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Mort Zuckerman: Brace For an Avalanche of Unfunded Debt
U.S. News & World Report ^ | December 28, 2012 | MORTIMER B. ZUCKERMAN

Posted on 12/30/2012 11:15:00 PM PST by neverdem

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1 posted on 12/30/2012 11:15:15 PM PST by neverdem
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To: neverdem
RE :”We'll come to why that's not happening, but let's consider first why we should regard our predicaments as gravely as any private company does on the path to bankruptcy. “

Since we print out own money and loan it to ourselves bankruptcy isn't possible.

Its just like the SS trust fund. We can cut FICA/SS payroll taxes when SS is already running deficits and it still is called 'fully funded as far as the eye can see'.

2 posted on 12/30/2012 11:24:42 PM PST by sickoflibs (Dems go for results, meaning winning. Rs go for symbolism and whining about losing.)
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To: sickoflibs

“Since we print out own money and loan it to ourselves bankruptcy isn’t possible.”

But hyperinflation is... And that’s worse.


3 posted on 12/30/2012 11:29:11 PM PST by babygene ( .)
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To: neverdem

Obama voters don’t care.

They want their benefits and they want them now!

Debt? What debt?


4 posted on 12/30/2012 11:36:17 PM PST by goldstategop (In Memory Of A Dearly Beloved Friend Who Lives In My Heart Forever)
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To: neverdem

Mister Zuckerman is SPEAKING the TRUTH... but the GREATER question is... is ANYONE listening???


5 posted on 12/30/2012 11:40:52 PM PST by VideoDoctor
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To: neverdem
Mort is basically saying that the socialists have run out of other people's money, and confiscatin everything from people making over $66,000 / year as well as from corporations wouldn't even make a dent. Curiously, he still says taxes should be raised, "in a way that doesn't discourage effort or cause capital flight". Good luck with that. Mort also thinks entitlements must be "means tested".

The question is not whether we must make the tough choices to put our nation's finances in order. The question is whether we will do so before the market forces us to do so.

The politicians will do so only if forced to by "the market".
Ironic, isn't it?

6 posted on 12/30/2012 11:48:11 PM PST by Lancey Howard
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To: goldstategop
Obama voters don’t care. They want their benefits and they want them now! Debt? What debt?

Precisely.
That cartoon at the top of the pages of the Zuckerman column is a real head shaker. The cartoonist thinks 300 million Americans give a rat's behind about the deficit or national debt? Please...

As you noted, the Democrat moocher class couldn't care less about any of that crap.

7 posted on 12/30/2012 11:53:34 PM PST by Lancey Howard
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To: sickoflibs
SS isn't actually running deficits ~ the US government is running deficits.

But that's neither here nor there. We have a situation where the federal government can borrow virtually unlimited amounts from foreign sources interested in putting their money in our hands simply to protect its value.

We aren't really paying that much interest on it.

Remember, in normal times interest is an attractant but in times like these fear causes people with money to protect it from their own governments by handing it over to us.

That's been going on for most of two centuries!

8 posted on 12/31/2012 12:33:10 AM PST by muawiyah
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To: babygene

We continue to suffer from deflation across a broad sector of the economy.


9 posted on 12/31/2012 12:35:03 AM PST by muawiyah
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To: muawiyah

The U.S government cannot borrow unlimited funds! As our credit rating errodes
higher interest payments will be demanded by the debt holders.

This is pure fantasy. Greece, Spain wake up!


10 posted on 12/31/2012 1:00:40 AM PST by ChiMark (America no more)
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To: muawiyah
We aren't really paying that much interest on it.

Of course not. With interest rates at rock bottom it don't look too bad does it.

Raise interest rates a few points and suddenly your in nose-bleed country. that 359 bil goes to over a trillion PER YEAR. FOR ABSOLUTELY NOTHING.

Interest rates held artificially low by people appointed by the very same politicians that NEED, DESPERATELY to stay ahead of the ball, keeping the deficit as low as possible or they're gonna need those billion bullets they been buying over the last bunch a years.

And yet, every dollar that the govt borrows is another dollar that private industry CAN'T borrow to actually build jobs that could dig us out of this abyss.

Ain't NO way out of this hole.

Just gonna get worse.

11 posted on 12/31/2012 1:13:18 AM PST by HeartlandOfAmerica (Get in touch with your galtitude!)
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To: HeartlandOfAmerica
But we may not even get as far as the govt crash. Banks might crap out on us first to an extent that even the .gov's can't TARP their way out of, ie.:

Derivatives owned by the biggest banks in the country.

12 posted on 12/31/2012 1:24:03 AM PST by HeartlandOfAmerica (Get in touch with your galtitude!)
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To: muawiyah
“Deflation”

I don't see much deflation outside of wholesale commodity costs.

And when I do, it's related to oversupply issues, not monetary or normal demand issues.

Home prices are still drifting lower in southeast Florida, Las Vegas, and central California, but drifting higher or stable in just about every other region.

Wages and benefits are slightly lower for low skill jobs, but that is related to a massive oversupply of legal and illegal immigrants.

Desktop PC’s cost less, but that is because people are substituting notebooks, tablets, and smart phones.

Video game consoles are cheaper, but that's because of a host of new game playing options.

Taxes and interest rates are lower, but that is because of government manipulation, and could change instantly if we create a currency crisis.

On the other hand...

My rent is up 8% in 2012.

Food up 10%.

Gas up a little from last year.

Health and car insurance up.

Basic clothing up.

13 posted on 12/31/2012 1:41:46 AM PST by zeestephen
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To: Lancey Howard

“Curiously, he still says taxes should be raised, “in a way that doesn’t discourage effort or cause capital flight”. Good luck with that. Mort also thinks entitlements must be “means tested”.”

Mort Romney. They keep on trying. And not a word on 800,000 civilian “employees” of the Pentagon, and all the other bureaus and fed. agencies.


14 posted on 12/31/2012 2:01:45 AM PST by Varsity Flight (Extortion-Care is the Government Work-Camp: Arbeitsziehungslager)
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To: Varsity Flight
>>Our federal balance sheet does not include the unfunded social insurance obligations of Medicare, Social Security, and the future retirement benefits of federal employees...
15 posted on 12/31/2012 2:38:02 AM PST by Jacquerie ("How few were left who had seen the republic!" - Tacitus, The Annals)
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To: Lancey Howard
I, too, want taxes raised.....on the 47% that pay NO TAXES and most GET MONEY from us, the Taxpayer!!!

FLAT TAX....EVERYBODY needs some skin in the game!! ANd EVERYBODY needs to PAY THE SAME RATE!!!!

16 posted on 12/31/2012 2:52:13 AM PST by Ann Archy (ABORTION........the HUMAN sacrifice to the god of CONVENIENCE.)
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To: Lancey Howard
I, too, want taxes raised.....on the 47% that pay NO TAXES and most GET MONEY from us, the Taxpayer!!!

FLAT TAX....EVERYBODY needs some skin in the game!! ANd EVERYBODY needs to PAY THE SAME RATE!!!!

17 posted on 12/31/2012 2:52:13 AM PST by Ann Archy (ABORTION........the HUMAN sacrifice to the god of CONVENIENCE.)
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To: babygene

I wonder where this ends, America with a Hitler, America the enemy of liberty and freedom?


18 posted on 12/31/2012 2:56:56 AM PST by gotribe
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To: zeestephen
Thanks to tablets and i-phones your aggregate entertainment costs have dropped off the planet!

Tourism is down ~ PERMANANTLY. There was a time folks took formal trips and stayed precise amounts of time. Today they buy a new battery and lounge on the couch.

Clothing lasts far longer. Machine-made custom shoes are gradually infiltrating the market and they'll really drive down footware costs.

Some hidden costs, like 'design' have dropped precipitously and we still have a 15 year overhang in housing ~ the only place property values are increasing are in critical locations ~ like where I live. Super highway into the heart of WarshDC itssef, a ginormous subway station, and two different commuter rail systems are a walking distance away. This is the route of the helicopters from the Pentagon to Quantico and points in between. Beginning to look like that transport corridor in Futurama.

Deflation has every reason to not go away

19 posted on 12/31/2012 3:59:29 AM PST by muawiyah
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To: Ann Archy

ANd EVERYBODY needs to PAY THE SAME RATE!!!!


A flat tax is not the answer since the income/expenses reported are by the taxpayer and can be greatly manipulated.

The “Takers” don’t even report their income because the tax law states they don’t even have to report their income annually if they make an “adjusted” income less than $6,000 yearly. Notice the “adjusted.”

A national sales tax is the only fair tax because the tax would be collected as the sale was made by the retailer/wholesaler and the best part is that the “takers,” welfare cheats, whores, drug dealers, the underground economy and other parasites upon the tax paying hard working and honest citizens would have to pay each time they bought something.

The best thing is that the average American can save their money and only pay a tax as they spend it.


20 posted on 12/31/2012 4:13:12 AM PST by DH (Once the tainted finger of government touches anything the rot begins)
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