What’s worse is that we have NOTHING to show for it. No new dams or nuclear energy installations, no new roads, no new high speed rails or new technologies that were spurned by the govt.
Worse yet, not a drop to show in the area of space exploration...
Nothing but pure, hand outs. And the bastar*s want to tax the rich etc.
I love that democrat congressman on the news the other day lamenting what would happen if the Bush Tax cuts were renewed.
He says:
“It will cost the govt over 800 million dollars in revenue...”
In other words, the dumb SOB figures that 800 million will be taken out of the federal treasury....when in fact it means nothing of the kind.
It means that 800 million will be taken out of the hands of the people, into the hands of people like him.
There is only one solution, throw them out...republican and democrats alike....Throw them all out of office....
It’s our money you idiot! Not yours....
Nikos,
This isn’t government money that was lost, this is individual household wealth - you take up all of the money held by all American citizens in their primary residence, cars, stocks, bonds, retirement accounts, savings accounts, checking accounts, etc.
The thing is, we didn’t so much “lose” $12 trillion as it was an illusion to begin with because we were in a leverage-induced asset bubble. Was a 2,000 square foot, unremarkable house in California *really* worth $800,000 or was it just that money was so easy and people could lie on the applications they borrowed money to drive up the price, hoping to profit from selling it at a still higher price?
I still think we as a nation got off lucky given how massive the speculation and stupidity was.
The estimates I’ve seen look like it will take us until roughly 2015-2016 to regain all of that money as people using savings and / or pay down debt to strengthen their personal balance sheets. We’ve gotten through it before and we will again. The government just needs to stay out of the way of the private sector.
We need to bring back the Public Stocks. Slap this fool in the stocks and let the people have their way with him...