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The USA's national debt is about $17 trillion and our GDP this year is about $17 trillion, so to put it into a family context you could say that a family makes about $80,000 per year total and owes about $80,000 left on their mortgage.
Doesn't it get tiring excusing the excesses of big government?
Federal debt held by the public doesnt tell the entire story.
and debt at 4% is better than where it has been. However what is the growth of GDP 1%? 2%? 3%?
context is key. and what role does sequester have to play in the falling debt number?
you argue against austerity but in the same breath speak about the positives of what that is driving.
The "positives" that you speak of is not due to austerity. Most of the fall in the deficit is due to the waning of the Great Recession -- revenues are up and social spending is falling as employment improves.
The sequester is only a negative, cutting spending while the economy is still depressed.
Not exactly. Most of the folks screaming about unfunded liabilities take all future spending and worry about it right now. We do have a debt problem, but it is a mixture of spending too much and taxing too little.
Yes, that is why I wrote that the differences are relative. Of course the poor in the West are doing way better than those in most other regions of the world. But also because we invest a lot to close that gap, for instance via social security etc. Look at India, it has some extremely rich people, but we in the West could simply not accept so many people living without running water, sanitation, etc. In India they still seem to accept that. When they implement social security, health insurance and similar systems that deserve that name, they will pile up debt as well. In the West there is a certain minimum standard of living, below which there might be riots etc.
well we need to figure something out because the power game is getting too expensive and that will lead to even more riots than we have already seen.
Doesn't it get tiring excusing the excesses of big government?
What excesses would that be? If you're talking about current federal spending, outside defense, where is the excesses? As we need to remember, the federal government is basically an insurance company with an army, and the insurance side isn’t bad.
Nondefense spending is dominated by Social Security, which runs on an efficient 1% overhead rate; Medicare, which could do better, is more efficient than private insurance; and Medicaid, which is much more cost-effective than private insurance. I’m sure that if you look through nondefense discretionary spending you’ll find some waste, but no more than in any large corporation.
If you really are interested in cutting government cost, you should be demonstrating in the streets for universal healthcare, which has proven in other countries to cost half as much as we spend with better medical results.
The "positives" that you speak of is not due to austerity. Most of the fall in the deficit is due to the waning of the Great Recession -- revenues are up and social spending is falling as employment improves.
The sequester is only a negative, cutting spending while the economy is still depressed.
on this we do not agree... but hey, we are closer to agreement today than pretty much ever before! LOL.
If you actually don't know anything about economics, its just babbling.
Behold the symbol of your school of economics:
I like that image, but am not certain i know what it is
Could be a boobie, the cresent moon, and tongue sticking out.
For all I know it's a black and white image of Obama! wearing a beanie
I think if i stare at it for long enough and look away i will see jesus!
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