Pittsburg Steeler coach Barak Obama answered critics of his team’s 48-7 loss to the Dallas Cowboys by stating…”We created more net punting yards than them and clearly saved an additional five potential touchdowns from being scored against us. The score on its own is a bit misleading to say the least”.
Guess this was “unexpected”, as the (usual) talking heads are fond of proclaiming.
Any thinking right-of-center observer with room-temperature-or-greater I.Q. “expected” businesses to balk at what Obamacare hath wrought. Their response(s) were/are rational as well as quite predictable.
But to the mainstream, there are no thinking right-of-center observers with room-temperature-or-greater I.Q.s. — only “flakes” and fringe-dwellers.
So the surprises keep on coming . . .
I have a small branch company in France (Cote d’Azur no less) and know first hand how these things work. It is not just the uncertainty the keeps people in France from hiring or the high cost. It is also the knowledge that once hired, never fired. (Or alternatively, once taxed never untaxed). Unemployment is always above 10% and is 25% for the young adults.
US businesses are acting to keep cash in their pockets and avoiding new staff in the solid fear that they will otherwise not be able to keep or make more money.
On this very subject I sent this e-mail to my correspondents yesterday.
Why are so few new jobs being created?
Here’s what one small businessman said on a blog, “Health care costs are why people aren’t hiring. At least why I’m not. If I hire a guy for $60k in salary it costs me another $30k in benefits. QED.”
But that’s just one small business guy. Check this out:
“A new report out yesterday from The Heritage Foundation shows private sector job creation dropped dramatically almost immediately after President Barack Obama signed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (a.k.a. Obamacare) into law.”
Read the whole report: http://tinyurl.com/3tyaobb
However, there are some tycoons who are saying similar things:
Business is being hammered, he said. “And I’m telling you that the business community in this country is frightened to death of the weird political philosophy of the president of the United States.”
Read it all here: http://tinyurl.com/3mm9nzo
As Instapundit is fond of saying, “The country’s in the best of hands.”
Correlation doesn’t equal causation but it does require explanation.
Just about got that puppy to scan.
As a small business owner, I can tell you that my partner and I discussed this very topic at the time. We had sufficient work to bring another person on board, still do. We decided the risk was too great. We could not reasonably estimate our costs over the next three years, the minimum that we need to project hiring costs.
While Obamacare is only part of the uncertainties this administration has injected into hiring decisions, it is a large part. This administration’s policies are causal in our decision to put off hiring.
If not Obamacare, then what’s the cause?
“[W]hen you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.”
Sherlock Holmes
It isn’t just uncertainty that Obama and democrats project on business. It is the certainty of how they’ll waste any monies confiscated.
It is the certainty of how they’ll waste any monies confiscated.
The government recently sold its remaining 6% stake in the company to Italian automaker Fiat, wrapping up the 2009 auto bailouts that were part of TARP.
* 1620
*
* 12
* Print
Fiat paid the Treasury a total of $560 million for the remaining shares, as well as rights to shares held by the United Auto Workers retiree trust.
Originally, the government committed a total of $12.5 billion to the struggling automaker, Old Chrysler, and the company’s newly formed Chrysler Group. Of those funds, $11.2 billion have been returned through principal repayments, interest and cancelled commitments, the Treasury said. The new Chrysler Group paid back $5.1 billion in loans in May.
Even though that means $1.3 billion will not be recovered from the bankrupt Old Chrysler, the Treasury called it a “major accomplishment.”
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Gold is not money, remember that…
Obamacare is certainly a major source of uncertainty, but you also have to calculate energy policy, EPA regs and his distribute-the-wealth default mode. Aren’t there still oilmen out of work in the Gulf because of the failure to grant drilling permits? Even Obama’s habit of seeking out scapegoats can’t inspire confidence. The man is a disaster. But at least his pants are always properly creased.
On Monday, during his company’s second quarter earnings call with investors, Wynn Resorts CEO Stephen Wynn ended the three-year truth embargo over who is holding back the U.S. economy.
I noted that the economy’s job and wealth creators were “genuinely frightened by the lack of seriousness and presence of abject irresponsibility in Congress and in Obama.” – Tom Blumer
This fright went viral long ago but remained whispered in carefully chosen company until Wynn broke the silence. When an earnings call participant asked why his firm hasn’t expanded its meeting space in Las Vegas, Wynn responded:
I’m afraid to do anything in the current political environment in the United States.
… my customers and the companies that provide the vitality for the hospitality and restaurant industry, in the United States of America, they are frightened of this administration. And it makes you slow down and not invest your money.
… this is Obama’s deal, and it’s Obama that’s responsible for this fear in America.
and
The economy, which has failed to grow at the brisk pace required for a genuine recovery in employment since the end of the recession, has shown signs of serious deterioration in the past few months. Here are just a few of the indicators:
* In May and June combined, seasonally adjusted employment grew by only 43,000, while the unemployment rate rose in both months.
* The new-home market has barely budged from its historic lows.
* Consumer confidence is at its lowest level since March 2009, one of the worst months of the recession.
* The director of the widely read Consumer Reports Index stated his belief last week in a radio interview that seeing the unemployment rate hit 9.6% in the next few months “is not out of the question.”
* In mid-July, announced U.S. layoffs and terminations at Cisco and Borders alone were within striking distance of the number of seasonally adjusted jobs the whole economy gained in June.
* On Friday evening, July 15, the better to avoid attracting much attention, Goldman Sachs dropped its annualized second- and third-quarter growth forecasts to 1.5% and 2.5%, respectively, and indicated that another recession is “clearly a possibility given the recent numbers.” Putting its employment practices where its predictions are, Goldman announced on Tuesday that “it might lay off as many as 1,000 employees globally.”
* Most germane to the Washington discussions is the fact that federal collections, after rising steadily if not spectacularly for about a year, suddenly fell on a year-over-year basis in June.
When the economy is sitting on such a dangerous precipice, unless the goals are to deliver a knockout punch and to take the intimidating uncertainty to the level of debility (given this administration’s mindset, these cannot be ruled out), you don’t even think about raising taxes. With a federal budget hopelessly out of balance, all you can do is cut spending, period.
artfldgr,
If the spending is cut and work progresses on a debt reduction plan, Moodys and S&P might send out encouraging signals that would help us on the international front.
and pigs will fly and buy their own luscious lip gloss…
we are WAY past the event horizon, there is nothing to stop whats coming…
which i said is going to happen years ago, since no one was going to learn the game they were playing… read what they were following… and abrogate what was being done…
its this simple…
How many MORE years/decades will X and Y support the kind of borrowing needed to just maintain the level as now 60% are not productive?
[removed: replaced with blah blah blah]
our finance guy is on QE3, despite our currency being 1/4th the value since just before Obadiah, and is going to take it to what? 1/6? 1/8? 1/20?
but this is also the reduction in the value of the dollars used to pay back china. and china is quietly pissed off… do you really think they are going to not do anything when its starting to look like a house frau from new jersey with a hundred “10 billion dollar US notes” can pay off the prior debt?
Expat, i am sorry to say that even if they DO figure out what arrangement of the deck chairs would look nice, the ship is still going down, one way or another…
if we put one billion (1,000,000,000) dollars in a room, and you spent one million (1,000,000) a day, how long would the units of dollar (value irrelevant) last?
1000 days…
realize that a billion is to a trillion as a million is to a billion…
(dont ya love SAT math?)
if we put one trillion dollars (1,000,000,000,000) in a room, and you could spend a million day, how long would it last???
from 24 trillion to over 54 trillion…
and they want MORE….
54,926,258,235,965
our population is 311,815,621
us workforce is 139,818,990
the difference is 171,996,631
do you see a problem?
Aint demographics a biatch?
(dont get me started on birth and which groups, and how in 20 years, when the boomers go, certain populations are going to drop faster than rocks as they are not aware of what their neo living has accomplished in the bigger theater as a whole)
our population is 311,815,621
number of income tax payers is 111,785,537
the difference is 200,030,084
do you see the problem here?
The gold price could hit $US2,000 an ounce by the end of the year, some analysts say.
The strength of the market has led to emergence of vending machines for gold in the UK, Abu Dhabi, Germany and even rural parts of China.
Gold broke through $US1,600 an ounce this week for the first time, amid mounting concerns about high levels of debt in the US and euro zone.
it was 400 July 2004
just over that in 2005
its now 1600 in 2011
if you put a dollar in a jar with quarters in 2004, that dollar today is worth what that quarter was then…
when prices catch up… then what?
forgot this last part.
54,926,258,235,965
our population is 311,815,621
$176,149 per person…
us workforce is 139,818,990
$392,838 per working person
now realize that that is in excess of all the bills, and living expenses and pensions and future plans of those people…
“we are WAY past the event horizon, there is nothing to stop whats coming…”
I agree. There is not the will on the part of our ‘leaders’ nor on the part of the citizenry to take the hit. We lost the ability to recover without too much pain when the too big to fail were bailed out. Yet, its still not too late if we leave the too big to fail to twist in the wind and take a 30% contraction in GDP. I know that will seem irresponsible and shocking to many people, but I see no other way. IMO if we don’t take the hit now, we will be forced to take a much bigger hit (50-70%?) within 5-10 years.
The way things are going, someday we will all be Greek.
Parker said, “Yet, its still not too late if we leave the too big to fail to twist in the wind and take a 30% contraction in GDP. I know that will seem irresponsible and shocking to many people, but I see no other way.”
May I suggest a better plan. Reduce EPA regs and rev up our oil exploration and production. Cut the red tape (now 7-8 years) for permitting nuclear power plants. Encourage utilities to begin a program of building ten per year for the next ten years. Repatriate $1.5 trillion of overseas capital by declaring a tax moratorium for the next two years. Drop corporate tax rates to 15%. Make the Bush tax cuts permanent. Repeal Obamacare. Offer a special 5% capital gains rate and accelerated depreciation for investors who buy foreclosed homes and turn them into rentals for the next eight years. Last, but not least, elect a conservative majority in the House and Senate along with a Republican (even a RINO) President who will cut the size and expense of government. If these things are done, this country will realize its true economic potential and people will have good jobs again. And believe it or not, the budget problems will disappear. Yes, it’s a big job and it begins with getting better people elected. This country is not down and out yet. Do not compare us to Greece. Greece has never had an economy one fiftieth as diversified and capable as the U.S.
JJ,
Why aren’t you running for something? Serious, bold ideas and faith in America–what a combo!
One minor quibble: Let’s stop using the term Bush tax cuts. The cutting was done so long ago that few can remember what the situation was before Bush. We should talk about current tax rates. They are our status quo, and bringing Bush into the discussion is like blaming Eve for pesticides on apples.
So lets all take a deep breath.
We can actually live well within our means today without slashing and burning social security and medicare. They require long term reform, but in the short term they can be covered.
The earned income tax credit costs us about $530 billion this year. End it. Defund the departments of education, energy, agriculture, interior, health and human services, and the EPA. Privatize the necessary security functions of the TSA and let the airlines pay for it, flush the rest. Privatize the FAA and end the FCC. Other than key allies end foreign aid. End pell grants and federal guarantees for student loans. Cut food stamp programs by 30%, return them to an actual stamp program that requires that the users pay 25 cents of every dollar of redeemed stamps. Make them FOOD stamps, nothing else. Tell the defense department they need to find 10% real reductions within six months. Cut medicaid by 35% and give the states free reign to determine how to spend the remaining dollars. Put in place a five year schedule to end all federal support for medicaid, let the states raise taxes as needed to cover their obligations. Eliminate all federal government head count added since Jan 2007, then impose a 15% head count reduction on top of that. Roll all federal salaries and benefits back to 2005 levels. Repeal all federal regulations and executive orders enacted or signed since Jan 2009, and add a five year sunset on all other federal regulations and executive orders. Pass a balanced budget amendment with a tax cap of 18% of GDP from the previous year. Repeal Obamacare. Open all on shore and off shore oil and gas leases to drilling, end state regulation of gas and oil drilling. Offer tax incentives to perfect oil shale development. Move nuclear power plant licensing solely to the federal government and stream line plant licensing with a goal of building 100 new latest generation plants in the next 10 years. SEAL THE BORDER. Limit unemployment benefit to 12 weeks, allowing an 8 week notification period so that people know that it’s coming. Require e-verify for all hires with very stiff penalties for employers who fail to comply, with prison terms for repeat offenders. End H1b and L1B visas for 10 years. Pass tort reform. Pass a schedule to cut the capital gains tax rate to 0 over 10 years. Cut the corp tax rate to 15% no loop holes. Two personal income tax rates starting on incomes over $15.000, 12% and 22%, the only deductions are a modest child deduction, home mortgage interest, medical expenses that exceed 8% of income, and state and local income taxes. Establish a schedule where the debt ceiling will be lowered by $500 billion every year for the first five years, $750 billion a year for the next 5 years, and $1 trillion a year until the debt ceiling is 25% of GDP. Freeze the debt ceiling there but continue to pay it down as deemed fit. There is no reason that we should not have a REASONABLE amount of available debt to manage cash flows, a maximum ceiling of 25% of GDP seems reasonable.
The basic changes get us back something pretty close to the 1.5 trillion per year that we are borrowing. Within 24 months you’ll see unemployment drop by 2%-4%. We’ll have some hard choices to make about how we spend monies, but business in the country will take off.
We’ll still have to deal with the long term reform (privatization) of Social Security and Medicare, and cutting the remaining government to something like 40% of it’s current size (not including the military which needs attention, but requires a different approach).
After much thought we also need to find our way back to a gold standard, or a standard based on a basket of commodities, for the dollar within five years. This is a daunting task, but it must be done. We can’t trust the government with fiat currency. Nixon made a HUGE mistake in 1971 when he unpegged the dollar from gold. Had he not done so, we would not be in our current situation.
The majority of this country has the will to do these or similar things. Only our politicians do not. Kick em out in 2012, and lets get started. I’m not implying this will be easy or without rancor, but we can do it. Focus folks, 2012 is the next step.
expat – “JJ,
Why aren’t you running for something? Serious, bold ideas and faith in America—what a combo!”
Well, I’m 78 and have no charisma. Also, my public speaking would make “W” look like a champion orator. I’m a TEA Party foot soldier. Carrying signs, writing to my Congress Critters, writing to my newspaper, lobbying my neighborhood, and sending e-mails with political info to a group (30+) of correspondents is my bag. Some times wonder if it is worth it, but I’m really ashamed of the mess we are handing our kids. Will probably die clutching a sign that says STOP THE SPENDING!! So be it. Thanks for the encouragement, though.
uncleFred, you and I think a lot alike. I second all your ideas.
I’m a retired Navy pilot. I have long been aghast at the waste and duplication we have in our military. During Vietnam we used to talk about the “real war,” as being between the Navy, Army, and Air Force. I once had a high ranking officer tell me to lie in a hearing because we didn’t want the Air Force to know what our ECM capabilities were. The puzzle palace is a hotbed of intrigue as all three services vie for money and weapons systems. We need a good military, but we also need to get a big bang for every buck. Set up a unified military with special divisions for different types of warfare. Get rid of half the flag officers and a whole lot of Pentagon civilians. Quit doing the type of budgeting that requires you to spend every dollar each quarter or get cut. (Maybe they don’t do that anymore, but I doubt it.) Anyhow, I am convinced we can get more bang for our buck.
Unclefred, you describe an America and its possibilities if it didn’t possess a suicide cult called liberalism.
Beijing develops pulse weapons
Blasts thwart all electronics
China’s military is developing electromagnetic pulse weapons that Beijing plans to use against U.S. aircraft carriers in any future conflict over Taiwan, according to an intelligence report made public on Thursday.
Portions of a National Ground Intelligence Center study on the lethal effects of electromagnetic pulse (EMP) and high-powered microwave (HPM) weapons revealed that the arms are part of China’s so-called “assassin’s mace” arsenal – weapons that allow a technologically inferior China to defeat U.S. military forces.
EMP weapons mimic the gamma-ray pulse caused by a nuclear blast that knocks out all electronics, including computers and automobiles, over wide areas. The phenomenon was discovered in 1962 after an aboveground nuclear test in the Pacific disabled electronics in Hawaii.
SteveH, Liberals constitute only about 22%-24% of the country. A lot of uninformed voters have repeatedly bought a bill of goods, sold by the left and the media. Until now. The combination of this administration’s arrogance and the TEA party have pulled the mask off the progressives.
Once the majority of Americans recognize what is required, we can over time force the government back much closer to its constitutional limits and restore our freedoms.
The recent poll of adults shows two thirds support a balance budget amendment. Never in the history of this country has the government successfully opposed popular majority this large. Sometimes it has taken a while, but eventually the government has implemented the people’s will.
Personally I doubt that we’ll ever push the government all the way back into its legal cage, or recover all our freedoms, but we can get close enough to restore America’s greatness.
JJ & uncleFred,
I humbly submit it is not possible to grow GDP enough to keep pace with spending. Every single penny could be taken from the middle & upper economic classes and it would not cover 1 year of deficit spending. We all know that there is a point at which taxes actually are negative to GDP.
Where is the political/societal will to take the necessary contraction? That is what must happen when a bubble bursts, but instead our ‘leaders’ are attempting to re-inflate the bubble. Blow, blow as much as they will they are only postponing the inevitable.
Parker said, “I humbly submit it is not possible to grow GDP enough to keep pace with spending.”
You’re correct. It will take a combination of economic growth and reduced spending. And it won’t happen overnight. It will take a full ten years to get our fiscal house in order. Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and government pensions (both state and federal) are the biggies. SS will have to be restructured with lower payouts just like a corporate pension program that can’t make good on its promises has to restructure for lower payouts. Same thing applies to government pensions, although better stock/bond market results will also help them because they are invested to some extent. Medicare and Medicaid must be changed with the fraud and waste wrung out of both. Block grants to states is a better solution for Medicaid, at least all the governors seem to think so. Medicare must either become means tested with larger premiums and copays by recipients or it has to go to a private insurance system as suggested by Paul Ryan. Medicare and Medicaid are the two hardest nuts to crack because the pouring of government money into the healthcare system has driven prices ever upward just as has happened in higher education with all the government loans and grants.
It’s also necessary to cut spending in many departments. Education – eliminate it. Energy – same. Agriculture – end farm subsidies. HUD – cut way back. HHS – cut way back. Etc. Many savings to be had. It requires a small government philosophy and demand by the voters. We can get there, but I’ll grant you it won’t be easy.
Obamanation: where you all work for Obama, whether you like it or not.
He nationalized car dealerships and gave their Republican owned client list to the Democrat who replaced the car dealership’s original owner. Nationalized several companies and gave profits to himself, his buddies, and unions.
What else is new or unexpected now.
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Pittsburg Steeler coach Barak Obama answered critics of his team’s 48-7 loss to the Dallas Cowboys by stating…”We created more net punting yards than them and clearly saved an additional five potential touchdowns from being scored against us. The score on its own is a bit misleading to say the least”.
Guess this was “unexpected”, as the (usual) talking heads are fond of proclaiming.
Any thinking right-of-center observer with room-temperature-or-greater I.Q. “expected” businesses to balk at what Obamacare hath wrought. Their response(s) were/are rational as well as quite predictable.
But to the mainstream, there are no thinking right-of-center observers with room-temperature-or-greater I.Q.s. — only “flakes” and fringe-dwellers.
So the surprises keep on coming . . .
I have a small branch company in France (Cote d’Azur no less) and know first hand how these things work. It is not just the uncertainty the keeps people in France from hiring or the high cost. It is also the knowledge that once hired, never fired. (Or alternatively, once taxed never untaxed). Unemployment is always above 10% and is 25% for the young adults.
US businesses are acting to keep cash in their pockets and avoiding new staff in the solid fear that they will otherwise not be able to keep or make more money.
On this very subject I sent this e-mail to my correspondents yesterday.
Why are so few new jobs being created?
Here’s what one small businessman said on a blog, “Health care costs are why people aren’t hiring. At least why I’m not. If I hire a guy for $60k in salary it costs me another $30k in benefits. QED.”
But that’s just one small business guy. Check this out:
“A new report out yesterday from The Heritage Foundation shows private sector job creation dropped dramatically almost immediately after President Barack Obama signed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (a.k.a. Obamacare) into law.”
Read the whole report:
http://tinyurl.com/3tyaobb
However, there are some tycoons who are saying similar things:
Business is being hammered, he said. “And I’m telling you that the business community in this country is frightened to death of the weird political philosophy of the president of the United States.”
Read it all here:
http://tinyurl.com/3mm9nzo
As Instapundit is fond of saying, “The country’s in the best of hands.”
Correlation doesn’t equal causation but it does require explanation.
Just about got that puppy to scan.
As a small business owner, I can tell you that my partner and I discussed this very topic at the time. We had sufficient work to bring another person on board, still do. We decided the risk was too great. We could not reasonably estimate our costs over the next three years, the minimum that we need to project hiring costs.
While Obamacare is only part of the uncertainties this administration has injected into hiring decisions, it is a large part. This administration’s policies are causal in our decision to put off hiring.
If not Obamacare, then what’s the cause?
“[W]hen you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth.”
Sherlock Holmes
It isn’t just uncertainty that Obama and democrats project on business. It is the certainty of how they’ll waste any monies confiscated.
It is the certainty of how they’ll waste any monies confiscated.
U.S. loses $1.3 billion in exiting Chrysler
money.cnn.com/2011/07/21/autos/chrysler_government_exit/index.htm?cnn=yes&hpt=hp_t2
The government recently sold its remaining 6% stake in the company to Italian automaker Fiat, wrapping up the 2009 auto bailouts that were part of TARP.
* 1620
*
* 12
* Print
Fiat paid the Treasury a total of $560 million for the remaining shares, as well as rights to shares held by the United Auto Workers retiree trust.
Originally, the government committed a total of $12.5 billion to the struggling automaker, Old Chrysler, and the company’s newly formed Chrysler Group. Of those funds, $11.2 billion have been returned through principal repayments, interest and cancelled commitments, the Treasury said. The new Chrysler Group paid back $5.1 billion in loans in May.
Even though that means $1.3 billion will not be recovered from the bankrupt Old Chrysler, the Treasury called it a “major accomplishment.”
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Gold is not money, remember that…
Obamacare is certainly a major source of uncertainty, but you also have to calculate energy policy, EPA regs and his distribute-the-wealth default mode. Aren’t there still oilmen out of work in the Gulf because of the failure to grant drilling permits? Even Obama’s habit of seeking out scapegoats can’t inspire confidence. The man is a disaster. But at least his pants are always properly creased.
On Monday, during his company’s second quarter earnings call with investors, Wynn Resorts CEO Stephen Wynn ended the three-year truth embargo over who is holding back the U.S. economy.
I noted that the economy’s job and wealth creators were “genuinely frightened by the lack of seriousness and presence of abject irresponsibility in Congress and in Obama.” – Tom Blumer
and
artfldgr,
If the spending is cut and work progresses on a debt reduction plan, Moodys and S&P might send out encouraging signals that would help us on the international front.
and pigs will fly and buy their own luscious lip gloss…
we are WAY past the event horizon, there is nothing to stop whats coming…
which i said is going to happen years ago, since no one was going to learn the game they were playing… read what they were following… and abrogate what was being done…
its this simple…
How many MORE years/decades will X and Y support the kind of borrowing needed to just maintain the level as now 60% are not productive?
[removed: replaced with blah blah blah]
our finance guy is on QE3, despite our currency being 1/4th the value since just before Obadiah, and is going to take it to what? 1/6? 1/8? 1/20?
but this is also the reduction in the value of the dollars used to pay back china. and china is quietly pissed off… do you really think they are going to not do anything when its starting to look like a house frau from new jersey with a hundred “10 billion dollar US notes” can pay off the prior debt?
here is a picture of “emergency money” from the German inflation of 1923
http://www.istockphoto.com/stock-photo-9276476-ten-billion-deutsche-mark.php
[removed: replaced with blah blah blah]
i dont know… but this whole thing reminds me of the monty python skit…
Monty Python – Meaning of Life
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rObSWkQA7og
Expat, i am sorry to say that even if they DO figure out what arrangement of the deck chairs would look nice, the ship is still going down, one way or another…
if we put one billion (1,000,000,000) dollars in a room, and you spent one million (1,000,000) a day, how long would the units of dollar (value irrelevant) last?
1000 days…
realize that a billion is to a trillion as a million is to a billion…
(dont ya love SAT math?)
if we put one trillion dollars (1,000,000,000,000) in a room, and you could spend a million day, how long would it last???
given that a trillion is a million squared…
1000000 days..
2,740 or so years…
how high did Obama take us (rather than down)?
http://www.usdebtclock.org/
from 24 trillion to over 54 trillion…
and they want MORE….
54,926,258,235,965
our population is 311,815,621
us workforce is 139,818,990
the difference is 171,996,631
do you see a problem?
Aint demographics a biatch?
(dont get me started on birth and which groups, and how in 20 years, when the boomers go, certain populations are going to drop faster than rocks as they are not aware of what their neo living has accomplished in the bigger theater as a whole)
our population is 311,815,621
number of income tax payers is 111,785,537
the difference is 200,030,084
do you see the problem here?
it was 400 July 2004
just over that in 2005
its now 1600 in 2011
if you put a dollar in a jar with quarters in 2004, that dollar today is worth what that quarter was then…
when prices catch up… then what?
forgot this last part.
54,926,258,235,965
our population is 311,815,621
$176,149 per person…
us workforce is 139,818,990
$392,838 per working person
now realize that that is in excess of all the bills, and living expenses and pensions and future plans of those people…
“we are WAY past the event horizon, there is nothing to stop whats coming…”
I agree. There is not the will on the part of our ‘leaders’ nor on the part of the citizenry to take the hit. We lost the ability to recover without too much pain when the too big to fail were bailed out. Yet, its still not too late if we leave the too big to fail to twist in the wind and take a 30% contraction in GDP. I know that will seem irresponsible and shocking to many people, but I see no other way. IMO if we don’t take the hit now, we will be forced to take a much bigger hit (50-70%?) within 5-10 years.
The way things are going, someday we will all be Greek.
Parker said, “Yet, its still not too late if we leave the too big to fail to twist in the wind and take a 30% contraction in GDP. I know that will seem irresponsible and shocking to many people, but I see no other way.”
May I suggest a better plan. Reduce EPA regs and rev up our oil exploration and production. Cut the red tape (now 7-8 years) for permitting nuclear power plants. Encourage utilities to begin a program of building ten per year for the next ten years. Repatriate $1.5 trillion of overseas capital by declaring a tax moratorium for the next two years. Drop corporate tax rates to 15%. Make the Bush tax cuts permanent. Repeal Obamacare. Offer a special 5% capital gains rate and accelerated depreciation for investors who buy foreclosed homes and turn them into rentals for the next eight years. Last, but not least, elect a conservative majority in the House and Senate along with a Republican (even a RINO) President who will cut the size and expense of government. If these things are done, this country will realize its true economic potential and people will have good jobs again. And believe it or not, the budget problems will disappear. Yes, it’s a big job and it begins with getting better people elected. This country is not down and out yet. Do not compare us to Greece. Greece has never had an economy one fiftieth as diversified and capable as the U.S.
JJ,
Why aren’t you running for something? Serious, bold ideas and faith in America–what a combo!
One minor quibble: Let’s stop using the term Bush tax cuts. The cutting was done so long ago that few can remember what the situation was before Bush. We should talk about current tax rates. They are our status quo, and bringing Bush into the discussion is like blaming Eve for pesticides on apples.
So lets all take a deep breath.
We can actually live well within our means today without slashing and burning social security and medicare. They require long term reform, but in the short term they can be covered.
The earned income tax credit costs us about $530 billion this year. End it. Defund the departments of education, energy, agriculture, interior, health and human services, and the EPA. Privatize the necessary security functions of the TSA and let the airlines pay for it, flush the rest. Privatize the FAA and end the FCC. Other than key allies end foreign aid. End pell grants and federal guarantees for student loans. Cut food stamp programs by 30%, return them to an actual stamp program that requires that the users pay 25 cents of every dollar of redeemed stamps. Make them FOOD stamps, nothing else. Tell the defense department they need to find 10% real reductions within six months. Cut medicaid by 35% and give the states free reign to determine how to spend the remaining dollars. Put in place a five year schedule to end all federal support for medicaid, let the states raise taxes as needed to cover their obligations. Eliminate all federal government head count added since Jan 2007, then impose a 15% head count reduction on top of that. Roll all federal salaries and benefits back to 2005 levels. Repeal all federal regulations and executive orders enacted or signed since Jan 2009, and add a five year sunset on all other federal regulations and executive orders. Pass a balanced budget amendment with a tax cap of 18% of GDP from the previous year. Repeal Obamacare. Open all on shore and off shore oil and gas leases to drilling, end state regulation of gas and oil drilling. Offer tax incentives to perfect oil shale development. Move nuclear power plant licensing solely to the federal government and stream line plant licensing with a goal of building 100 new latest generation plants in the next 10 years. SEAL THE BORDER. Limit unemployment benefit to 12 weeks, allowing an 8 week notification period so that people know that it’s coming. Require e-verify for all hires with very stiff penalties for employers who fail to comply, with prison terms for repeat offenders. End H1b and L1B visas for 10 years. Pass tort reform. Pass a schedule to cut the capital gains tax rate to 0 over 10 years. Cut the corp tax rate to 15% no loop holes. Two personal income tax rates starting on incomes over $15.000, 12% and 22%, the only deductions are a modest child deduction, home mortgage interest, medical expenses that exceed 8% of income, and state and local income taxes. Establish a schedule where the debt ceiling will be lowered by $500 billion every year for the first five years, $750 billion a year for the next 5 years, and $1 trillion a year until the debt ceiling is 25% of GDP. Freeze the debt ceiling there but continue to pay it down as deemed fit. There is no reason that we should not have a REASONABLE amount of available debt to manage cash flows, a maximum ceiling of 25% of GDP seems reasonable.
The basic changes get us back something pretty close to the 1.5 trillion per year that we are borrowing. Within 24 months you’ll see unemployment drop by 2%-4%. We’ll have some hard choices to make about how we spend monies, but business in the country will take off.
We’ll still have to deal with the long term reform (privatization) of Social Security and Medicare, and cutting the remaining government to something like 40% of it’s current size (not including the military which needs attention, but requires a different approach).
After much thought we also need to find our way back to a gold standard, or a standard based on a basket of commodities, for the dollar within five years. This is a daunting task, but it must be done. We can’t trust the government with fiat currency. Nixon made a HUGE mistake in 1971 when he unpegged the dollar from gold. Had he not done so, we would not be in our current situation.
The majority of this country has the will to do these or similar things. Only our politicians do not. Kick em out in 2012, and lets get started. I’m not implying this will be easy or without rancor, but we can do it. Focus folks, 2012 is the next step.
expat – “JJ,
Why aren’t you running for something? Serious, bold ideas and faith in America—what a combo!”
Well, I’m 78 and have no charisma. Also, my public speaking would make “W” look like a champion orator. I’m a TEA Party foot soldier. Carrying signs, writing to my Congress Critters, writing to my newspaper, lobbying my neighborhood, and sending e-mails with political info to a group (30+) of correspondents is my bag. Some times wonder if it is worth it, but I’m really ashamed of the mess we are handing our kids. Will probably die clutching a sign that says STOP THE SPENDING!! So be it. Thanks for the encouragement, though.
uncleFred, you and I think a lot alike. I second all your ideas.
I’m a retired Navy pilot. I have long been aghast at the waste and duplication we have in our military. During Vietnam we used to talk about the “real war,” as being between the Navy, Army, and Air Force. I once had a high ranking officer tell me to lie in a hearing because we didn’t want the Air Force to know what our ECM capabilities were. The puzzle palace is a hotbed of intrigue as all three services vie for money and weapons systems. We need a good military, but we also need to get a big bang for every buck. Set up a unified military with special divisions for different types of warfare. Get rid of half the flag officers and a whole lot of Pentagon civilians. Quit doing the type of budgeting that requires you to spend every dollar each quarter or get cut. (Maybe they don’t do that anymore, but I doubt it.) Anyhow, I am convinced we can get more bang for our buck.
Unclefred, you describe an America and its possibilities if it didn’t possess a suicide cult called liberalism.
Beijing develops pulse weapons
Blasts thwart all electronics
China’s military is developing electromagnetic pulse weapons that Beijing plans to use against U.S. aircraft carriers in any future conflict over Taiwan, according to an intelligence report made public on Thursday.
Portions of a National Ground Intelligence Center study on the lethal effects of electromagnetic pulse (EMP) and high-powered microwave (HPM) weapons revealed that the arms are part of China’s so-called “assassin’s mace” arsenal – weapons that allow a technologically inferior China to defeat U.S. military forces.
EMP weapons mimic the gamma-ray pulse caused by a nuclear blast that knocks out all electronics, including computers and automobiles, over wide areas. The phenomenon was discovered in 1962 after an aboveground nuclear test in the Pacific disabled electronics in Hawaii.
SteveH, Liberals constitute only about 22%-24% of the country. A lot of uninformed voters have repeatedly bought a bill of goods, sold by the left and the media. Until now. The combination of this administration’s arrogance and the TEA party have pulled the mask off the progressives.
Once the majority of Americans recognize what is required, we can over time force the government back much closer to its constitutional limits and restore our freedoms.
The recent poll of adults shows two thirds support a balance budget amendment. Never in the history of this country has the government successfully opposed popular majority this large. Sometimes it has taken a while, but eventually the government has implemented the people’s will.
Personally I doubt that we’ll ever push the government all the way back into its legal cage, or recover all our freedoms, but we can get close enough to restore America’s greatness.
JJ & uncleFred,
I humbly submit it is not possible to grow GDP enough to keep pace with spending. Every single penny could be taken from the middle & upper economic classes and it would not cover 1 year of deficit spending. We all know that there is a point at which taxes actually are negative to GDP.
Where is the political/societal will to take the necessary contraction? That is what must happen when a bubble bursts, but instead our ‘leaders’ are attempting to re-inflate the bubble. Blow, blow as much as they will they are only postponing the inevitable.
Parker said, “I humbly submit it is not possible to grow GDP enough to keep pace with spending.”
You’re correct. It will take a combination of economic growth and reduced spending. And it won’t happen overnight. It will take a full ten years to get our fiscal house in order. Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and government pensions (both state and federal) are the biggies. SS will have to be restructured with lower payouts just like a corporate pension program that can’t make good on its promises has to restructure for lower payouts. Same thing applies to government pensions, although better stock/bond market results will also help them because they are invested to some extent. Medicare and Medicaid must be changed with the fraud and waste wrung out of both. Block grants to states is a better solution for Medicaid, at least all the governors seem to think so. Medicare must either become means tested with larger premiums and copays by recipients or it has to go to a private insurance system as suggested by Paul Ryan. Medicare and Medicaid are the two hardest nuts to crack because the pouring of government money into the healthcare system has driven prices ever upward just as has happened in higher education with all the government loans and grants.
It’s also necessary to cut spending in many departments. Education – eliminate it. Energy – same. Agriculture – end farm subsidies. HUD – cut way back. HHS – cut way back. Etc. Many savings to be had. It requires a small government philosophy and demand by the voters. We can get there, but I’ll grant you it won’t be easy.
Obamanation: where you all work for Obama, whether you like it or not.
He nationalized car dealerships and gave their Republican owned client list to the Democrat who replaced the car dealership’s original owner. Nationalized several companies and gave profits to himself, his buddies, and unions.
What else is new or unexpected now.