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The thing is we almost never fix anything in US. We wait till it is going to crash and burn. Then we seal it with glue or tape. And say looked it is fixed. As you pointed out health care reform did not address the cost issue. So at the rate it is going the health care system is mostly likely going to fail in about 15 years. Pols in the public sector think all I have to do is make the budget look good this year next year I am gone. The private sector is just as bad GM Banking Wall Street these issues were years in the making. I saw them from a mile off. So you know the CEO'S Bankers ect knew it was going to crash at some point. They did not care they were thinking hey I will be gone when it happens. As long as I get mine who cares. It has been going on at least 30 years. It all short term thinking in the public and private sectors. If anything it is getting worst not better. When Paul Vockler said their should be regs to keep banks out of paper trading high risk investment ect. They were crying like you killed their mother. They wanted to take taxpayers cash and go rigth back to business as they had always done. And you know what they will they will move some cash thougth both houses. And we will be bailing them out about 20 years from now. So yeah these things could be fixed in the US. But that is not how we roll.
Remember the unemployment part of the stimulus ? Remember how some states did not take it because of the strings attached ?
Remember those strings ?
Well..it was for states to change their laws to enable part time workers to collect unemployment and that had to become a permanent law.
Now..if they did that the Fed would give them money for 2 years. At the end of the 2 years states had to pick up the tab themselves and they could NOT repleal the law.
Texas did not take the unemployment part of the stimulus because of that.
We are past year 1 and 1/4 into year 2. Come Jan/Feb 2011 the states will have to pay for unemployment for part time workers out of their own budgets.
Thanks for the info Happy Texan did not know that one. That is a time bomb in those states budgets. One you may not know. The Feds gave tons of cash to the states so they did not have to lay off more teachers cops firemen ect. Well that stimulus money almost gone. So the states will have to pay those workers out of their own payroll. They do not have it. So their will be a second wave of laid off teachers cops city workers state workers fireman ect. They will mostly likely number 300 to 500k over the next two years. You always do good posts. I learn from them but now you learn something from me.
This is pretty scary, and our petty, venial, corrupt, greedy and incompetent representatives are in no way prepared to deal with the implications of this.
I think that the fact that government at all levels is overspending will be a major drag on the economy. Government spending is inherently inefficient and saps wealth rather than create it.
Yes yes yes. Did I say "yes"?
Alaska has not been as hard hit as most other states precisely because it has an oil-based economy.
Still, the same issues that weigh on other states will bother Alaska down the road. Too many generous promises were made to the early state employees and extremely ridiculous defined benefits were established. This is now called the Tier 1 retirement, and they are currently working on a Tier 4 level at much reduced promises!
Remember the unemployment part of the stimulus ? Remember how some states did not take it because of the strings attached ?
Remember those strings ?
Well..it was for states to change their laws to enable part time workers to collect unemployment and that had to become a permanent law.
Now..if they did that the Fed would give them money for 2 years. At the end of the 2 years states had to pick up the tab themselves and they could NOT repleal the law.
Texas did not take the unemployment part of the stimulus because of that.
We are past year 1 and 1/4 into year 2. Come Jan/Feb 2011 the states will have to pay for unemployment for part time workers out of their own budgets.
This is going to blow up folks..blow up.
the problems are starting to catch up to us now. i posted this before so people could see how their own states are doing, from pro publica (a very good information website, by the way):
All States | ProPublica Unemployment Insurance Tracker
this is the intrinsic problem of wanting "big government". there are only 2 choices there: raise taxes on employers (which hurts the private sector and job creation) or cutting benefits for the unemployed. (which hurts the unemployed).
both choices will likely result in economic deterioration from the current status. (which is funded by borrowing)
It is a common political gimmick to blame predecessors for budget holes, I've seen it across continents in various languages.
The Europeans have come up with a temporary solution to help Greece contain interest rates on its debt rollovers and they will probably come up with more formal eurozone-wide money-issuing mechanisms going forward.
The money supply and issuance mechanisms are certainly a problem, but they can be managed: the real underlying problem is consumption in excess of production and how the fruits of production are distributed.
The countries of early industrialization - US, Japan, Europe - are sick with parasitism, hidden under the shield of "socialism", a human system by which a relatively few, with the consent of the many, control the distribution of production to the many, with the result of decreasing production (the productive class is eventually squeezed out) and less of it to distribute.
It works well for a while in advanced industrialized societies because the process can take many, many decades, even a century, maybe more.
The phases of the cycle - growth, parasitism, decline, stagnation - common in human history - can at times run concurrently. Fall occurs when parasitism overwhelms growth.
loking at the stimulus and some of the mandates attched to the stimulus omney and how it will effect sates in the future is scary. that and the people that the new heathcare bill dumps more people into medicaid that states takeover largter payments in the future.
the problems are starting to catch up to us now. i posted this before so people could see how their own states are doing, from pro publica (a very good information website, by the way):
All States | ProPublica Unemployment Insurance Tracker
this is the intrinsic problem of wanting "big government". there are only 2 choices there: raise taxes on employers (which hurts the private sector and job creation) or cutting benefits for the unemployed. (which hurts the unemployed).
Out of those two choices I would much rather have them cut benefits for the unemployment. Even better, eliminate unemployment insurance altogether.
how can you say that when things seem so "stable"? look at today's headlines:
Iraq Bombs Kill 50 as Bloody Weekend Continues
Men in Iraqi Army Uniforms Kill 24 in Sunni Area South of Baghdad
Killings in Iraq Raise Fears of Renewed Violence
Iraq Election Tangle Stokes Fears of New Violence
Iraqi Public Doubts That Election Was Fair
German DM: Sorry for Killing Afghan Troops
US 'Moves on' After Karzai Fails to Apologize in Call to Clinton
Wikileaks to Unveil Secret Video of US Airstrike in Afghanistan
Ahmadinejad: Sanctions Help, Not Hurt, Iran
India Rebuffs US Call to Shun Iran Gas Talks
US Warns Pakistan Against Gas Pipeline Deal With Iran
Iraq, Afghan Wars Biggest Logistical Effort Since WWII
Obama Expands Military Involvement in Africa by Daniel Volman
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