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National debt seen heading for crisis level
San Francisco Chronicle ^ | 4/5/10 | Carolyn Lochhead, Chronicle Washington Bureau

Posted on 04/05/2010 7:36:56 AM PDT by SmithL

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To: SmithL
CHANGE
You can Believe in

21 posted on 04/05/2010 8:10:04 AM PDT by kinsman redeemer (The real enemy seeks to devour what is good.)
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To: SmithL

From the SF Chronicle? Hmmmm......


22 posted on 04/05/2010 8:11:01 AM PDT by ilovesarah2012
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To: SmithL
the U.S. debt from worrisome to ruinous, promising to handcuff the administration.

Handcuff the administration? Please don't get my hopes up falsely, I live for the day they are all frogmarched out of the White Hut.
23 posted on 04/05/2010 8:11:47 AM PDT by Canedawg (I'm not diggin' this tyranny thing.)
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To: kabar

All true, and that’s the very concept of a “tipping point.” Doesn’t matter if Obambi only spends $1.00. If that dollar constitutes the tipping point, the spending is wrong.

All that you’ve said shows why we have no choice but to get this spending under control. That’s why I think the ONE goal of the Tea Party should be smaller, limited government. For one thing, this means smaller, limited entitlement programs.

I know it seems impossible to walk things back, but it is what it is.


24 posted on 04/05/2010 8:13:45 AM PDT by fightinJAG (Next up: Forced public transportation:because it's not "affordable" unless we all have to use it.)
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To: Obadiah

“NO WAY! Obama is in control. The MSM tells me it’s all blue skies and to think otherwise is racist.”

LOL!


25 posted on 04/05/2010 8:15:32 AM PDT by SeattleBruce (God, Family, Church, Country - Keep on Tea Partiers - party like it's 1773 & pray 2 Chronicles 7:14!)
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To: fightinJAG

He states this opinion on the Fox Panel numerous times. I will look for a video, but he has supported Bernanke and his policies every time he is asked. He does find it a regrettable policy, but a necessary one. He also supported the reappointment of Bernanke and his past actions.


26 posted on 04/05/2010 8:15:54 AM PDT by Cheap_Hessian (I am the Grim FReeper.)
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To: AzaleaCity5691
But that high inflation may be necessary to keep the country from collapsing.

Like the Weimar Republic? High inflation will raise the costs of goods and services and the cost of government.

There are over 60 million people on Medicaid, 45 million on Medicare, and 50 million on SS (including DI). Consider what COLA increases will do to SS and the fact that 10,000 people a day are turning 65 and will continue to do so for the next 20 years. What happens to interest rates to finance our debt? 43 cents of every federal dollar spent is borrowed. And inflation will cause interest rates to rise along with energy costs, i.e., 70% of our oil is imported. Inflation will destroy this country just as much if not more than deflation.

27 posted on 04/05/2010 8:17:12 AM PDT by kabar
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To: fightinJAG
How can we not worry about paying the bills for others? That’s all we’re doing under this Administration — being ordered to spread the wealth like good little comrades.

Stop spending. Stop sending that extra tax revenue to the politicians (and unions). The more you pay in any kind of taxes, the more you feed the beast.
Help yourself instead. Fix your car rather than buy a new one. You'll need that extra cash sooner then you think. Use every penny you can to get yourself out of debt. Never mind supporting the democrat base. Protect your own family first. Keep your money at home.

28 posted on 04/05/2010 8:17:39 AM PDT by concerned about politics ("Get thee behind me, Liberal")
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To: Mad_Tom_Rackham

“NOW all of the sudden the dinosaur media is concerned about the deficit/debt. Well, they got the socialist takeover of the health care system, so what the hell, may as well try again to appear legitimate.”

The SF Chronicle and other media are dying.
http://www.newspaperdeathwatch.com/
That said, if they really think the health fraud socialism is not part and parcel with the debt issues they’re finally bringing up, they’re simply making their final useless whimper before dying.

We’re left to clean up the mess. Pity that.


29 posted on 04/05/2010 8:20:48 AM PDT by SeattleBruce (God, Family, Church, Country - Keep on Tea Partiers - party like it's 1773 & pray 2 Chronicles 7:14!)
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To: kabar

I get that there’s a risk of hyperinflation but there are two things about hyperinflation you need to understand.

1. If you know how to grow your own food you are somewhat insulated

2. It would wipe out all debts and allow us to restart with a new currency and new rules to prevent it from ever coming to that again.

Germany is the only fiscally prudent nation in Western Europe for one reason and one reason alone. They endured Weimar.

And let me tell you what the alternative to hyperinflation could be. It could be a situation where as many as 30% of homeowners are forced out of their homes. Where many small business owners are forced out of their businesses (if they own the premises) for inability to pay the mortgages. That would be far more damaging to national stability than hyperinflation.

We’d survive hyperinflation and a currency reset. We might not survive a quarter of the nation’s home owners being kicked out of their homes and forced to rent because they will forever have resentment against this country and will be less likely to care what happens to it.


30 posted on 04/05/2010 8:21:36 AM PDT by AzaleaCity5691
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To: fightinJAG

If we don’t fix the entitlement programs, we can’t control government spending. They constitute nearly 50% of federal spending now and they will increase markedly as the baby boomers retire. The question is whether the people have the political will to curtail these programs. I am pessimistic about that happening, especially when you have the party of free stuff, the Dems, demonizing anyone who tries to limit these programs. And notice that the Reps are going after the Dem cuts to Medicare.


31 posted on 04/05/2010 8:21:44 AM PDT by kabar
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To: Cheap_Hessian

“Vote for me... I’ll wipe out all of your debts (including the government debt) with inflation!”

Clearly the Weimar Republic nor any other hyperinflationary scenario you can point to, mean anything to these IDIOTS.


32 posted on 04/05/2010 8:22:38 AM PDT by SeattleBruce (God, Family, Church, Country - Keep on Tea Partiers - party like it's 1773 & pray 2 Chronicles 7:14!)
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To: kabar

“The question is whether the people have the political will to curtail these programs. I am pessimistic about that happening, especially when you have the party of free stuff, the Dems, demonizing anyone who tries to limit these programs. And notice that the Reps are going after the Dem cuts to Medicare.”

Good points. Sad, but true. American society doesn’t have much willpower these days, it seems. This is what we truly need a revival of. And before that faith in the efficacy of Jesus Christ.


33 posted on 04/05/2010 8:24:55 AM PDT by SeattleBruce (God, Family, Church, Country - Keep on Tea Partiers - party like it's 1773 & pray 2 Chronicles 7:14!)
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To: fightinJAG
Your link does not address his opinion on the Fed.

From FoxNews:

CHARLES KRAUTHAMMER, SYNDICATED COLUMNIST: There surely is. And this is a perfect example of an administration in disarray. The reappointment of Bernanke is one of the good decisions that Obama has made. This is a guy who did save our economy in '08 and '09.

34 posted on 04/05/2010 8:25:49 AM PDT by Cheap_Hessian (I am the Grim FReeper.)
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To: kabar

“Unfortunately, we will not have the luxury of someone else picking up the bill like Europe did, i.e., the US provided the security umbrella to allow them to increase the social welfare state.”

That dream world is OVER.


35 posted on 04/05/2010 8:26:25 AM PDT by SeattleBruce (God, Family, Church, Country - Keep on Tea Partiers - party like it's 1773 & pray 2 Chronicles 7:14!)
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To: AzaleaCity5691
"Bush’s biggest mistake was cutting taxes while we were at war."

Not at all! Revenue rose from $1.78 trillion in 2003 to $2.4 trillion by 2006.

36 posted on 04/05/2010 8:30:39 AM PDT by avacado
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To: kabar

But how do you get the Baby Boomers to accept social security cuts? Especially when you consider that so many lost their retirements in the crash.

That’s the problem we face. Which one can you cut that will have the lowest numbers of people out in the streets in mobs?

Now, if there was a way to increase the federal payroll by a certain percentage that would basically initiate enough demand to completely restart the old consumer economy you might could balance that off with major entitlement cuts and then overtime, a reduction in the federal payroll as the private economy became more able to absorb the people.

The problem we have now is that there is 20% real unemployment and that number would be higher if you cut the federal payroll.

There might be an inventive solution. I actually think there is some equilibrium point in which you could increase federal employment to the point that it would put enough money back into the economy through consumption to bring back the private economy and you could do that while reducing the number of people who are on entitlements. Of course, the problem with that is both the right and left will attack it. The right for putting more people on the federal payroll and the left for kicking them off entitlements.


37 posted on 04/05/2010 8:31:09 AM PDT by AzaleaCity5691
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To: SmithL

America hangs itself courtesy of the whack left....


38 posted on 04/05/2010 8:31:47 AM PDT by AngelesCrestHighway
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To: avacado

And deficit spending increased at a rate higher than those revenue increases.


39 posted on 04/05/2010 8:32:07 AM PDT by AzaleaCity5691
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To: Touch Not the Cat

Absolutely!

It is his intent to bankrupt the nation... bring it to its knees.


40 posted on 04/05/2010 8:32:30 AM PDT by himno hero
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