Might as well make another thread... This needs to be exposed.
My guess, is it is the first and due more to his hate than his stupidity. If I had gone plural then I would be here all day. So let's just go with the big ticket item that he and I have been butting heads on here.
China is no real threat to us. They hold paper that we can honor or not. If we fail to honor the paper it will destroy the SS trust as that is all they have. The SS trust fund will have to be actualized (turned into dollars) and so we will have to sell that debt to some other lender. If China, India and the rest of the world do NOT continue to grow, kiss your grandma's and your own hopes of a retirment goodbye.
You might say, well I am not counting on SS. Good for you. IT DOES NOT MATTER! If you are heavily invested in gold and other durable commodities you might make out alright (even still I would suggest getting out of Dodge before it is too late). Otherwise, you will get screwed.
Our retirees and near term retirees are more dependent on the growth of the third world than anyone. Us younger folks, we could just push the US to default now and put the weight on the current/near term retirees, China and the other debt holders. Of course, it will hurt us, especially those who have much property in goods that are subject to price fluctuations. But we can recover.
I am not suggesting that course. There would likely be some bloodshed. But there is no avoiding the pain. Deal with it now or deal with it later. The shell games are not going to work and those in the know are not fooled.
BTW, there are several ways we can default. They are all painful. We can just discontinue use of the dollar or as Greenspan has suggested we can print more dollars to cover it. The results are pretty much the same. Denying the dollar will be more painful up front but will allow us to recover more quickly. Papering over it with new currency will let us ease into default and it will take longer to recover. Faced with those two options only, I would prefer actual default.
Any economist that tells you this is not where we are headed is lying, a Pollyanna or just expects to die soon. We will not grow our way out of this. The best option is to restructure the unfunded liabilitities NOW.
Start pushing back the retirement age. Means test SS/Medicare. Increase the number of dollars that are subject to payroll taxes. Reduce the overly generous COLA.
Benefits will have to be reduced. A tax solution alone will put too much weight on our economy and in conjuction with our massive debt will make us a bad investment. Taxes will probably have to be increased too, though.
The truth makes you mad? Tough. Thank FDR, Reagan, Bush and Obama.
My guess, is it is the first and due more to his hate than his stupidity. If I had gone plural then I would be here all day. So let's just go with the big ticket item that he and I have been butting heads on here.
China is no real threat to us. They hold paper that we can honor or not. If we fail to honor the paper it will destroy the SS trust as that is all they have. The SS trust fund will have to be actualized (turned into dollars) and so we will have to sell that debt to some other lender. If China, India and the rest of the world do NOT continue to grow, kiss your grandma's and your own hopes of a retirment goodbye.
You might say, well I am not counting on SS. Good for you. IT DOES NOT MATTER! If you are heavily invested in gold and other durable commodities you might make out alright (even still I would suggest getting out of Dodge before it is too late). Otherwise, you will get screwed.
Our retirees and near term retirees are more dependent on the growth of the third world than anyone. Us younger folks, we could just push the US to default now and put the weight on the current/near term retirees, China and the other debt holders. Of course, it will hurt us, especially those who have much property in goods that are subject to price fluctuations. But we can recover.
I am not suggesting that course. There would likely be some bloodshed. But there is no avoiding the pain. Deal with it now or deal with it later. The shell games are not going to work and those in the know are not fooled.
BTW, there are several ways we can default. They are all painful. We can just discontinue use of the dollar or as Greenspan has suggested we can print more dollars to cover it. The results are pretty much the same. Denying the dollar will be more painful up front but will allow us to recover more quickly. Papering over it with new currency will let us ease into default and it will take longer to recover. Faced with those two options only, I would prefer actual default.
Any economist that tells you this is not where we are headed is lying, a Pollyanna or just expects to die soon. We will not grow our way out of this. The best option is to restructure the unfunded liabilitities NOW.
Start pushing back the retirement age. Means test SS/Medicare. Increase the number of dollars that are subject to payroll taxes. Reduce the overly generous COLA.
Benefits will have to be reduced. A tax solution alone will put too much weight on our economy and in conjuction with our massive debt will make us a bad investment. Taxes will probably have to be increased too, though.
The truth makes you mad? Tough. Thank FDR, Reagan, Bush and Obama.