Posted on 03/20/2008 2:56:09 AM PDT by Fennie
The Bush administration forecasts a $410 billion federal budget deficit for this year, an indication that, as the US saving rate is approximately zero, the US is not only dependent on foreigners to finance its wars but also dependent on foreigners to finance part of the US government's domestic expenditures. Foreign borrowing is paying US government salaries--perhaps that of the president himself--or funding the expenditures of the various cabinet departments. Financially, the US is not an independent country.
A troubled currency and financial system and large budget and trade deficits do not present an attractive face to creditors. Yet Washington in its hubris seems to believe that the US can forever rely on the Chinese, Japanese and Saudis to finance America's life beyond its means. Imagine the shock when the day arrives that a US Treasury auction of new debt instruments is not fully subsribed...
The House of Cards has collapsed, and you Free Traitors are still sitting there naked in front of God and everybody. Sober up.
as good old ronald reagan used to say, federal money is just recycled money. it does not create anything. borrowing for it is not a good idea. if you cant pay for it yourself, you cant have it.
govt costs worldwide are black holes for money. sort that out and you are on the road to fixing the problem. it is most interesting that both dems are talking about adding healthcare to this deficit...keep in mind that healthcare in europe is an enormous monster that cannot be fed fast enough...if one thing will crash the US economy its free healthcare...
It was early in the morning back in the 70s when the unions played their own very large part in the flight of American industry to other countries.
I know, because I was a member of the IEW and then the Steelworkers of America.
Unions were the dynamic for the ending of American industry, pure and simple.
We can barely even manufacture an auto anymore.
And those labor unions are mostly all international organizations with straight out Socialist agendas.
>Every sector of working households have suffered because of free trade.
They also benefit from free market goods made without the distortion of politically dominant unions skewing the worth of service.
And all of this is said by one who is not a “free trade” advocate at all. - I just see very clearly what has happened over the past 35 years in these industries.
We have to both "make things" *and* be able to sell those things for more than what it cost to make them. We have to understand that increased competition drives down the price of everything, including labor.
[It was early in the morning back in the 70s when the unions played their own very large part in the flight of American industry to other countries.]
The unions are also part of the problem with the corrupted America in their need for greed, you can drive the streets of Detroit and see the end of the unlimited greed they had part in by driving the industries out.
But they think of themselves as victims and refuse the truth. So be it. They sowed the wind and have reaped the whirlwind and will not own up to their part in the destruction of America.
Is this also why the GOP is going to nominate such a piss-poor candidate?
The poorest countries in the world are very much too corrupt, and the folks who benefit are cronies of the politically powerful, which is how the politically powerful stay that way. Crony Capitalism. BTW Crony Capitalism is not capitalism at all for those about to accuse me of being a Marxist. Again.
It's because there is, and always has been, an inverse relationship between the dollar and the price of oil because oil is traded, worldwide, in dollars. Every time the Fed lowers interest rates, they lower the value of the dollar and the result raises the market price of oil. Its for the banker's children, dontchaknow?
[In most incidences, American unionized labor has simply priced themselves out of the game. A prime example is the UAW, but there are many, many other examples.....]
The teachers unions are among the worst, so greedy and hating all competition and spending taxpayers monies to destroy competition using corrupt politicians.
The teachers unions are despicable and contemptable and should have been destroyed years ago before they corrupted all the children they enslave into the ignorant mindset of liberalism.
What are the USA’s total assets? Land, property, resources owned by the people and by the government?
If one can’t come up with that number, how can anyone say we are bankrupt?
Please. It’s Paul Craig Roberts, foaming-at-the-mouth America-hater.
[To me it’s very simple, buy quality American products.]
I find many of the forign products of more quality and a better price and am not interested in buying American if it is only to support a greedy American unionist who is never happy and wants more and more and more monies for a worse product than non union companies make. If the truth be told that is, and that may not be PC, but I hate communism and the unions that support communism.
didn’t the USSR basically meet a similar fate? They spent their way to bankruptcy and collapsed when they could not continue. WE outlasted them.
So then, while we cut defense spending (outside of our current wars) but increased our social spending (unconstitutional) to far exceed our defense spending. And now the USA is dying because of overspending - overspending that is actually trying to make us more like the USSR - Marxist... And the political party that use to lead the charge to control and limit government is now leading the charge towards Marxism. The other party that has pretty much been liberal and Socialist for decades is getting their way regardless of what “party” holds the Oval Office.
What a system.
Yeah thats when I get sucker punched with the "economics 101" pin heads and the % of GDP lecture. Any one who uses GDP as a benchmark when its clearly pumped up by rabid spending, regardless of debt, needs their head checked. Its all about greed, passing the buck and creating opportunities that were too good to be true. A lot of people walked off with some big windfalls while others who were more than eager to be suckered in are getting hit square between the eyes with the reality of the situation.
“What are the USA’s total assets? Land, property, resources owned by the people and by the government?”
We’re just **renting or leasing* now. Too much credit to the wrong people have created this mess.
Bump!
No union fan am I but it frosts me when the free trade and worker conundrum is phrased as 'and when American workers were forced to compete with foreign workers' --- which is bs. We were never asked to compete and we cannot compete with workers making literally pennies on what American workers earn. If I took the salary my counterpart in India makes, I couldn't pay taxes, buy goods in this country, put a roof over my head or eat. I can do the job better than he can too.
My GF was (years ago) the vp of the AFL-CIO - I remember the worker horror stories that he told - and back in the day, he was right. He organized mostly police and firefighters. Same guys who defended our country in WW2.
Dad was a union guy too and functioned on the union grievance board. He worked for an energy company and used to defend guys who were drunk on the job so they could keep their job. Not good but on the other hand, these guys made just enough money to buy a house in the 'burbs, buy an American car when they needed it and send the kids to college. Also to retire with a pretty nice pension - ok, it was a pretty nice pension up until a few years ago and now Dad is living pretty frugally due to the stagnant pension and rising prices of goods and services.
I don't know where I am going with this but it strikes me that there needs to be some sort of balance in this country. Competition between American workers for jobs - now that would be a level playing field. Maybe less greed on the exec board - there is something wrong when a CEO makes over 400 times what his workers make (and that is new within the past 10 years) and even if he is lousy at what he does, he leaves with the proverbial golden parachute and gets the same exact job with another company... name me one CEO who screwed a company with mismanagement and who is now collecting unemployment. I'd like those guys to 'play on a level playing field' with their employees.
I don't think companies buying up companies helps either... lots of people are displaced and local competition is broken. My energy bills haven't decreased since the local energy companies were gobbled up by the big national companies and when I need to call them, mostly I get overseas people answering the phone. I'd so much rather my American dollars helped support an American payroll.
Thanks for listening to my rant/ruminations. (I can go on if you want) :-)
Oh noes!
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