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Home Front Economy
US 'could be going bankrupt'
2006-07-14
Posted by:anonymous2u

#18  The point is this, the national debt is going to shrink by 3.5% during the next year, while we add to it less than 2.3% of GDP.

Real National Debt is shrinking. (Course thisn kinda tricky, gotta be cool)
Posted by: 6   2006-07-14 21:25  

#17  A ballooning budget deficit and a pensions and welfare timebomb could send the economic superpower into insolvency

The budget deficit isn't ballooning it's shrinking. The welfare rolls have been shrinking since the '90's (i.e. Welfare Reform). As for pensions (Social Security) - there's always Soylent Green.
Posted by: DMFD   2006-07-14 18:59  

#16  LetÂ’s make our own navy!

Let's reinstate Letters of Marque.
Posted by: Xbalanke   2006-07-14 16:48  

#15  6,

Shhhhh don't let our lendors in on that!!! ;)
Posted by: Damn_Proud_American   2006-07-14 15:26  

#14  "Could be going bankrupt." If I had some eggs, I could have ham and eggs if I had some ham.
Posted by: Mike N.   2006-07-14 14:46  

#13  Okay, let's see. US defecit comes in at 2.3% of all spending (including capital outlays), figure inflation at 3.5%. Hummmm.... I will leave the concluder for the audience.
Posted by: 6   2006-07-14 13:11  

#12  O.K. I guess it's time to go down swinging then.
Nuke everyone that we consider an enemy, embark on a vicious campaign of colonization and plunder, ripping natural resources and treasure from the burned out ruins of our once powerfull enemies.


I like the cut of your jib Big Jim! Let's quit our jobs, sell our homes, buy a surplus frigate and get to work. WeÂ’re Americans dammit! LetÂ’s make our own navy!
Posted by: Secret Master   2006-07-14 12:56  

#11  Bot a few things in the market - bob brinker had said buy under S&P 1250....
Posted by: anonymous2u   2006-07-14 12:07  

#10  LOL bigjim-ky. Let's do what you said. We should also try to get the space program in good shape so we can log and plunder the other planets too.
Posted by: JohnQC   2006-07-14 12:06  

#9  I sent this to The Skeptical Optimist (love his site) and this is his response:

"Kotlikoff has decades of his personal reputation invested in doomsaying. So far, he hasn't explained to anyone why we'll eventually have to pay off the debt, instead of just continuing to roll it over. Those T-bonds apparently scare him to death. :

IIRC, this is the jerk who wants to keep raising rates.

He's learned NOTHING from Greenspan's manoeuver 2 times, now, we're hitting the wall again.
Posted by: anonymous2u   2006-07-14 11:59  

#8  Social Security.

It was initially patterned aftere German and Euro models, but only Washington could design a ponzi scheme that hitches everyone to a costly, mandetory insurance policy that allows irresponsible bureaucrats to at will for until it is nearly depleted. Any doubt in anyone's mind why amnesty for illegal aliens is being suggested?
Posted by: Besoeker   2006-07-14 11:56  

#7  The US will also restructure Social Security before too long. I'd look for it to be done under cover of an emergency war measure.
Posted by: Nimble Spemble   2006-07-14 11:37  

#6  The budget deficit in the US is not massive. The Bush administration this week cut its forecasts for the fiscal shortfall this year by almost a third, saying it will come in at 2.3pc of gross domestic product. This is smaller than most European countries - including the UK - which have deficits north of 3pc of GDP.




The U.S. pension system is also in much better shape because there are substantially more funded private plans then there are in Europe and because there is a growing population.

The really interesting thing is why they are publishing these articles on the U.S. when European finances are in far worse shape.
Posted by: DoDo   2006-07-14 11:27  

#5  On a serious note, if the Medicare and Social Security program needs more money to sustain its payouts in the future, then taxes should be raised in the future,not now. There is a federal law that any excess funds from social security go into the common fund to be spent by congress on whatever. So essentially we have been overpaying for every year the program has been in existence. The excess goes to the general fund every year! So if the fund needs more money in the future, don't start paying it now, because that's not how the program works, it's not how it is set up to work.
Posted by: bigjim-ky   2006-07-14 10:51  

#4  O.K. I guess it's time to go down swinging then.
Nuke everyone that we consider an enemy, embark on a vicious campaign of colonization and plunder, ripping natural resources and treasure from the burned out ruins of our once powerfull enemies.
Yeah! Let's party.
Posted by: bigjim-ky   2006-07-14 10:46  

#3  And I could have a 15-ounce sirloin steak for lunch.

But probably not.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut   2006-07-14 10:10  

#2  Coulda, shoulda, woulda. Still won't save your ass from falling behind and becoming eurabia.
Posted by: DarthVader   2006-07-14 09:17  

#1  Err, all governments are going bankrupt, at least in the Western world. It's demographics.
Posted by: phil_b   2006-07-14 08:52  

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