Alaska Darin Posted November 18, 2004 Share Posted November 18, 2004 by another 800 BILLION dollars. It will be over $8.2 TRILLION if it passes the House tonight. Let's keep pretending there's fiscal responsibility going on in Washington, shall we? I now return you to your regular stupidity, featuring important issues like whether gay marriage will tear apart our society, should the FCC be allowing ABC to run racy commercials, etc. Thanks for your time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rich in Ohio Posted November 18, 2004 Share Posted November 18, 2004 by another 800 BILLION dollars. It will be over $8.2 TRILLION if it passes the House tonight. Let's keep pretending there's fiscal responsibility going on in Washington, shall we? I now return you to your regular stupidity, featuring important issues like whether gay marriage will tear apart our society, should the FCC be allowing ABC to run racy commercials, etc. Thanks for your time. 123695[/snapback] Whats wrong with debt? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rubes Posted November 18, 2004 Share Posted November 18, 2004 by another 800 BILLION dollars. It will be over $8.2 TRILLION if it passes the House tonight. Let's keep pretending there's fiscal responsibility going on in Washington, shall we? I now return you to your regular stupidity, featuring important issues like whether gay marriage will tear apart our society, should the FCC be allowing ABC to run racy commercials, etc. Thanks for your time. 123695[/snapback] Dude, why bother. The American people live their entire lives buying themselves into huge debt. Why should the government hold themselves to any higher standard? Because they're Republicans? All campaign, Bush ridiculed Kerry with the line, "Where is he going to get the money to pay for all that?" I guess most folks were too busy guffawing and poking fun at Kerry to realize Bush was actually referring to himself. Not that Kerry would have been any better in that regard, of course. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter Posted November 18, 2004 Share Posted November 18, 2004 It is too bad there is not one of those Capital One commercials for Congress (the one with the marauding huns). They are like a bunch of drunken sailors. Yet, that may be unfair to drunken sailors. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alaska Darin Posted November 18, 2004 Author Share Posted November 18, 2004 Whats wrong with debt? 123762[/snapback] Absolutely nothing apparently, especially when it's approaching 75% of our annual GDP plus the $300,000,000,000.00 taxpayers are paying annually in interest to service it. Or, 3/4ths of the entire DoD budget. The third largest liability on the books. Nothing to see here as long as the politicians we identify with promise to do better, huh Rich? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Adams Posted November 18, 2004 Share Posted November 18, 2004 by another 800 BILLION dollars. It will be over $8.2 TRILLION if it passes the House tonight. Let's keep pretending there's fiscal responsibility going on in Washington, shall we? I now return you to your regular stupidity, featuring important issues like whether gay marriage will tear apart our society, should the FCC be allowing ABC to run racy commercials, etc. Thanks for your time. 123695[/snapback] Rich doesn't care about 8.2 trillion or the fact that his kids will be paying it off. I love that every time this issue comes up, people come onto this board talking about how this is not a big deal. Right. I wish someone would buy that moveon.org commercial with the kids and run it every day. Hate moveon.org all you want, but that commercial was spot on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simon Posted November 19, 2004 Share Posted November 19, 2004 Whats wrong with debt? 123762[/snapback] Are you f'ing kidding me? If there were a Democrat in the White House, this issue would have you throwing a hissy-fit that would put a 2yrold to shame. That's the problem with you tiny-minded entrenched idiots. You are utterly incapable of examining a problem on it's own merits. Instead you act like a pack of simple-minded cheerleaders, prancing around, screeching and waving your pompoms for your side, no matter how egregiously stupid and corrupt they continue to show themselves to be. Congratulations on your mindless self-assurance. It must be a wonderfully comfortable existence to lack the capacity for critical or original thought. Is it true that accumulated drool gives your keyboard a beautiful luster? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Campy Posted November 19, 2004 Share Posted November 19, 2004 Absolutely nothing apparently, especially when it's approaching 75% of our annual GDP plus the $300,000,000,000.00 taxpayers are paying annually in interest to service it. Or, 3/4ths of the entire DoD budget. The third largest liability on the books. Nothing to see here as long as the politicians we identify with promise to do better, huh Rich? 123830[/snapback] I don't claim to know much about that stuff beyond Hamilton's "Invest in America"-type campaign. I know GG is the money-guy, hopefully he'll find this and chime in too. I'm of the understanding that an awful lot of the federal debt is being carried by international (Japanese) banks. If that's the case, what would happen if the government's credit rating went in the crapper and they decided to call the notes? What would happen to the US (and us) if that were to happen? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ExiledInIllinois Posted November 19, 2004 Share Posted November 19, 2004 It is too bad there is not one of those Capital One commercials for Congress (the one with the marauding huns). They are like a bunch of drunken sailors. Yet, that may be unfair to drunken sailors. 123829[/snapback] I think there is... It is called SchoolHouse Rock... You know the one about the national debt? The one with the big dinosaur? I think that one came out in the late 70's, early 80's? Oh Richio, you can get it on DVD! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ExiledInIllinois Posted November 19, 2004 Share Posted November 19, 2004 Whats wrong with debt? 123762[/snapback] You live in Ohio... Drive through Cleveland (around the MLK exit, just east of "Dead Mans Curve")... There was a nice GWB billboard, I think it went something like this... I noticed it was there during election time. GWB: "Don't worry about the deficit, you won't have to pay for it, your children will." I know that said deficit... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ExiledInIllinois Posted November 19, 2004 Share Posted November 19, 2004 I don't claim to know much about that stuff beyond Hamilton's "Invest in America"-type campaign. I know GG is the money-guy, hopefully he'll find this and chime in too. I'm of the understanding that an awful lot of the federal debt is being carried by international (Japanese) banks. If that's the case, what would happen if the government's credit rating went in the crapper and they decided to call the notes? What would happen to the US (and us) if that were to happen? 124246[/snapback] I am not exactly sure... Let the money guys answer that. Would I be standing in line at the local Jewel with a wheel barrel of dollars waiting to buy a loaf of bread? Ahh, who really cares? We could just put the out of work in works groups and send them to Anchorage, AK to help pave some roads up there. What ya think AD? Keep a lot of the able body workers gainfully employed while you get a four lane highway to nowhere?... Only joking of course? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark VI Posted November 19, 2004 Share Posted November 19, 2004 Little wonder I'm registered as an Indy and think like a Libertarian. Less gov't is a pipe dream. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave in VA Posted November 19, 2004 Share Posted November 19, 2004 Mr. Cheney said deficits don't matter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Adams Posted November 19, 2004 Share Posted November 19, 2004 White House statements today about raising the ceiling go something like this: "We have to sign this so the government can keep functioning." Let's a tak a deep breath. This is OUR government, and only we can shackle it. But not with the over 95% incumbent reelection in Congress. Weeeeeeeeeeee Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gavin in Va Beach Posted November 19, 2004 Share Posted November 19, 2004 Let me know where I sign up for the revolution... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nobody Posted November 19, 2004 Share Posted November 19, 2004 by another 800 BILLION dollars. It will be over $8.2 TRILLION if it passes the House tonight. Let's keep pretending there's fiscal responsibility going on in Washington, shall we? I now return you to your regular stupidity, featuring important issues like whether gay marriage will tear apart our society, should the FCC be allowing ABC to run racy commercials, etc. Thanks for your time. 123695[/snapback] It is a shame what most americans really care about. Too bad the deficit / debt wasn't an issue in the election. (Don't take that as a pro-either side statement - it should be the goal of all political parties, conservatives, liberals, etc. to have budget surpluses.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GG Posted November 19, 2004 Share Posted November 19, 2004 I don't claim to know much about that stuff beyond Hamilton's "Invest in America"-type campaign. I know GG is the money-guy, hopefully he'll find this and chime in too. I'm of the understanding that an awful lot of the federal debt is being carried by international (Japanese) banks. If that's the case, what would happen if the government's credit rating went in the crapper and they decided to call the notes? What would happen to the US (and us) if that were to happen? 124246[/snapback] At the end of the day, raising the debt ceiling is not as big of a deal as it seems. Part of it is to adjust for the growth in GDP. The concern about deficits should be segmented between structural and temporary. The annual deficit/surplus numbers that most people focus on is an indication of the stability of government's finances. I'm not going to start a tangent of whether the absolute size of government is out of whack, because I don't have time to discuss the Pandora's box. But, if you agree with the premisethat federal government should hold its historic size, there inherently will always be some level of deficit, and a comfortable number is about 2% - 2.5% of GDP. This is an accepted level for a stable fiscal policy where you can maintain cheap interest rates. Many fears about runaway deficits of last year, are starting to fall, as there are reasonable expectations that the deficits will settle in the 2.5% range next year. The bigger issue is the off the books deficit, which are the future SS & Medicare payments. These numbers don't appear as official debt, because Fed hasn't issued bonds to fund those programs yet. But, that's the looming train wreck. Bush's proposed fixes will actually increase the stated deficit in the short term, but should allay the real deficit in the long term. Plus, since the proposal is very pro economic growth, the stated deficit should also drop, as GDP will grow faster as will tax revenues (without the need to raise taxes). ******* To answer Campy's question, it's highly improbable for the US debt rating to get knocked down without serious events happening. There is increasing copncern about the trade deficit & US$ strength. But the administration is not going to intervene in the short term. Let the other guys fix their own houses first. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BillsNYC Posted November 19, 2004 Share Posted November 19, 2004 I was taught in college that the debt has as many good effects as it does bad. What's it do? Hurt our credit history? pff... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Adams Posted November 19, 2004 Share Posted November 19, 2004 At the end of the day, raising the debt ceiling is not as big of a deal as it seems. (I only snipped your post because it was long- not trying to take the above line out of context.) Let me axe you this. What disturbs me is not so much that we have a debt, but that we must pay a huge HUGE amount of money to pay the interest in said debt. So, at the end of the day, I have LESS money - a lot less money- in my pocket because of the interest we pay on the debt. Frankly, that's money I want back. And it seems that the only way for me to get that back is to minimize the debt, not keep it at a steady percentage of the GDP. Gavin- we may not get along, but I think to join the revolution, you have to buck most of the incumbants. Ron Paul can stay. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alaska Darin Posted November 19, 2004 Author Share Posted November 19, 2004 I was taught in college that the debt has as many good effects as it does bad. What's it do? Hurt our credit history? pff... 124785[/snapback] The interest alone costs $1000 per CITIZEN annually and is rising every year. Look around the room at your house. If there are two other people living there, your share of the interest on the national debt THIS year is $3000. Think you could find something to spend that on? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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