Agreed

[denalidave]

Yeah, its only 545 people, with no other input or direction, that run the US economy. Oh, and my farts smell like strawberries too.

 

I have a bridge to sell you.

How much are you asking for the bridge and where is it located? I may want it delivered, depending on shipping costs... Do you take cash or PayPal?

 

[denalidave]

Hey kev, I seem to remember you saying you weren't even going to vote this year. Government we deserve, indeed.

 

Keep dreaming bro......I voted.

 

Glad to hear it!

Romney still lost...

[Off_White]

Yeah, its only 545 people, with no other input or direction, that run the US economy. Oh, and my farts smell like strawberries too.

 

I have a bridge to sell you.

 

Kev, the mark can't resell the con. Maybe you could list it on ebay?

[billcoe]

What I find extremely worrisome is this: balance the budget during relatively good times, pr even slow down the race into hell, where is this going to end?

 

And it will end at some point. In my mind, the longer we wait the worse it will be.

 

Oh look, it's the debt clock working....http://www.usdebtclock.org/

 

Oh. Sorry, last time I posted this, YOU, Mr. US citizen owed $34,000. Seemed unreal then. I'm longing for those days. Can you see what the debt per US citizen is now?

 

Ouch. Good news (NOT), the clock is still running like a well oiled machine top. WTF, it's only money.

 

 

[rob]

Our budget is only about 500 billion in the red (talking deficit here, not talking debt) -- the wars alone account for a THIRD of that. Balancing the budget is not rocket science, and Bill -- I don't think you give the U.S. credit for it's assets (massive GDP, etc.) when you start to go off about debt. Remember to balance assets and debt, right? Overall, we have tremendous assets and income, things don't have to be end-of-the-world bleak, bill. What have YOU been doing to encourage a balanced budget in Washington? There are several lobbies pushing for this that could use your help.

[tvashtarkatena]

Another thing never mentioned in debt discussions is the cost of borrowing, which is about free right now. If its a choice between borrowing a bit more at practically zero interest and inflicting a lot of economic pain that will actually cost more in revenues than it reduces the deficit, it's better to borrow a bit more. BALANCE THE BUDGET!!! and SAVE ENTITLEMENTS FROM INSOLVENCY 30 YEARS FROM NOW!!!! Neither is or should be a very high priority compared to other things like unemploymen...unless you're a Righty Moron, of course.

 

Not that the Teabaggers have the available neurons to grok complex arithmetic like this, what, with debt service involving exponential alchemy and all.

Edited January 15, 2013 by tvashtarkatena

[Jim]

Speaking of low cost borrowing:

 

 

Consider, in particular, the alleged dangers of debt and deficits. Here in America, we are constantly warned that we must slash spending now now now or we’ll turn into Greece, Greece I tell you. But Greece, a country without a currency, doesn’t look much like the United States; surely Japan offers a more relevant model. And while doomsayers keep predicting a fiscal crisis in Japan, hyping each uptick in interest rates as a sign of the imminent apocalypse, it keeps not happening: Japan’s government can still borrow long term at a rate of less than 1 percent.

 

 

Borrow Now!

[rob]

Another thing never mentioned in debt discussions is the cost of borrowing, which is about free right now. If its a choice between borrowing a bit more at practically zero interest and inflicting a lot of economic pain that will actually cost more in revenues than it reduces the deficit, it's better to borrow a bit more. BALANCE THE BUDGET!!! and SAVE ENTITLEMENTS FROM INSOLVENCY 30 YEARS FROM NOW!!!! Neither is or should be a very high priority compared to other things like unemploymen...unless you're a Righty Moron, of course.

 

Not that the Teabaggers have the available neurons to grok complex arithmetic like this, what, with debt service involving exponential alchemy and all.

 

And if you look at total government spending as a percentage of GDP and compared to other countries, US spending is actually not so crazy high, nor is the tax burden. In fact, we are pretty much right in the middle, and below the World Average on both counts. If we stopped our crazy wars and taxed capital gains properly, our budget would probably balance immediately with few other modifications.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Government_spending#