Posted on 08/14/2007 9:22:48 AM PDT by mustang buff
The US government is on a ‘burning platform’ of unsustainable policies and practices with fiscal deficits, chronic healthcare underfunding, immigration and overseas military commitments threatening a crisis if action is not taken soon, the country’s top government inspector has warned. David Walker, comptroller general of the US, issued the unusually downbeat assessment of his country’s future in a report that lays out what he called “chilling long-term simulations”. These include “dramatic” tax rises, slashed government services and the large-scale dumping by foreign governments of holdings of US debt.
(Excerpt) Read more at ft.com ...
Yep.
Yep. But I don’t.
There, I fixed it for you.
Ha! Rome lasted a thousand years (more like 1,300). Anyway Rome couldn’t destroy the world if they wanted. America doesn’t need to be afraid, the rest of the barbarians do. If the barbarians are at the gate, they lose, not us...The third world (the US being first and second), never thinks about this...
Yeah, the fall sucked but the summer really grooved...
;-)
search is your friend
"Roman matrons used to say to their sons: ‘Come back with your shield, or on it.’ Later on, this custom declined. So did Rome."
— Robert A. Heinlein
Well here are some possible solutions Mr. Controller General.
1. CUT taxes to generate MORE revenue for "the government."
2. By all means, SLASH GOV. SERVICES! There are too many anyway.
3. Force those countries that owe billions to the U.S. TAXPAYERS to pay those countries that are owed by the U.S. Government.
Problem solved. It isn't that hard if you try, you stooge.
Thanks for posting this. (Sad to see that many of the responses on the thread remind me of the famous monkey covering his eyes, ears, and mouth. Willful ignorance.)
We don't wear togas either but that doesn't mean there aren't plenty of other parallels to be compared. Morally and spiritually to mention one. Every major world power has fallen in history, either from it's own weakness, corruption, or some combination of both. Why would America be the exception?
Don't get me wrong - I certainly want our country to avoid the same fate - I just see us making plenty of the same mistakes other nation powers have made throughout history. If we don't correct them soon, we may find ourselves as a nation facing the same consequences.
He's a deficit hawk who is worried about the bills that will come due when the Boomers retire and draw on Social Security and Medicare. That wasn't Rome's problem.
It's a legitimate concern, but given what happened to President Bush's modest proposal to start paying down some of those liabilities now, instead of waiting and relying entirely on the present pay as you go system, the country isn't going to do anything about it until the problem is upon us.
America is not an empire. There is no comparison. The “powers” that fell were all empires, Persian, Soviet, Rome, Britain, Mongol, etc...explain the similarities...
Must be very cold standing next to Hillary!
So is this when we thank the “greatest generation” for having government expand beyond its means and passing it’s all about me on to their grandchildren?
This is the killer. Once you’ve lost your way morally, there is no hope for everything else. Is it too late? It seems increasingly, there is a decreasing “moral minority.” Look at the choices we have for our next leader.
Once you’ve lost your way morally, there is no hope for everything else.
Why? And aren’t morals dependent on culture?
We need to avoid plagues?
To clarify, I did not call America an empire, I called it a “major world power”, albeit one with its fingers in practically every major issue going on in the world. True, technically we aren’t an empire, but our global influence throughout the world surpasses anything experienced by any “empire” that has occurred in history, IMO.
lol
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