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The Entitlement Bubble: The Bust Is Going to Be a Nightmare (Worse than the Housing Bubble?)
National Review ^ | 09/17/2010 | Kevin Williamson

Posted on 09/17/2010 7:12:14 AM PDT by SeekAndFind

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1 posted on 09/17/2010 7:12:16 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
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To: SeekAndFind

Just wait until a few million of those Food Stamp ‘debit’ cards quit working. Things will get really interesting about 48 hours after that.


2 posted on 09/17/2010 7:14:29 AM PDT by Lurker (The avalanche has begun. The pebbles no longer have a vote.)
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To: SeekAndFind

Stagflation nightmare next year. As ARMS come due. The only option is going to be moneyprinting or default. Be Prepared.


3 posted on 09/17/2010 7:16:01 AM PDT by screaminsunshine (counter revolutionary)
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To: SeekAndFind

btttt


4 posted on 09/17/2010 7:16:55 AM PDT by dennisw (-He who will not economize will have to agonize----- Confucius)
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To: SeekAndFind

Remember all those non-interest bearing IOUs given to Medicare and Social Security for their “surplus” funds in years past? Now that both programs are either beyond or soon to be beyond the breakeven point of current revenues failing to cover current expenditures, those “notes” are coming due.

And there is no money to pay them back.

Ah, the glorious days of the “Clinton Surplus” (with help from the Rebubicans...)


5 posted on 09/17/2010 7:17:27 AM PDT by Yo-Yo (Is the /sarc tag really necessary?)
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To: SeekAndFind
Government needs to get out of the charity business. It never should have gone there. Churches or community groups ought to be able to help the down-and-out. But taxpayers in Oklahoma should not be subsidizing the people in California who have made bad decisions.

The whole thing is an unsustainable pyramid scheme. It will be painful, but the eventual conclusion has to be: you're on your own; don't expect government to help you -- that's not the proper function of government.

6 posted on 09/17/2010 7:19:30 AM PDT by ClearCase_guy (Things will change after the revolution, but not before.)
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To: SeekAndFind
Twenty Ten Three years ago, if you had told me that Democrats would be cutting Medicare by half a trillion dollars and Republicans would be demanding that it be put back, I'd have asked the bartender for a double shot of whatever you were having.

The Medicare cuts are the best part of Obamacare and one of the only two good things Zero has done, and I hate the GOP's pandering about them.

7 posted on 09/17/2010 7:22:44 AM PDT by Notary Sojac
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To: SeekAndFind

Demographics double edge sword!
The boomers reached an age where they became sellers of houses, sometimes two houses. Housing bubble they created goes bust. To add to the problem, retirees also become much more conservative consumers. In a 70% consumer economy this switch is a disaster.

As these same boomers switch investment strategies (100-age=%equities) and they draw down public and private pension funds, the equities bubble will also go bust.


8 posted on 09/17/2010 7:23:52 AM PDT by updatedscreenname
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To: SeekAndFind

Good article. In addition to the obvious topic he also touches the political class’s favorite pass time of wordsmithing something into/out of existence. It reminds me of the Rumpelstiltskin story where the demand is to make gold from straw. Believing that renaming alone magically morphs the thing/idea/etc into a completely new and unique entity is wildly delusional! OTOH We the People have fallen for it so many times. Guess we all mostly want to believe a lie rather than the truth.

At any rate, you must know the govt will do all in its power, but not necessarily w/i its authority, to make sure all the balls stay in the air. As I see it this is a double whammy. First, you have the fed taking w/o restraint to prop a system they know is going to collapse. Once the end comes the Eater Class will riot to take what they’ve been told is rightfully theirs.


9 posted on 09/17/2010 7:28:54 AM PDT by 556x45
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To: SeekAndFind

Excellent description of the realities of economic decision making. The other casualty of the boom is the “animal spirits” of entrepreneurs. If entrepreneurs cannot see where they create a stream of profits because effective demand has shrunk to survival levels, then we are in for an extended recession and a much lower level of economic activity, i.e., few jobs for our children.


10 posted on 09/17/2010 7:30:04 AM PDT by bjc (Check the data!!)
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To: Lurker

48 hours? You, Sir, are wildly optimistic.


11 posted on 09/17/2010 7:31:17 AM PDT by OregonRancher (Some days, it's not even worth chewing through the restraints)
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To: SeekAndFind

The “Haves” and “Have Nots”

I can see that people that saved, prepared, stored up, bought assets instead of TVs and Toys will be demonized.

During the hyper inflation of Germany before WW2 the people went and ransacked the farmers thinking they hoarded everything. Turned out the farmers had enough only for themselves but the mass of scavengers took it anyway.

The future of your family may come down to what you have on hand if a crash happens.

I think certain things may have real value?
Guns
Ammo
Hand Tools
Seeds
Food
Water
Livestock
Transportation that needs no fuel (Bikes or Horses)
Alcohol
Tobacco
Books (Your kindle may be worthless without power but a book is entertainment.)

What will have NO VALUE?
Paper Money
The Word of Congressmen & women,Presidents,Government officials

What could go either way?
Notice that Gold and Silver may be worthless or be a store of wealth. But you can’t eat it or use it for anything practical.


12 posted on 09/17/2010 7:31:26 AM PDT by King_Corey (www.kingcorey.com)
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To: SeekAndFind

Ping for later


13 posted on 09/17/2010 7:33:19 AM PDT by Alex Murphy ("Posting news feeds, making eyes bleed, he's hated on seven continents")
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To: Lurker

Start posting gaurd.


14 posted on 09/17/2010 7:33:20 AM PDT by lakeman (,)
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To: SeekAndFind

Just happens to coincide with the the Chicago area politicians and government hacks are looting the state funded pensions for themselves by giving themselves outrageous raises in their last year of “employment” which drives up their pensions. This is not gonna end well folks. Even my utopian burb of Naperville gave its former government hack of some sort a big raise in his last year(s) and now this dedicated public servant makes $141,000 per year in retirement.


15 posted on 09/17/2010 7:33:42 AM PDT by junta (S.C.U.M. = State Controlled Unreliable Media)
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To: SeekAndFind

bookmark.


16 posted on 09/17/2010 7:36:16 AM PDT by IrishCatholic (No local Communist or Socialist Party Chapter? Join the Democrats, it's the same thing!)
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To: SeekAndFind

Applying GAAP to government is a splendid idea. And let us not forget if any private company attempted something like Social Security, those responsible would deservedly be sent to jail.

What a sham our government has become!


17 posted on 09/17/2010 7:37:11 AM PDT by walford (http://natural-law-natural-religion.blogspot.com/)
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To: SeekAndFind

Yep. THIS is how the 2nd American Revolution gets started.

One day (soon) the adults are going to have to say “No more... we’re tapped out!”

When that happens, the permanent welfare class is going to go bat$hit, rioting and rampaging. We conservatives (the adults) are going to be forced to shoot them down like dogs - purely in self defense.


18 posted on 09/17/2010 7:41:10 AM PDT by clee1 (We use 43 muscles to frown, 17 to smile, and 2 to pull a trigger. I'm lazy and I'm tired of smiling.)
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To: SeekAndFind
The Entitlement Bubble, What a catchy Phrase..


19 posted on 09/17/2010 7:42:45 AM PDT by HangnJudge
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To: 556x45

I agree with your double whammy idea. The feds are propping up the system that they know will collapse. And when it does, the eater class will riot and will be probably egged on by dim policiticians and their media. There needs to be some serious corrective action taken by responsible and honest people in power. The current children in charge are not those people. One thought here is that the dims know that they are going to lose badly in November so they are figuring on a collapse after the repubs take office in January. That coincides with a big pile of new taxes kicking in. Given that the dims and their media are on a mission to destroy this country, I wouldn’t put it past them. You know, a manufactured crisis.
These children running the show are evil. Pure evil.


20 posted on 09/17/2010 7:44:29 AM PDT by Texas resident (Outlaw fisherman)
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