Posted on 06/26/2012 3:56:44 AM PDT by Kaslin
America is on track to go bankrupt. Just like Greece. The signs are all around us. We've lost our AAA credit rating. Trillion dollar deficits are the new normal. The Fed is buying 61% of our own debt. Barack Obama's 10 year budget will leave Americans with “more debt than has been accumulated by all previous Presidents in American history combined.” Nobody on the Left or Right seems to believe we'll ever pay off all of the money we owe. Life as we know it is very close to ending and yet Americans seem to be infected with a tragic stoicism. Like turkeys being led to the slaughter, most Americans seem content to put their necks down on the butcher's block and wait for the ax to fall. There are reasons for this puzzling inactivity in the face of an avertable catastrophe.
1) They're being misled by people with bad motives: What do you think would happen to Paul Krugman if he were to tell everyone that he is still a liberal, but the Tea Party and Paul Ryan are right about the deficit and Barack Obama and the Democratic Party are wrong? His column at the New York Times would be gone within six months. Do you think Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid would continue leading their caucuses after 2012 if they insist on serious deficit reduction? Not a chance. What about a Democrat running in a liberal district who talks like Jim DeMint on deficits in a primary up against another Democrat who wants more spending? Who do you think would win? The big spender, right? Unfortunately, there are a lot of people in this country whose personal welfare depends on encouraging as much government spending as possible and even if the country goes bust in the process, they're hoping to have enough money in the bank to be able to move somewhere else by then anyway.
2) They think it's far off in the future: Most people think bankruptcy is a problem we'll be leaving to our kids after most of the people reading this column are dead and gone. That's not so at all. If you were a betting man, 5-15 years would be the likely timeframe on a default with it practically guaranteed to happen within 25 years without major changes -- although that may be far too optimistic. America is already stretched to the breaking point and who knows what sort of unexpected event could push us over the edge in the next few years? Maybe the crack-up of the EU, a European bank collapse, an organized effort to keep other nations from buying our debt, another, even more devastating 9/11 style attack, a dramatic surge in oil prices caused by an Israeli/Iranian war, etc., etc. Just as the mortgage crisis caught us flat footed and caused much more damage than we expected, a new crisis that occurs while America's economy is still puttering along as it has been during the Obama years could lead to a much deeper economic spiral than we anticipate.
3) Crisis fatigue is rampant: This is the most important election ever! Tune in at 6:00 P.M. to find out which ordinary product you use will kill you! George Bush is Hitler! Republicans want you to die! Racism today is as bad as the sixties! If you oppose gay marriage, you want to drag homosexuals to death behind your truck! If you disagree with Obama, you're a racist! Your freedom is at stake! Global warming is going to kill us all! Modern Americans are deluged with phony crises and ginned-up outrages all day long. That's why it's not a surprise when a real crisis as serious as anything we've ever faced in our nation's history comes along, many people have trouble distinguishing it from the fake dangers they hear about on a daily basis.
4) It's too confusing to comprehend: Most Americans don't even remotely understand the scope of the problem. They think we can raise taxes on the rich, cut a few bucks off foreign aid, and everything will take care of itself. When you start talking about unfunded liabilities, GDP, and trillions in debt to people who don't know much about economics and don't follow politics very closely -- which probably describes more than half of the American electorate -- you might as well be explaining the ins-and-outs of heart surgery. In other words, they may get it in the most general sense, but they don't really understand it, and they probably aren't going to opt for it unless they become convinced they're going to die otherwise.
5) It's painful to stop and easy to continue: It doesn't matter how reasonable the spending reductions you're suggesting are, if you want to cut ANYTHING in D.C., it will set off squawks of protest from the vultures who are having meat snatched out of their greedy mouths. However, if you really want to make people angry, start hacking money out of the three biggest expenditures in the budget: defense spending, Social Security, and Medicare/Medicaid/CHIP. We MIGHT be able to get by without cutting defense significantly since it's a relatively stable expenditure, but unless significant changes are made to both Social Security and Medicare/Medicaid/CHIP, both of which are rapidly increasing in cost, this country is going bankrupt. That's reality. Of course, it's also reality that making changes to both of those programs is unpopular, easy to demagogue, and scares most politicians more than a special prosecutor talking to their favorite hooker.
6) We still seem to be a rich country: America is a like a guy who lives in a five million dollar mansion with a dozen servants, drives a Ferrari, and hands out hundred dollar tips to waitresses and bellhops. The only problem is the mansion and the Ferrari aren't paid for, he's borrowing the money for the servants and the tips, and he has no hope of ever paying off the debt he's accruing while he lives a lifestyle he can't afford. Superficially, he looks to be very rich, but when the bill comes due, life is going to change for him in a hurry.
America is that guy and the bill is going to come due.
7) They don't see how it will affect them: Most Americans don't have the slightest clue how a default would change their lives for the worse. They don't understand that it would lead to another Depression, their life savings could become worthless almost overnight, their taxes would skyrocket, their standard of living would drastically decrease, Medicare and Social Security checks could stop, and we could have widespread disorder. In Greece, some government workers haven't been paid in months, government road projects are being abandoned, healthy businesses can't get credit, and medicine is in short supply. Unless something changes, Americans won't have to imagine what that will be like because we'll be living it soon enough.
Former President Ronald Reagan tried this approach. He shook hands on the deal which never came to be. Once upon a time a handshake was a person's bond to an agreement and those shaking hands would not go any other way than to cause that handshake agreement to be. The handshake and pat on the back is currently a what or why do I care (maybe) and everyone is on their own. Cannot trust anyone anymore. Attorneys love that. Our nation's people no longer think about surviving, instead we enjoy our conveniences and think not what would happen if they were suddenly and swiftly taken away. If it should happen the old and the very young would suffer in the extreme. We (as a nation) may be headed in this direction to raise taxes. Most appear to agree (those in power) it is the best way Forward. Forward ... there is that word again. Good Luck to all of us!
We need to stop fighting ourselves over our future.
USA first. With tariffs and protected markets. Now.
Then everyone else.
This “giving away the store” is leading to America’s collapse.
Raise the "debt ceiling"........again.
There are two books worth reading at this time;
1. The Forgotten Man by Amity Shlaes. It's a great study of the Great Depression. The first 20 pages are scary; change a few names and you're in the 21st century.
Atlas Shrugged: Obama's Executive Orders and economic policies are a modern day Directive 10-289.
Minus that 16.1Trillion in secret loans the Fed Reserve handed out to "too big to fail" banks here and abroad. The 15Trillion we "hear" about is just scratching the surface.
Now lets toss in un-funded liabilities to the mix; we are hundreds of trillions in debt. There is not enough precious metals on the planet right now to equate to or "back" our debt. It's just a matter of time now.
“Think that’s possible? I don’t. For all the reasons that cleverer folk than me have elucidated on this thread.”
The Founders had a much tougher road to travel, and look what they accomplished. They left a blueprint for us to follow. It starts by electing patriots to local offices and county sheriffs who believe in the 2nd Amendment. These two actions provide us with a secure political base that’s located in our neighborhoods and armed muscle when needed.
Do that, and we have our 21st century version of the Founder’s Committees of Safety.
All this is very possible if patriots get involved locally. My sheriff is a 2nd amendment supporter who publicly urges citizens to be practiced owners of all manner of weapons. The local citizens are active in their village councils and have tossed dozens of liberals out of office and even thrown a few in state prison.
How have the clowns in the federal government managed to kick the can this far down the road without total collapse?
COMPROMISE is the tool they use to pry defeat from the jaws of victory. They are all as spineless as jellyfish.
Anyone with even the most rudimentary knowledge of exponents could have projected this outcome with the adoption of our credit-money system back in 1913. (Collateralized by the personal income tax.)
In fact, they did, and by design. It doesn't take a grand conspiracy, it only requires those who understand cause and effect. "Financial farmers" deliberately planted the seeds of destruction, and waited (generations) for the "harvest".
The problem with the type of "conservative porn" offered up by Rush, FR, Beck, et al, is that 'addicts' really buy into the idea that somehow their opinions, ideas, and/or votes matter. The sad reality is they don't - it's all a mirage designed to confuse.
For the entire history of mankind, a select few have used the power of the state to control the many. The USA was a weird historical aberration that is now finally reverting back to the mean.
Our so-called leaders have absolutely no intention or desire to 'represent the people'. That is the biggest joke of all. The smart money knows how this is going to play out, and is positioning itself to be the ruler of a downtrodden, defeated people.
Economic recovery is actually theoretically pretty easy, and the medicine needed is mostly to the irresponsible and greedy. The vast majority of people can be guided back to sensible economics with a minimum of pain.
1) To start with, the government must be made to stop assuming the debts of those individuals and organizations that neither produce goods nor services, but only, in effect, gamble and speculate. For many years now, such individuals and organizations have been gambling, but with a “Heads I Win, Tails You Lose” attitude, with the taxpayers theoretically stuck with having to pay their immense losses.
The government has been regularly taking over the debts of such as these, based on the idea that if they ever lose their gambles, it will somehow hurt the economy. It will not. In exchange, these people give big campaign contributions to the politicians that support their excesses. Instead, they must be forced to assume all the risks of their gambles.
2) Government created programs of “false largess”, in which they taxed money and immediately spent it, while promising repayment in the future. Such programs now are taxed to the equivalent of an equal amount to federal income taxes, for such things as Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. This must end, but how to do it without harming vast numbers of people?
Easy. The government unfairly profited from it by effectively doubling the income tax, so government must take the hit with lost revenue.
For everyone currently receiving benefits, offer them instead tax deductions even greater than their benefits, if they turn down those benefits. By turning down, say, $1000 a year in benefits, they can, voluntarily, get $2000 in real tax breaks, if they still pay taxes. If they don’t, and need the largess, they can choose to keep getting it.
A similar deal for those still paying in to the system, by which they get a better deal in tax breaks than they would by remaining in the system. With their increased income going to their retirement savings account.
Importantly, though the federal government takes a big hit at first with this, all that money going back into the economy will strongly increase their overall tax revenues.
3) Once the economy is improving, a balanced budget amendment can finally be added to the US constitution, along with automatic across the board spending cuts if that budget is not actually achieved. Create a new program? No problem. Just eliminate an existing program of equal or greater value to pay for it. Your choice.
It seems to me number 2 is not too bright as a solution for too much spending by government. Just take a look at the democrats number one congressional talking point on the economy that they cannot live without, the “increasing revenues” ploy/scam. Can you imagine what more money to a free spending congress would mean?
My number one would be an instant 10 percent cut across the board first year, that means everything, positions people budgets, you name it, including SS and medicare, followed by 10 percent each of the next four years, and no tax or fee increases whatsoever. At the end of four years of real cuts, evaluate how long it will take to get to a balanced economy and budget with zero debt and continue accordingly.
One other major issue is one you mentioned in number 2 option. EVERYONE needs to be paying Federal taxes no exception. That alone would increase revenues and would have to satisfy the greedy democrats who don’t seem to give a hoot about the future of the Republic. Methinks they just may rue the day we turn into Mexico.
My point, made rather facetiously, is that if you mention to the average Conservative that our debt problem requires a cut to defense spending, they will go bat shit crazy at even the suggestion of a reduction in planned increases. Suddenly, the debt doesn’t matter. And if the debt doesn’t matter there, then it doesn’t matter anywhere.
Thanks.
America first.
Yup, 1913. Interesting, next year is the 100th anniversary. I’ve been wondering over the past few years if 2013 has been the target date all along. And, I couldn’t agree more with the rest of your post — nice summary of what has been happening (by design), all along. Good job nailing the bulk of it with a few paragraphs!
Which is by design. Remember Bush said to go shopping when we invaded Afghanistan.
We don’t fight “wars” anymore.
#1: Morrissey nailed it with Interesting Drug:
There are some bad people on the rise
There are some bad people on the rise
They’re saving their own skins by
Ruining other people’s lives
Bad, bad people on the rise
Young married couple in debt
- ever felt had ?
Young married couple in debt
- ever felt had ?
On a government scheme
Designed to kill your dream
Oh mum, oh dad
Once poor, always poor
La la la la la
Interesting drug
The one that you took
TELL THE TRUTH - IT REALLY HELPED YOU
An interesting drug
The one that you took
God, it really really helped you
You wonder why we’re only half-ashamed ?
“Because ENOUGH is TOO MUCH!
...and look around ...
...can you blame us ? CAN you blame us ? “
On a government scheme
Designed to kill your dream
Oh mum, oh dad
Once poor, always poor
La la la la la
Interesting drug
The one that you took
TELL THE TRUTH - IT REALLY HELPED YOU
An interesting drug
The one that you took
God, it really really helped you
You wonder why we’re only half-ashamed ?
“Because ENOUGH is TOO MUCH!
...and look around ...
...can you blame us ? CAN you blame us ? “
The whole country has given up on itself.
Our ‘elected leaders’ sell themselves to the highest bidder the instant they hit DC.
The whole ‘hyper democracy’ concept has reached its full and final expression.
There is no hope for a return to accountability, honesty and proper conduct until/unless ALL hope of gain is gone...(when the money runs out). When there is NO MORE money to be had by lying, cheating, stealing, defrauding taxpayers, etc. someone will hatch the bright idea that taxpayers have a voice and deserve to be represented with integrity and honesty.
What a novel concept THAT will be when grown adults revisit the basic common sense of free and fair government!!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.