[Willie Green]

"I am one of those who do not believe that a national debt is a national blessing, but rather a curse to a republic; inasmuch as it is calculated to raise around the administration a moneyed aristocracy dangerous to the liberties of the country."

-- President Andrew Jackson - (1824)

[junta]

Yeah, but the crack whore free traders tell us if we don't keep it up the whole economy is going to crumble. Kind of like a drug dealer telling a client that if he kicks the habit he will feel bad.

[Uncle Miltie]

I thought Japan bought all of America in the 1980s. Jeez its hard to keep up with who owns us now.

[RexBeach]

The one and only time in the history of the US that the government owed positively nothing to anyone was under the leadership of Andy Jackson.

"Old Hickory" bump.

[Dane]

Hey let's sell those assets to the longshoremen's union.

Oh wait a minute, your heroes, the unions, have never ran a business, just sponge off and ruin them.

[NonValueAdded]

IIRC, amidst all the furor about the Japanese purchase of Rockefeller Center someone said (paraphrasing), "so what, they can't move it to Japan."

[BenLurkin]

The Federal government is the largest landowner in America.

Why not sell off Federal land to pay off debt?

As a side note, we could restrict purchasers to American citizens and corporations but permit long term (99 year) leases to foreign inestors.

[Mike Darancette]

I am surprised at the recent outrage regarding the sale of American port operations to a United Arab Emirates' company, President Bush's proposal allowing foreign ownership of domestic airlines, etc.

Let's just say anything we want to, the truth is irrelevant if it does not comport with our bigotry.

Again for the ill informed we were not selling port operations. The port assets in question, terminal and other assets were being and would continue to be leases.

I can't see any difference fiscally who assumes the leases.

But hey go wild guys spout off as to how it is Bush's fault and we dodged a big bullet by not selling our assets.

[mysterio]

And our man Mitch is selling our highways, too. Well, only for 75 years.

But he needs that money so we can eminent domain a bunch of farmland and towns to complete the NAFTA highway.

[Pessimist]

"I am surprised at the recent outrage regarding the sale of American port operations to a United Arab Emirates' company."

The port deal is a bad premise for the sentiment expressed in the remainder of the article. The ports were already operated by a foreign company to begin with. From an economic perspective at least, whether that company was British or UAE doesn't really matter.

[CBart95]

This is the guy that explains our economy in "crack whore" terms.

The one who will try to tell you economics by explaining how our President is hiding all our sorrows behind false signs of a healthy economy during a time when our country is engaged in a war.

Welcome to "Flim Flam Economics".

[monkeyshine]

Didn't this happen before, in the 1980's, when the Japanese banks (owned by the governments) bought lots of US assets like highrise office buildings, etc? And then they had their own financial crises, and Americans bought them back for pennies on the dollar?

[hermgem]

When it comes to piling up debt this democrat part of Congress blocking oil and gas exploration in Alaska, the Gulf, where Castro keeps on drilling, and the continental shelf could reduce oil imports by 10 million barrels or over $500 million per day.
And this without counting the trillions of natural gas supplies which come along as a by product of oil exploration.
This blockage and filibustering by democrats is designed to cause voter discontent about high gasoline prices towards republicans.
Democrats failed when attempting to apply the very same strategy to prevent stimulation of the economy with tax cuts.
Their failure then resulted in the world's best economic situation with a current 4.8% unemployment rate, along with another 243,000 new jobs in the last month, plus wage gains of 3.5% in January vs. a year ago.
While complaining about outrageous heating bills and high gasoline prices, those that voted and still vote democrat need to look into the mirror and ask themselves:
Is democrat party loyalty along with hate dissemination really worth all that money being sucked out of my pocket?
Just too bad innocents, or those that rejected democrats, also have to suffer.
The reduction of dollar outflow per year towards Venezuela, Arabia:
Multiply $500 million per day times 365 days, which comes to 182,500 millions.

[capitalist229]

As of Wednesday last, the party is over.

The Fed has started to audit commercial bank loans because interest rate increases have not been enough to deflate the debt balloon.

As in the late 80s many commercial loans have been too easy to get and are now underwater (asset/liability wise).

The Fed requires an infusion of cash, or the bank must declare the bad loans on their books destroying earnings.

The bansk respond by a halt in commercial lending which has always been followed by a recession.

BUMP

[Constantine XIII]

"...mortgaging our children's future."

If that old saw were any more tired, it'd fall to pieces.

[capitalist229]

Fed Up

BUMP