Things the world press can teach us: U.S. deficits vs. world
Even while touting U.S. headed towards bankruptcy, they give away useful news
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JoeUser Forums
In an article in the U.K.'s Telegraph, found here: US 'could be going bankrupt', there are several useful pieces of information.
Let me offer up a few with a few comments interspersed...
The United States is heading for bankruptcy, according to an extraordinary paper published by one of the key members of the country's central bank.
Gee, who would have guessed that others in the world would jump on such potential conclusions and try to make headlines out of them?
A ballooning budget deficit and a pensions and welfare timebomb could send the economic superpower into insolvency, according to research by Professor Laurence Kotlikoff for the Federal Reserve Bank of St Louis, a leading constituent of the US Federal Reserve.
Prof Kotlikoff said that, by some measures, the US is already bankrupt. "To paraphrase the Oxford English Dictionary, is the United States at the end of its resources, exhausted, stripped bare, destitute, bereft, wanting in property, or wrecked in consequence of failure to pay its creditors," he asked.
According to his central analysis, "the US government is, indeed, bankrupt, insofar as it will be unable to pay its creditors, who, in this context, are current and future generations to whom it has explicitly or implicitly promised future net payments of various kinds''.
Uh, yeah we have overpromised what can be delivered in Social Security and Medicare. Hell, President Bush has tried to get something done to correct the problems once and for all, rather than using typical Democrat/liberal temporary band aids that just push the problems off for a few more years so that others in the future can deal with the issues. Unfortunately he was met solidly with hyperbole and scare mongering by the Democrats who prefer to continue the grand pyramid scheme that is Social Security as we know it rather than even considering a partial privitization or other means of moving the burden for retirements and health care costs back to the people that should be managing for their own futures.
Even as some cry about deficit spending and demand balanced budgets, they ignore the facts that Social Security is broke in the long term and will be sucking the budgets dry if not fixed. The demand fixes such as increased taxes, so they can suck more revenue out of the economy and permanently damage the GDP and kill the financial engine that powers our economy. (They also continue to ignore the facts that even the most recent tax cuts have brought in more tax revenue for the federal coffers as capital was again freed up for citizens to spend on their own needs, which leads to tax and other fees being paid as the economy grows...)
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.
Stop the friggin' presses. Read that last few lines quoted above again!!! "smaller than most European countries"!!! Hell, let me steal a few more exclamation marks and CAPITAL LETTERS from the usual cast of clowns on the left and make it clear again...
{ the U.S. budget deficit } is SMALLER THAN MOST EUROPEAN COUNTRIES ... which have deficits north of 3pc of GDP!!!!!! (need more exclamation marks!)
Read the rest of the linked article if you want, but you could pretty much stop right there. The points raised by the Federal Reserve constituent are valid, but so too is the most valid point raised immediately above. Anyone crying and pouting that our budget deficits are too large and that we must raise taxes to balance the budget is just ignoring the longer term problems and crying over issues that are not even a problem. Deficit spending, in and of itself, is not necessarily bad. There are times when it's necessary, and government borrowing in general is not necessarily a bad thing either.
When the U.S. government borrows money it pays back interest to the people that gave it that money. Many of the people that earn that interest are on fixed incomes and depend on that income to live a comfortable and sustainable life in retirement. Sadly, those individuals are sold out by those that would prefer to demand a balanced budget simply so they'll have something to make a boogeyman out of and perhaps sell their thoughts for a few dollars in some cheap printed rags."
Let me offer up a few with a few comments interspersed...
The United States is heading for bankruptcy, according to an extraordinary paper published by one of the key members of the country's central bank.
Gee, who would have guessed that others in the world would jump on such potential conclusions and try to make headlines out of them?
A ballooning budget deficit and a pensions and welfare timebomb could send the economic superpower into insolvency, according to research by Professor Laurence Kotlikoff for the Federal Reserve Bank of St Louis, a leading constituent of the US Federal Reserve.
Prof Kotlikoff said that, by some measures, the US is already bankrupt. "To paraphrase the Oxford English Dictionary, is the United States at the end of its resources, exhausted, stripped bare, destitute, bereft, wanting in property, or wrecked in consequence of failure to pay its creditors," he asked.
According to his central analysis, "the US government is, indeed, bankrupt, insofar as it will be unable to pay its creditors, who, in this context, are current and future generations to whom it has explicitly or implicitly promised future net payments of various kinds''.
Uh, yeah we have overpromised what can be delivered in Social Security and Medicare. Hell, President Bush has tried to get something done to correct the problems once and for all, rather than using typical Democrat/liberal temporary band aids that just push the problems off for a few more years so that others in the future can deal with the issues. Unfortunately he was met solidly with hyperbole and scare mongering by the Democrats who prefer to continue the grand pyramid scheme that is Social Security as we know it rather than even considering a partial privitization or other means of moving the burden for retirements and health care costs back to the people that should be managing for their own futures.
Even as some cry about deficit spending and demand balanced budgets, they ignore the facts that Social Security is broke in the long term and will be sucking the budgets dry if not fixed. The demand fixes such as increased taxes, so they can suck more revenue out of the economy and permanently damage the GDP and kill the financial engine that powers our economy. (They also continue to ignore the facts that even the most recent tax cuts have brought in more tax revenue for the federal coffers as capital was again freed up for citizens to spend on their own needs, which leads to tax and other fees being paid as the economy grows...)
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.
Stop the friggin' presses. Read that last few lines quoted above again!!! "smaller than most European countries"!!! Hell, let me steal a few more exclamation marks and CAPITAL LETTERS from the usual cast of clowns on the left and make it clear again...
{ the U.S. budget deficit } is SMALLER THAN MOST EUROPEAN COUNTRIES ... which have deficits north of 3pc of GDP!!!!!! (need more exclamation marks!)
Read the rest of the linked article if you want, but you could pretty much stop right there. The points raised by the Federal Reserve constituent are valid, but so too is the most valid point raised immediately above. Anyone crying and pouting that our budget deficits are too large and that we must raise taxes to balance the budget is just ignoring the longer term problems and crying over issues that are not even a problem. Deficit spending, in and of itself, is not necessarily bad. There are times when it's necessary, and government borrowing in general is not necessarily a bad thing either.
When the U.S. government borrows money it pays back interest to the people that gave it that money. Many of the people that earn that interest are on fixed incomes and depend on that income to live a comfortable and sustainable life in retirement. Sadly, those individuals are sold out by those that would prefer to demand a balanced budget simply so they'll have something to make a boogeyman out of and perhaps sell their thoughts for a few dollars in some cheap printed rags."