Posted on 11/18/2005 11:40:48 AM PST by Robert Drobot
According to the Treasury Department, from 1776-2000, the first 224 years of U.S. history, 42 U.S. presidents borrowed a combined $1.01 trillion from foreign governments and financial institutions, but in the past four years alone, the Bush administration borrowed $1.05 trillion. ... "No American political leadership has ever willfully and deliberately mortgaged our country to foreign interests in the manner we have witnessed over the past four years," said Tanner. "If this recklessness is not stopped, I truly believe our economic freedom as American citizens is in great jeopardy." [CNSNews]
I wonder if there are any implications...
"The facts are not partisan, and they're not ideological," said David Walker, the nation's comptroller general. He should know. He's the nation's chief accountant and signs off on the government's balance sheet. America's fiscal future, he said, "is worse than advertised."
When the government next reports these numbers Dec. 15, the total is expected to reach $46 trillion to $50 trillion.
How much is $50 trillion? About $166,000 for each of the almost 300 million Americans. [Seatle Times]
American "wealth" is an illusion based on borrowed funds that will soon be cut off, followed by creditor claims. Are you ready to repay the $166,000 spent on your behalf?
I'm good for it.
I would see the depression as being possibly a wash while the war would be extremely inflationary given the enormous commitment of resources to it.
Hey WB, let's face it --you're just not good with numbers. Your method of dividing the total debt by the population may only come out to $26k, but by using Drobot's secret calculations, it can be over $166k! We'd better let these America bashers have their way before they say it's topping $1.7 million for every family member plus a couple bucks extra if you have gold fish.
oops -- almost forgot: /sarcasm
A depression is a longer and deeper recession.
Recessionary environments have experienced stagflation.
Prices do not necessarily go down in a depression and price hikes can actually characterize one.
Price controls and rationing to avoid inflation took place during WWII
The price controls and rationing were not to avoid inflation but to reallocate resources to the war effort by government fiat.
In theory, your ration card entitled you to a certain amount of beef, but if you were willing to pay up (at inflated prices) you could always find some more.
For someone trying to tell the thread author he is short on facts, you seem to be painfully unaware of them.
Economics are more complex than either the author or you represent them to be.
Exactly!!! Foreign national's investment in the U.S. is an indicator of the confidence others have in America. In overly regulated economies where societies and markets are less free than ours, foreign nationals are still able to vote with thier savings, and when they do this they are saying that the U.S. is the most reliable economy and has the most potential for growth. It is expected that the money be spent in a way that benefits the global economy. The post's concept is so asinine that, thus far I've been joking about it. But I think you're right, this might actually scare some Americans. You framed the reality very well, thanks!
Yes, but I needed to keep it apples-to-apples to his claim of $166K.
Is it just me, or doesn't anybody else think there should be a TRUE "AMT" to insure we don't have a huge voting block of people that pay nothing ? Shouldn't even the minimum-wage earner be contributing at least 5% of his earnings to government ?
What they contribute to SS doesn't count. For them, SS yields a GREAT rate of return on their "investment" in their eventual monthly benefit. By the time you hit the SS earnings cap of $90K/year, your SS benefit is a NEGATIVE percentage -- you don't even get back what was taken from you.
The Fed is doing what it does best..
Spending "Other People's Money"..
The Debt, of course, is no issue and of no concern..
Congress doesn't have to pay back anything, just spend..
Their spending (and borrowing) is based on imaginary estimates of future productivity...
None of those estimates are necessarily realistic or accurate..
One can assume that productivity will increase in at least some sectors of the american economy in line with advances in technology..
But failure to educate the citizenry well enough to actually hold down those jobs means more work visas for properly educated foreigners to come in and do the work, or outsourcing the work to places like India..
Result: Rising Unemployment, larger Welfare Rolls, and less contributions to Social Security funds..
Debt increases.
But like was pointed out already, we owe so much to so many, they can't afford to let us go bust..
It would take down the entire world economy...
So, for now, we're "safe"..
But not forever..
That would be perfect.
I'll pay off my $166,000 if everyone else does too.
"Economics are more complex than either the author or you represent them to be"
Yes, economics can be complex and also very simple at the same time.
But the facts are other than you claim them to be. Your complete ignorance of the link between a depression and WWII and the lack of inflation is staggering.
Lol. If they don't like the default we can always threaten to send back the truckloads of shower flip flops!
Dang! It could be paid off asap if the BLM would just sell all the land in Nevada to Steve Wynn!
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He may be thinking about total family wealth, which does in fact, come out to about $166. Right now public debt is about 16% of total family wealth, and that's down from before.
So we all have $166,000 and we all owe $27,000. I can live with that.
Just the same, we don't want to be to hard on Drobot. We may be better with numbers, but he's much better than us at getting people upset.
I've said the same thing many times. The ChiComs are new to this game, we can welsh on this deal anytime we want.
That provides a novel, if not entirely comprehensive, solution to the problem. The gov't wants to print more money, but printing money leads to inflation - that's the problem. Since Americans are so used to unchanging currency, when a limited-edition currency comes out there's a stampede to exchange old money for new ... but then a curious thing happens: the new limited-edition currency is hoarded. Result? the Feds get to print/mint more money with the benefit they seek, but that very money gets taken out of circulation by collectors en masse. Upshot? the benefits of printing money without the resulting inflation.
Maybe it's not enough to solve the debt problem, but it's plenty to fund someone's bureaucratic empire.
Whew! Good thing I am married!
How about we chip in and buy this guy a calculator.
steve wynn buys up nevada, the oil companies buy up ANWR, and everyone except the liberals are happy.
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