Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
It is weird. A few years ago it was all "deficits don't matter". Now the apocalpyse is pending!
I totally get that there are competing economic theories. Economics is all theory after all, no one really knows what is "true".
But Obama has been pretty much following long established economic paradigms for how to deal with the issues. The rating folk pretty much wanted him to follow conventional wisdom (spend out of the current slump, cut down on long term debt) but folks are acting like this is some new, borderline treasonous, scandalous SABOTAGE OF OUR ECONOMY!!!!!! Wha? LOL
Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying it's the right or wrong approach - I'm open to all points of view - but sometimes the tone of the conversation just seems to drive straight into crazytown and then I promptly tune folks out.
ETA: I think me ad the person above posted at about the same time. Please don't take that personally since I hadn't even seen your post when I was typing it. Sorry about that.
Deficits don't matter as long as you're growing, haven't saddled yourself with more debt than your economy even churns out in a year and not in an abject decline.
There are some simple premises from my view being forgotten. Income is definitely more important than expenses. However the belief that debt has supreme value is a very sick view imo.
Debt means indebted, which is simply slavery. It is the very idea that debt is king that has created so much of it that generations to come will never be free of it.
We're a debtor nation since 1913. That's just what path we've chosen for ourselves once we started making our way out of industrialization. We have a consumer based economy where savings are only put away long enough to retire where you'll get to spend all of it in a blaze of glory until you die.
Good post. The misunderstanding of American national debt allows moronic republican politicians to shout about government spending and how this is sending America down the plug hole. Meanwhile they almost caused s complete economic meltdown over the debt ceiling, want to slash spending, reduce taxes for the wealthy and destroy unions. It's absolutely disgusting.
If we weren't a consumer based economy you might have a point. We are a consumer based economy though were savings is looked at as being a penny-pincher.
So when your debt goes out of control and above your GDP and there isn't a scenario like you just destroyed all of the rest of the industrialized planet in a world war then you look like a crack addict with a bad habit and no possibility to plan for your future.
I agree that most people don't understand debt. Investor's demand for treasuries right now is so high that the federal government's ability to borrow is virtually unlimited. Yet people are constantly whining about our deficit spending. The government should be borrowing more not less.
But government borrowing doesnt exist in a vacuum. If government is borrowing all of the free capital in society, then private business cant and thus the economy suffers as a result. Thats exactly the problem taking place right now.
Interest rates are being determined by the FEDERAL RESERVE...That is why things are slowly goiung downhill...Bernanke is manipulating the rates so obama doesn't bear the brunt of a total collapse of the economy. Imagine what high inerest rates would do to the economy that we currently have.
Inflation is being staved off ARTIFICIALLY.
I've been reading this same claim for 20 years. It ain't possible to artificially stave off inflation that long. At some point even us Paul fans must recognize that our nations primary problem is fiscal policy, not monetary and that increasing the money supply is going to occur in a debtor nation.
people talk about unemployment and how horrid it is. Then you realize that 1% of the population makes 90% of the money, so does it really matter how many aren't working? People want to think they matter, but in reality, probably not so much.
Well I would say it is much like a vacuum. The ones at the top of the food chain are creating a giant sucking sound. Debt is considered fabulous by many. The ones that are on the collecting end. Not the ones that are on the debtor end. However, if the debt continues to expand it will simply collapse. Debt is only valuable to some if it can collect pmts. w/o those pmts it is completely useless.
The only reason the serfs matter is for that SSN which is used to get more loans. The sheep gotta be worth something.
people talk about unemployment and how horrid it is. Then you realize that 1% of the population makes 90% of the money, so does it really matter how many aren't working? People want to think they matter, but in reality, probably not so much.
That's not true. The top 1% make 15.5% of the total AGI.
Deficits don't matter as long as you're growing, haven't saddled yourself with more debt than your economy even churns out in a year and not in an abject decline.
So sorry, you've got none of those going for you.
I actually agree with the basic premise here that the debt is too large. I think that is a reasonable conclusion and I also think it is reasonable to have differing ideas of what to do about it.
What I object to is the characterization of the spend now cut later approach as some kind of sabotage or other extreme terms, since you could walk into any school of business and half the economics professors would say the same thing. I just think the debate gets frustratingly OTT at times. Plus there are people out there listening to this stuff and not understanding that these ideas are not something made up out of air by drooling idiots, even if you think it is the wrong approach.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
