Posted on 09/21/2008 6:06:20 PM PDT by JasonC
Thank you for this post!!
Check this out: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2087382/posts
Regards,
If you are talking about actual record keeping; they did that between 1945-1980; then stopped keeping actual records.
I have a question about the government liabilities. There are a variety of taxes, such as the FUTA tax (unemployment) and the airline safety tax. The gov collects these, and uses about half for the intended use, and uses the rest to make the deficit look better. Do your liability figures take account of the bogus accounting the gov uses?
Excellent
The fact that your non-idiotic post is actually an accurate post is even rarer lately.
The fact that your accurate post is also a well-thought-out and insightful post is an even greater achievement. I knew you were good, but this is great.
The past few days have taught us a few things:
(1) Many, many FReepers who think they know a lot about economics actually know less than nothing about economics.
(2) Many, many FReepers fundamentally reject economic freedom as a principle or a goal.
(3) Many, many FReepers cannot do basic math.
(4) Many, many FReepers think that parrotting quotes from economic dunces like Pat Buchanan or Ron Paul - or even Bernie Sanders! - is an acceptable alternative to thinking for themselves.
Hopefully all the handwringers, crybabies, chicken littles, conspiracy theorists and bedwetters will take the time to read your work.
But I won't hold my breath.
PING
thanks again.
bump!
And duh, although I have almost no debt, I also have almost no clue what to think about what is happening.
Thankfully there is much to read here and learn from.
Isn’t a great majority of our National debt related to the creation of our money supply? I think I see where you are going with this article, but you confuse me between the personal debt held by households and the National debt.
The National debt, for better or for worse, for the most part must never be paid off the way we presently run our economy. Should we succeed in that endeavor, our money supply would disappear.
Our personal debt includes interest and inflation figures that act as hidden taxes to reduce the buying / savings power of typical citizens.
Our economy may be robust in many ways, yet it is founded on a wink-and-a-nod agreement that our money has real value and is protected by specie. It won’t take much now to cause a devastating financial blow.
PS - The US Government is quietly nationalizing large corporations at a shockingly rapid pace. We’d all go nuts on Hugo Chavez for his economic policies, but when our government makes massive purchases of corporations, we just look at it as ‘necessary’ for the security of the economy.
Buy as much gold as you can now...
As opposed to, say, automotive healthcare?
;-)
Hank
We are going to lead the world out of this hiccup to ever greater and more prosperous days ahead. Anyone who discounts the flexibility and resourcefulness and hard work of the American citizenry is a fool.
-ccm
Our currency does indeed have real value. It is legal tender for ALL debts including those owed to the government. You can pay your taxes with it, and if you do, the government won't haul you off to jail or turn you out of your house or steal the crops in your fields. That is no small thing in the history of money.
Until the government starts demanding payment of taxes in specie, or in kind, then I'm not going to worry about fiat currency per se-- only that it be properly managed by the Fed to reflect productivity increases and other influences on its buying power.
PS - The US Government is quietly nationalizing large corporations at a shockingly rapid pace.
Like the RTC, right? Except that it folded up shop and returned a profit to the Treasury years ago.
RTC-2 will work the same way. The government is going to unwind these crazy derivatives and CDO's and credit default swaps. Within the tangle, there will be many performing assets. 95% of mortgage loans are being paid back, and have value in the resale market.
As soon as the mess is cleaned up, they will be out of the banking business and out of the real estate business and out of the insurance business. You can either profit by their actions, which I assure you many people will, or you can buy gold and hunker down in your compound and wait for the end of the world that will never come.
Let me give you an example of the kind of fortunes that will be made in this affair. Back in 1991, the 100,000 sq. ft. office building in which I work was bought at an RTC auction for $700,000. The owner now collects that much in rent every five months. We have offered him twenty million dollars for the building and been turned down.
There will be plenty of time for judicious re-regulation of the securities and mortgage business. There will be plenty of thought devoted to solving the moral-hazard problem of privatizing profits while socializing risks. There will be plenty of lawsuits against the erstwhile barons of Wall Street to strip them of their assets for dereliction of their fiduciary duties. All of these are things that informed citizens should keep up with and stay in touch with their representatives about. But all of that can wait for the next few months while the cavalry rides to the sound of the guns.
There are tough times ahead but those who keep their cool and don't get over-extended will profit mightily. The nation as a whole will be fine. There is nobody and nothing that can threaten the continued rise of the United State sof America. This is going to be another American Century and I am going all-in on its success.
-ccm
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