123	Mauritius	$ -868,000,000	2009 est.

124	Mozambique	$ -953,000,000	2009 est.

125	Nicaragua	$ -976,000,000	2009 est.

126	Mongolia	$ -1,000,000,000	2008 est.

127	Madagascar	$ -1,003,000,000	2009 est.

128	Cambodia	$ -1,024,000,000	2009 est.

129	Iceland	$ -1,030,000,000	2009 est.

130	Ecuador	$ -1,031,000,000	2009 est.

131	Armenia	$ -1,086,000,000	2009 est.

132	Montenegro	$ -1,102,000,000	2007 est.

133	Guatemala	$ -1,105,000,000	2009 est.

134	Cuba	$ -1,180,000,000	2009 est.

135	Tunisia	$ -1,191,000,000	2009 est.

136	Albania	$ -1,195,000,000	2009 est.

137	Jamaica	$ -1,349,000,000	2009 est.

138	Iraq	$ -1,389,000,000	2009 est.

139	Jordan	$ -1,401,000,000	2009 est.

140	Senegal	$ -1,437,000,000	2009 est.

141	Bahamas, The	$ -1,442,000,000	2007 est.

142	Syria	$ -1,521,000,000	2009 est.

143	Bosnia and Herzegovina	$ -1,599,000,000	2009 est.

144	Cyprus	$ -1,639,000,000	2009 est.

145	Panama	$ -1,655,000,000	2009 est.

146	Georgia	$ -1,661,000,000	2009 est.

147	Sri Lanka	$ -1,727,000,000	2009 est.

148	Chad	$ -1,843,000,000	2009 est.

149	Kenya	$ -1,859,000,000	2009 est.

150	New Zealand	$ -1,992,000,000	2009 est.

151	Tanzania	$ -1,995,000,000	2009 est.

152	Ethiopia	$ -2,165,000,000	2009 est.

153	Dominican Republic	$ -2,274,000,000	2009 est.

154	Pakistan	$ -2,420,000,000	2009 est.

155	Kazakhstan	$ -2,590,000,000	2009 est.

156	Yemen	$ -2,627,000,000	2009 est.

157	Ghana	$ -2,666,000,000	2009 est.

158	Sudan	$ -2,739,000,000	2009 est.

159	Lebanon	$ -2,897,000,000	2009 est.

160	Egypt	$ -3,320,000,000	2009 est.

161	Slovakia	$ -3,408,000,000	2009 est.

162	Hungary	$ -3,446,000,000	2009 est.

163	Poland	$ -3,585,000,000	2009 est.

164	Belarus	$ -3,656,000,000	2009 est.

165	Croatia	$ -3,672,000,000	2009 est.

166	Morocco	$ -3,795,000,000	2009 est.

167	Czech Republic	$ -3,886,000,000	2009 est.

168	Austria	$ -4,116,000,000	2009 est.

169	India	$ -4,294,000,000	2009 est.

170	Ireland	$ -5,308,000,000	2009 est.

171	Bulgaria	$ -5,812,000,000	2009 est.

172	Serbia	$ -6,889,000,000	2007 est.

173	Colombia	$ -7,136,000,000	2009 est.

174	Romania	$ -8,530,000,000	2009 est.

175	Vietnam	$ -9,170,000,000	2009 est.

176	Nigeria	$ -9,394,000,000	2009 est.

177	Mexico	$ -10,120,000,000	2009 est.

178	Brazil	$ -11,280,000,000	2009 est.

179	Turkey	$ -12,540,000,000	2009 est.

180	South Africa	$ -15,600,000,000	2009 est.

181	Portugal	$ -18,610,000,000	2009 est.

182	Belgium	$ -18,920,000,000	2009 est.

183	United Kingdom	$ -32,370,000,000	2009 est.

184	Australia	$ -33,310,000,000	2009 est.

185	Canada	$ -36,320,000,000	2009 est.

186	Greece	$ -40,820,000,000	2009 est.

187	France	$ -43,670,000,000	2009 est.

188	Italy	$ -55,440,000,000	2009 est.

189	Spain	$ -69,460,000,000	2009 est.

190	United States	$ -380,100,000,000	2009 est.

[UCANSEE2]

For instance, there's Fort Knox. Full of gold.

Really? Are you sure it's there?

[UCANSEE2]

And a guy using it to pay for lunch

Nah, he's just leaving a tip for the waiter.