US Debt Visualized
Jan 11, 2013 Political
Barack Obama says that spending is not the problem. This visual should give you a clear idea of our debt and this debt is because we spent too much.
You can confiscate all the money from the rich and never solve the problem. Hell, you confiscate everyone’s money and never solve the problem. As long as we spend more than we take in these towers will continue to accumulate…
Big Dog Salute to Independent Journal Review
Cave canem!
Never surrender, never submit.
[jpsub]
Tags: trillion, us debt, visualization
Looks Like A Deal But What Is Waiting Around The Corner?
Jul 31, 2011 Political
Well, it looks like the boneheads in Congress have struck another “historic” deal. Ever notice how these people create problems and then fight over them only to come to a last minute compromise that screws the US taxpayer and then step out to describe the deal as historic? They do this every time so what is so historic about it?
The United States is heading for a catastrophe and Congress is driving us there in a super sonic jet. We have an unsustainable debt issue that has not been addressed in the details reported about this deal. Sure, there are 2.4 trillion dollars worth of cuts over ten years but we will rack up a hell of a lot more debt than that over the same time period if we do not end the reckless spending. The United States of America has a spending problem, not an income problem (though our income is down right now because of Obama’s nearly 10% unemployment rate). We spend far too much because politicians promise money to people who are not entitled to it. They continue to come up with one program after another to provide “benefits” that people, responsible people, should take care of themselves.
Responsible people should be in charge of their own retirement. Responsible people take care of their own health care insurance or pay the bills when they need medical services. Responsible people take any job offered (and look endlessly for one) no matter what it pays because it is the right thing to do. Responsible people know how to take care of themselves and do not sit around with their hands out.
I am not talking about temporary safety nets for people who fall on hard times. I am talking about the people who live off the government. There are people who are perfectly capable of working yet they squirt out kids and sit around collecting welfare. There is one person who has won the lottery and still collects welfare and he does not feel bad about it one single bit.
And this government is only too happy to promise more and more people these things in order to keep getting reelected. Deal or no deal the US would not have defaulted. The August 2nd date was an arbitrary date selected by Secretary of the Treasury Tim Geithner who added to our budget problems by not paying his taxes. The tax cheat at the Treasury selected the date out of thin air (which is where he gets the money he prints) and he did it to coincide with the August recess Congress takes so that they would be compelled to get something, anything done.
In the end the American public will get screwed as we add more debt to an unsustainable debt load.
They claim the debt deal is a historic event. It would have been historic if they had actually helped the situation. Causing more problems is what Congress does best so nothing historic there.
You want to do something historic? Try passing a balanced budget amendment and send it to the states to decide the issue. You want to do something historic try passing a term limits law for members of Congress so they can’t continue to give away money we don’t have in order to get reelected.
Now that would be historic.
The United States has a 14 TRILLION dollar debt load and that load will be raised as they borrow more money to pay the bills. We have an unfunded liability of 114 TRILLION dollars.
Those numbers are hard to comprehend so here is a demonstration of our debt in graphic display. This should send chills down your spine and it should certainly put it in perspective.
And please, don’t tell the morons in DC what comes after a TRILLION…
Cave Canem!
Never surrender, never submit.
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Tags: balanced budget amendment, debt deal, historic, lies, spending, term limits, trillion
Will Homeowners Who Default Need To Have A Plan?
Feb 19, 2009 Political
Or for that matter, will Congress?
The big three auto makers went to Capitol Hill last year and begged for money. They were excoriated for using corporate jets to get to the meeting by people in Congress who use military jets to get around the world on the taxpayer dime. Nancy Pelosi is in Europe this week and she went there in an Air Force plane. She also took her family with her. I wonder who paid for that?
Congress spread a little money around and told the automakers that they needed to come back with a detailed plan that clearly laid out how they were going to conduct business. Congress wanted to ensure the companies had a methodology that would make them profitable and enable them to pay back the money. We can’t have these big shot executives spending money when they are going bankrupt. We can’t have them using hard earned tax dollars on half baked schemes. No, they need detailed plans that Congress can scrutinize.
It is an interesting concept and one worth exploring. Before I start, I was not and am not in favor of a bailout for the auto industry (or any other industry). I think that the market should sort it out and if a business goes under than another will come along to take its place. It is survival of the fittest. For a group of people who believes in evolution, this concept seems to escape their grasp.
Why is it that Congress is not placed on a plan? How is it they are able to spend over a TRILLION dollars in a spending bill that they did not read on things that will not stimulate? How is it that we are 10 TRILLION dollars in debt and they can still spend a TRILLION more as if it were nothing? Congress should have to submit a plan to the American people that clearly outlines how they intend to cut back. They should have to show how they are going to become responsible with our money just like the auto makers. I know Obama said he would go through the budget line by line but that was a lie in the ranks of “Its only a cold sore.”
He has not gone through the budget line by line. He has not looked at different government agencies to see which can be closed or downsized. He did not even go through the bill he signed line by line. He could not have considering all the other things he was doing while it sat on his desk (figuratively speaking).
Today though, Obama was in campaign mode once again. He prefers that because he is pretty good at it. We have seen him try the leadership thing over the past 4 weeks and he sucked at that. He got his head handed to him until he started campaigning again. He could not lead a group of people out of a burning building.
Unless you include his followers who blindly follow him like rats behind the Pied Piper.
In his campaign stop today Obama introduced his plan to reward irresponsible people. Obama unveiled his $275 BILLION dollar plan to assist people with their home loans. Obama will increase funding to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac so they can lend money. That is what got us into this mess. At least some of his friends can get rich working there. Fannie and Freddie went from nearly $70 a share to 70 cents a share and their reckless actions helped fuel the collapse.
In addition, Obama will use the money of responsible taxpayers, the ones who pay their bills, and work to get the mortgages reduced in both principle and interest rate. Yes, Obama wants to readjust the principle people paid for their homes (lower the cost) and he wants to have banks refinance them at a much lower rate. It seems to me that the loan taken out on homes is a contract and both parties are obligated to live up to the agreement. That means if a person agreed to buy a house for a certain price then he is obligated to pay that price. The government does not belong involved.
If people bought homes that they could not afford then they need to suffer the consequences. If the government steps in and helps them out then the bad behavior is reinforced. You get more of what you subsidize and if the government starts reworking bad loans there will be even more of them. People will not learn and they will continue to do the same stupid things. What about those of us who pay our bills on time? What about those of us who did not buy more house than we could afford? We will have to pay the amount we agreed to pay and at the interest rate that was also agreed upon, as well we should. Everyone should have to pay what they agreed or they should sell their houses or have foreclosure take place. Too bad, so sad, sucks to be you. Why should the rest of us pay for YOUR mistakes?
What I want to know is what kind of plan do homeowners have to come up with? I mean, the auto makers had to make a plan to show they would be responsible and do better financially before they can get federal money. What do people who are helped with taxpayer money for their home mortgages have to do that is equal to what car makers have to do?
I think they should have to present a plan that details how they will ensure they will not get behind again and how they will not overspend or enter into foolish contracts again. The plan should include giving up cell phones, cable TV, FIOS, or Satellite. They should be forbidden from eating out at any restaurant including fast food joints. They should have to give up tobacco and alcohol and submit to random urine tests for nicotine and alcohol as well as any other drugs. Anything found should lead to serious consequences.
These people should also have to sell anything that is a luxury. If they have more than one TV or computer then the extra ones need to go. No iPods, no cell phones, and no PDAs. They should also have to sell any vehicle that is elaborate and get a small, low cost, fuel efficient model. It should also be required that they buy US savings bonds or some other investment vehicle so they can save for their future. Bonds are ideal because the money goes to the government and because they must be held for a certain amount of time and they have long maturity dates.
I am not trying to be a hard ass or anything but if I am going to be footing part of this bill then I am becoming a part owner in their homes so I get a say in how they live (as do all other taxpayers). They can take their own decisions when they pay their own bills.
This deal should also require recipients to give up any other government benefit with regard to taxes. They should lose the Earned Income Credit and any other similar deduction. They will be getting enough help from taxpayers so they should get no more.
There can be many more conditions to receive this mortgage assistance and I encourage people to list their ideas in the comments section.
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Stimulus Nears 1.6 TRILLION Dollars
Jan 28, 2009 Political
The economic stimulus package that must urgently be passed is nearing 900 BILLION dollars. Combine that with the 700 Billion that has already been spent and we are nearing 2 TRILLION dollars in stimulus spending, most of which will not stimulate the economy. There are questions as to whether it will actually create any jobs.
I give Obama credit for meeting with Republicans and telling them he was open to suggestions because this is more than the Democrats in Congress have done. But the reality is, bipartisanship and agreement are defined by Democrats as when you agree to what they want.
I have little doubt the stimulus will pass in the House because Democrats have a large majority there. There are enough votes to allow vulnerable Democrats to vote no. The Senate will be more tricky but it is likely that a few Republicans will defect to the other side and pass this boondoggle. Look how easily they rolled over on the nominations of Obama’s nominees…
Blue Dog Democrats and Republicans should be very careful. The next elections are not that far away and the public had had enough. A vote for the bailout could be a bad career move especially if the economy is still in turmoil when 2010 rolls around.
The stimulus is a bad idea. The first one did not work so the solution is to throw more money at the problem. This is like being in a boat with a hole in the bottom and deciding the way to fix the problem is to make the hole bigger.
The special interests are lined up in DC with their hands out for money we don’t have and that our grandchildren will be paying back.
This is no way to run a country.
Sources:
WSJ
My Way News
al Reuters
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Tags: bailout, democrat, republican, stimulus, trillion
One Small Step For Education, One Giant Leap For Obamakind
Jan 3, 2009 Political
When Barry Obama was running for the office of president he was loud and proud about his plans to delay some of the space exploration programs in order to divert money to education. Keep in mind that money is NOT the problem in our educational system. We continually throw money at education and things never get better. But Obama is beholden to the teacher’s union so he clearly said that we could not afford to spend all this money in space and have men walking on the moon when we have children who can’t read. A November 2007 article reports it this way:
Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama released a new $18 billion education plan yesterday that he proposes to pay for by delaying the NASA Constellation program (to return humans to the moon) five years.
“We’re not going to have the engineers and the scientists to continue space exploration if we don’t have kids who are able to read, write and compute,” Obama said. Wired.com
But now that Obama has won, space exploration and putting a man on the moon is a matter of urgency because of China’s increased space presence. According to Bloomberg, Obama is anxious to speed up the mission to the moon because the Chinese have been building a military presence there:
President-elect Barack Obama will probably tear down long-standing barriers between the U.S.’s civilian and military space programs to speed up a mission to the moon amid the prospect of a new space race with China.
Assuming that Obama is not going to cut out the 18 billion dollars he promised to education (once again, money is not the problem) where will he get the money for the increased tempo he will demand of NASA and the Pentagon?
Obama is already on track to sign a one TRILLION dollar stimulus package and he will spend TRILLIONS more on his pet programs and as payback to those who supported him. Where will we get the money. For all the talk about balancing budgets and being the responsible party, they are planning to spend like there is no tomorrow.
As an aside, how much is a TRILLION? If you earned $1000 a second it would take you just over 31 years to earn a trillion dollars. A stack of $100 dollar bills totaling 1 TRILLION dollars would be 789 miles high which is about 144 Mount Everests stacked on top of each other. A box that holds a case of copier paper will hold about $72,000 one-dollar bills. It would take 1.4 billion boxes to hold a trillion dollars. One more, a trillion seconds ago was 32,000 years ago (source).
We are talking huge sums of money and since he has now decided to do the space thing and his education plan we will be adding more debt on top of the huge debt load Congress and politicians of all stripes are burdening us with each and every day.
I know we are screwed no matter what but I thought it was worth while to point out how quickly Obama changed his mind about spending money to send men to the moon.
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Tags: education, moon mission, nasa, Obama, trillion