Posted on 07/15/2006 9:54:37 AM PDT by Babu
I propose we put such funds in something I like to call a "lock box".
Add this to the recent admission by Ben Bernanke that the Federal Reserve caused the Great Depression, NOT Constitutional tariffs!
The professor talks about 3 "terrifying" alternatives. The 4th alternative is growth which will lower that P/E. The 5th alternative is a combination of the first 4 which will be difficult, but not terrifying. Also I suspect what we have promised in benefits is a smaller part of our workers' future earnings than many western european countries.
Also, the U.S. owns a lot of valuable assets, and nobody ever counts them when discussing our total debt.
For example, we could sell off the rights to ANWR for a few billion dollars. I bet we could get billions for some of the so-called "parks" which have no value as parks.
At yet people calmer for their own pet project, from "Do Not Call" lists on up. They just want to have the other guys project cut. They are so blinded by their own project, like "Do Not Call" that they will offer rabid insults, thinking any one opposed to it is a telemarketer, rather than admit the government is growing out of control. The scope of the government has to be cut, even popular things like "Do Not Call" lists.
I would rather see the trust fund funded, and if that means having to hang up the phone once in a while, so what?
As long as those who support the "Do Not Call" lists have their way, no other group is going to give up either, and the government is going to print our way into bankruptcy,
A trillion dollars would really inflate the dow - until you took it out, at which time the resulting depression would bankrupt the world.
Same deal for real estate.
Imagine, if you will, Bill Gates sold all his MS stock in one day. The stock would be worthless.
"...less bankrupt."
Is that kinda like less pregnant?
See #26.
No need to worry. Isn't Global Warming going to kill us all first anyway?
The answers are pretty simple and not terrifying.
Raise the retirement age to 67, put a lifetime cap on medicaid and medicare of 300,000 per person, cut elderly benefits by 10%, import lots of H1B workers-take 35% of their income and ship them home after 2-3 years (no retirement benefits to cripple companies like GM and Ford).
Fear not, the UN will bail us out!
Yeah, I too became suspicious of the writer's motivations immediately upon reading "The figure is massive because..."
Professor Laurence Kotlikoff's statement, which may be out of context, is nonsense combined with some sense. All it does is confuse.
The Bush tax cut has enabled a booming economy and resulted in massive tax revenue increases thus lowering the debt even more than expected. So the first part of Professor Laurence Kotlikoff's statement is nonsense. The Laffer Curve is real! The professor either doesn't admit it or get it.
The second part of his statement is accurate but incomplete. It does not go far enough. Medicare and Medicaid are indeed bankrupting the country; as are Social Security, the Department of Education, corporate welfare, subsidies, foreign aid, our continuing massive benefits support to illegal aliens, etc. The professor remains silent on this and thus, hides the true problem. The true problem is; every one of these drains on the national treasure is an unconstitutional activity!
So the good professor has muddied rather than clarified the waters of our economic doom. Sounds like a typical economist.
Exactly!
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1662539/posts
INSIDE THE FEDERAL RESERVE: WND unveils comprehensive report on 'fraud of the century'
The US will never go bankrupt. The US produces 20-30% more than it consumes if you ignore what is spent on the elderly.
If it comes to bankruptcy of the US and shooting the elderly, we will shoot the elderly.
The other way out is to export the elderly to thailand or the phillipines where we can pay 1/3 the cost and still have them live their lives in a decent manner.
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