The Comedian's "Economic Holocaust" ping list...
Frowning takes 68 muscles.
Smiling takes 6.
Pulling this trigger takes 2.
I'm lazy.
Posted on 01/27/2011 6:45:11 AM PST by IbJensen
The national debt is over $14 trillion, the federal budget deficit is $1.4 trillion and, depending on whose estimates are used, the unfunded liability or indebtedness of the federal government (mostly in the form of obligations for Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and prescription drugs) is estimated to be between $60 and $100 trillion.
Those entitlements along with others account for nearly 60 percent of federal spending. They are what Congress calls mandatory or non-discretionary spending. Then there's discretionary spending, half of which is for national defense. Each year, non-discretionary spending consumes a higher and higher percent of the federal budget.
The spending path that Congress has chosen for the last half-century is unsustainable and will end up with economic collapse but little or nothing can be done about it unless I'm grossly wrong about the American people. Americans who detest our country and those who love our country are hell-bent, wittingly or unwittingly, on destroying it.
You say, "Williams, that's not only insulting but shows little trust as well. Explain yourself!"
For the past 30 years, federal tax revenues have averaged 18 percent of the GDP. Federal spending, nearing 30 percent of our GDP, is the problem. To get our economic house in order, there must be large spending cuts, not only in so-called discretionary spending but in non-discretionary spending as well.
To put this in perspective: Defense spending is called discretionary and totals $685 billion. Our deficit is $1.4 trillion. Defense spending could be entirely eliminated and we'd still have a massive deficit. Any congressman unwilling to make cuts in entitlement spending is not to be taken seriously about sparing our nation from economic collapse.
Millions of Americans don't want their entitlement touched, many of whom are senior citizens. Seniors will tell you that they were forced into Social Security and Medicare, and any congressman talking about cutting those and other entitlements will face their wrath at the ballot box. By the way, according to one study, "Until recent years, Social Security recipients received more, often far more, than the value of the Social Security taxes they paid. For workers who earned average wages and retired in 1980 at age 65, it took 2.8 years to recover the value of the retirement portion of the combined employee and employer shares of their Social Security taxes plus interest."
Seniors are not the only group who can put the fear of God into politicians. There are massive corporate handouts through programs like the Export-Import Bank, Agriculture Department business and farm subsidies, and the Small Business Administration. Then there's massive Department of Education spending on K-12 education and higher education. The list of federal programs, described as taking the earnings of one American and giving them to another, numbers in the thousands.
Everyone who receives government largesse and special favors deems his needs as vital, deserving, proper and in the national interest. It is entirely unreasonable to expect a politician to honor and obey our Constitution and in the process commit political suicide. What's even worse for our nation is that voters ousting a politician who'd refuse to bring, say, aid to higher education back to his constituents is perfectly rational.
If, for example, he's a Virginia politician and doesn't bring higher education grants back to his constituents, it doesn't mean Virginian taxpayers will pay a lower income tax. All it means is that Marylanders will get the money instead. Once legalized theft begins, it pays for everyone to participate. Those who don't will be losers. That's the nation's dilemma.
The most important job for people who want to spare our nation from economic collapse is not that of persuading politicians to do the right thing but to convince our fellow Americans to respect the limits of our Constitution. In his speech to Virginia's ratifying convention, James Madison said, "Liberty lies in the hearts of men and women; when it dies there, no constitution, no law, no court can save it; no constitution, no law, no court can even do much to help it."
That alone would cut more than 2/3rds of the federal spending, and we ought to begin working towards complying with the Constitution before it loses its remaining value to this country.
The leftist pansies who are running (ruining) this nation have been using our Constitution for toilet paper. They are traitors. Barry is blameless as he isn't even a legitimate citizen. He's just a criminal, muslim communist puppet whose strings are being pulled by Soros and the rest of the internationalist conspiracy.
Walter Williams is correct.
If you’re a principled business owner competing against another business that uses government to get a favorable regulation or subsidy, YOU LOSE.
If you obey the law, hire personnel, and pay the appropriate payroll taxes for your employees, while your competitor pays illegal aliens under the table, YOU LOSE.
If you live responsibly and save for retirement while your irresponsible neighbor gets a handout or government intentionally inflates away the value of your life savings, YOU LOSE.
If you live a moral life, don’t cheat on your spouse, and provide for your children while the welfare mom down the street gets a payout for every child she pushes out while living with her boyfriend in secret, YOU LOSE.
How is an honest, moral, responsible person supposed to take care of themselves and their family when the system is rigged to the advantage of lawbreakers, liars, and cheats?
Probably won’t be saved before literal Armageddon.
However, Christ will pull the remnants together again, imho.
Short answer: yes
Long answer: it’ll take some smarts and hard work
Our entire Federal government needs to be torn down and rebuilt on the Constitution and the Bill or Rights. Same thing for the DoJ. States themselves need to sit down, look at the BoR, and sh*tcan anything that violates it. The 10th gives them power not ceded to the Fedgov, but some things are off limits even to them.
All of this needs to happen or we will be just another footnote in History.
Prof. Wiliams is totally correct. Too bad CBS News simply looked the other way when Obama’s failed economic ideas were made manifest during the 2008 campaign and chose instead to be part of his propaganda machine.
Cntl+Alt+Del.
short answer: NO and Austrian economists would agree.
when piddling cuts or even freezes in spending are offered the left and the media go apeshit in repeating the mantra that ‘ they want to kill your grandma, steal her SS checks and eat your baby’.
If 40% of the budget has to be borrowed and even tiny freezes are near impossible then the Cloward/Piven socialist progressive statist tactic and ideology has won.
Longer answer: Yes, but only after it first crashes.
It’s far too late to vote our way out of this. All we can do is prepare for the inevitable train wreck that’s coming.
Uhhhhhh
Isn’t that more than a little toooo insulting to 5 year olds?
No way. The most likely way to deal with the debt is to monetize the debt and bring on hyper inflation. The other, less likely result will be a revolution such as occurred in Germany during the Weimer Republic days. We are kaput! Even the Tea Partiers are not willing to cut enough to make any meaningful differences.
Sobering.
Compare the US to the Soviet Union before it crashed and dissolved. The Soviets went down because of money problems. Couldn’t support what Khrushchev grand ideas. What are our problems. Not enough money to support Zero’s grand ideas.
We have already slipped under the water and are drowning but not many in DC seem to recognize it.
This year at the SOTU address, when I saw dozens of members of Congress choose what they termed as “bipartisan seating”. In actual fact they were showing the American viewers that the US Congress is now a one party congress.
Yes, that’s what I said. There’s no substantial difference in the parties anymore. The US Congress is essentially a ONE PARTY congress. One goal in a ONE PARTY government is a Communist government. Sure we don’t have to admit the truth yet but we know what it is. The Republic is gone.
If the Tea Party stands up on its hind legs and kicks the out the Communist government maybe we’ll still have the strength to break the surface and start gasping for air once again.
OK.
If we’re talking about 5 year old lobotomized drunken slugs.
1. It’s all funny money.
2. Killing off millions of “useless eaters” . . . is part of their plan.
Honestly I think it’s too late (there’s also Trillions in Fannie/Freddie debt btw) they may be able to hold off the beasts by extend and pretend for a while longer. In that vein...
Rand Paul Calls for 30% Cut in Federal Spending
http://www.economicpolicyjournal.com/2011/01/rand-paul-calls-for-30-cut-in-federal.html
I like Rand Paul and I think this is great but I doubt it will be pushed through. On the plus side when the interest rates skyrocket like they did in the early 1980’s you may be able to make a little money for prepping before the crash.
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