What a mess
we are in. I tried to warn that this would happen but nobody listened. On May
18, 2010, my blog was written about the dangers of too much debt in our
government. I said a crisis was coming and a time of reckoning: http://freelancethinker1.blogspot.com/2010/05/mysterious-dumbness-in-our-land-why.html “Fueled
by President Obama’s huge stimulus package, the US budget deficit is projected
to exceed $1.6 Trillion! Spending, borrowing, and debt are out of control. This
is a dire situation. This is an unmanageable burden on future generations. We
must stop the dumbness in Washington.”
We are now on an
unsustainable path with a credit rating reduction and a crashing stock market.
The only good thing about it is that we have hit bottom. When a drug addict
hits bottom, he is usually ready to reform and kick the habit. Let’s hope our
representatives are now ready to kick the debt habit. If they don’t, let’s hope
our citizens are ready to kick their collective ass!! I’m mad as hell and I’m
not going to take any more dumbness from Washington. How about you?
Dear Can't Take It Any More:
ReplyDeleteThe Tsar thinks you're right about the trajectory, but with the current economic malaise and high unemployment, more pump priming is necessary.
The Tsar is partial to a new WPA project where we get people back to work and spending by having them renew our badly eroded infrastructure.
With any luck at all--probably a vain hope, the Tsar admits--WashDC would have given us spending and tax reform that would cause the governments receipts to boom at the same time as the economy.
The deficit would clear up fast just like it did in the nineties.
I also recommend a Buy America campaign.
-Tsar FDR
Dear Tsar,
ReplyDeleteI am disappointed in your FDR attitude. History proves that FDR's "new deal" made the depression worse and last longer than it should have. The longer we put off balancing the government's budget, the worse things will get and the national debt will bankrupt us. The pain from balancing the budget now will be less than the pain to come if we don't bite the bullet. The current economic problems and high unemployment will look like "good times" compared to what is coming if we fail to get our economic house in order. We ain't got anything to give away. I am surprised that you are thinking like a liberal democrat. Wake up, Tsar!!!! Uncertainty is killing us.
Oh well, the Tsar doesn't think it will matter which of us is right, whether the government creates jobs so that people can spend again, or whether we drive thousands more out of work while balancing the budget; the reality is that we will soon see QE 3. There is no way politicians, including Tea-partiers, are going to stand by while their voters become less and less happy. The Tsar merely hopes that the administration is far smarter about it than they have been with the first two.
ReplyDeleteNext year is an important election year and the politicians will be out in force buying votes deficit or no deficit.
Count on it.
-TsarPat counting
Quantifying Easing did not work the first two times and will fail if tried for the third time.
ReplyDeleteQuantitative easing is also helping elected officials shirk their duties to the American public -- in a sense, enabling politicians to spend money the country does not have (or make good on promises that should be broken). Forbes' William Baldwin illustrates this concept beautifully. I still say that we should balance the budget. Postponing it will only make things worse. The politicians have acted irresponsibly. We are between a rock and a hard place. QE3 is guaranteed to fail. We must bite the bullet and stop the madness!
I think every employed American has taken some sort of concession in the past few years. I have not seen any of the politicians pay a pay cut. Every job I have had requires a yearly performance review, your raise is based on your review rating. Why can't we "review" our elected officials on a yearly basis? Waiting for election time is not working. To create jobs, we need congress/president enact legislation allowing companies to have some sort of tax break for every NEW job created. The only way out of this mess is to get American people working, manufacturing products for the world to buy.
ReplyDeleteI am proud to say that Brenda is my intelligent niece. She has put forth an excellent plan for reforming the government. Thanks Brenda, for a brilliant contribution. This country needs more "Brendas"!
ReplyDeleteAwe, thanks Uncle Harry. I think you should run for Senator and I'll run for the House of Representatives. Come to think of it, reforming the election process should be a blog subject for you. All the money they waste on stupid advertising and all of the scandals for campaign contributions is maddening to me! Use all of that money on balancing the budget!
ReplyDeleteBrenda, you are a wild and crazy political animal! I could not agree with you more. Together we will straighten this country out. And when we are done , Let's have a big party for you and me paid for by the dumb voters. Wait! Can't do that. That's how the current system works...
ReplyDeleteQE 1 and 2 failed because they didn't spend enough and on the right things. Giving money to banks and corps so that they can squirrel it away in Aruba doesn't work (Hey, doesn’t Freelance vacation there every year). Give it to people who will spend it in the form of work for pay (fixing our infrastructure) and through mortgage forgiveness, will work if enough money is spent on it.
ReplyDeleteWhether we want to do that is another question.
Grading of politicians is already done every day in the mass media and at bars across the land. That doesn't work either because politicians have learned that pork buys votes. We need vote out every single incumbent, regardless of party or even ability, and do it over and over again until the lesson sinks in and we finally get forthright, honest politicians like Freelance and his niece.
What we need are feasible answers to our biggest challenges:
1. The Jihad
2. Drug trafficking
3. The global economy.
Worrying about balancing budgets and reducing deficits is worrying about the wrong things. A government doing nothing to aid the old, sick and out-of-work is a recipe for disaster. -TsarPat
Whether we want to do that is another question.
Grading of politicians is already done every day in the mass media and at bars across the land. That doesn't work either because politicians have learned that pork buys votes. We need vote out every single encumbant, regardless of party or even ability, and do it over and over again until the lesson sinks in and we finally get forthright, honest politicians like Freelance and his niece.
Did the Tsar repeat himself for emphasis, or is he getting old and forgetful? I give him credit for making some good points (repetitively) but he still does not understand that we need to get our financial house in order before we can attack his worthy list of challenges. Otherwise, we will have a disaster!
ReplyDeletePoor job of editing before a pick and paste job. Not the first time nor the last for this old Tsar.
ReplyDeleteNonetheless, I have trouble believing that our house, which is in considerable disorder and under increasingly intense, even terminal, pressures from inside and without, will miraculously be fixed by a balanced budget. Those out of work and worse, out of hope, won't wait that long. Have you built your electrified fence and purchased those ferocious dogs yet? You'd better because you'll need them long before the budget is balanced and the debt paid off. TsarPat