Senate expected to pass debt plan, end crisis Tuesday

[nate53]

I will agree with the last three posts, but the question remains how can we possibly get these changes done?

 

[justintime]

I'm not sure if I heard right, and if I did, I guess I'm pretty concerned about the US situation. The radio report I heard today stated that the debt ceiling was raised by 14.5 Trillion which is almost exactly what the US GNP was for 2010.I really hope I heard wrong!! If this is what I heard, and if it is true..... then it means the US government is borrowing as much ( or even more) than what it produces. This sounds like another situation like Greece in the making. IMO, the only possible solution, to turn this pony around, will be a serious reduction of government at all levels, a serious revamping of all government programs,  as well as a bunch of pain for a bunch of people. This situation reminds me of Enron, the massive company that crashed and burned a few years ago. Their attitude of " we are too big to be in trouble" or "we are too big to fail" ruined a pile of people. Looking from the outside, this situation looks serious, and by the way the financial markets have reacted in the past couple days, I think there are many more than me, that are concerned. I commented on a previous post that the US and Canada has more people working in government than there are in all manufacturing, mining, energy, and agriculture and food production combined. We have become nations of "takers" rather than " makers". IMO, no country can survive forever with this as it's policy. Maybe a little look back at some of the great empires of the past would be good food for thought. Some of the same things that started the decline of the Roman empire are starting to appear in our societies today. This is a serious situation, but it can be turned around, but only if the population understands what is required for the public good.
In the same newscast, there was a story of Obama having a 50th birthday celebration in Chicago, with tickets selling for $38,000 each, with for an additional $10,000 you could get your picture taken with the birthday boy. I know it is a rather weak analogy, but when I heard this story, I thought of Nero who fiddled while Rome burnt!  
( yet another story in the same newscast was about homeless people in parts of the US being given cell phones with 250 free minutes per month, and the cost of this program being paid by those who do pay for the cell phones and useage. Come on folks, give me a break!!!  Is this more proof that the free world is slowly losing it's collective minds? Or am I the only one who thinks this is about as stupid a program that has come down the pipe in a very long time? We all have to get over this modern feeling of "intitlement" and that the government owes us everything good.) I guess cell phones are now considered to be a entitlement as well!

 

[peachy]

David Walker,former U.S. Comptroller, says we have 3 years before the U.S. becomes Greece. So, I guess everything's fine.  (lol)  Total debt,including unfunded liabilities, is only $60,000,000,000,000.

 

[Okotoks]

In the recent Canadian federal election the Conservatives won a majority after two terms with a minority government. They are starting the process of cutting and reducing spending. (thumbsup)
Needless to say the New Democrats, Liberals and Greens are all upset. Especially since they have started with the Enviroment department! The Canadian debt to GNP ratio is also pretty sad.


It's headline news at the government funded CBC
http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/story/2011/08/04/pol-environment-job-cuts.html

but way down the list at the right leanining National Post
http://news.nationalpost.com/2011/08/04/hundreds-of-environment-canada-jobs-to-be-cut/

 

[forcheyhawk]

This isn't the politician's fault, it's ours.  The reason it doesn't change is because we don't want it to - and I do mean you and me.  The costs associated with Medicare and Social Security dwarf every single other item we spend money on - because we all get it (us or our parents or our grandparents).  And none of us pay in nearly enough to cover it.  And it will only get worse.

Are you willing to shorten your parent's lives because you won't take them to the doctor/hospital if they or you can't personally pay for their medical bills when they are in their 70s and 80s.  It's that simple.  Otherwise, we keep doing what we're doing.

Now do I want to shorten somebody's life?  Absolutely not.  The truth is though - a combination of cuts are going to have to be made along with taxes increasing.  There's no way around that.  Is it going to have an impact to a lot of people?  Absolutely!  It's going to be a terrible situation for many and probably all of us.  However, I have zero confidence that the people I elected to do that job will get it done.  AND I have even less confidence that they'll will do so in a manner that will make sense to the majority.  These issues didn't happen yesterday.  We've been hearing about Social Security and Healthcare and issues surrounding them every since I can remember.  If measures had been taken when we 1st heard of the issues, we wouldn't be discussing this today.  These issues still being discussed are ENTIRELY the fault of our political system and our elected officials inability to have any accountability required to handle them.  IMO, we should set up a pay system for senators and house members that 50% is tied to a balanced budget.  We have to find a way to hold these crooks accountable for handling America's finances.  Creating social programs that can't be funded would SEVERELY hurt themselves.  Not taking action on an issue that could lead to a inbalanced budget would seriously hurt their own pockets.  Clearly, the threat of being voted out is not enough anymore.  There's too much damage that can be done in those 4 years before being voted out occurs.  We need to hold them accountable to us while they are in office as well.  Part of the problem here is not just that these programs aren't collecting enough, we've borrowed against social security for years.  What kind of impact has that had?  I personally didn't approve that - did you?

 

[knabe]

  I personally didn't approve that - did you?

when we vote with emotion rather than logic, we approve.

that's why "voting" issues are framed to be emotional.

hint, red flag when you hear "it's for the kids."

 

[forcheyhawk]

  I personally didn't approve that - did you?

when we vote with emotion rather than logic, we approve.

that's why "voting" issues are framed to be emotional.

hint, red flag when you hear "it's for the kids."

I agree with what you are saying.  So, if a news reporter would have blown up the story of borrowing against social security to fund highways...  There would have been a major tug on emotions and every acting senator and house member voted out.  You can only imagine the story - Grandma's not going to get her social security check but there won't be any potholes on I80.  Folks would have went nuts!  Problem is - we didn't hear about the borrowing against social security until social security didn't have any money.  ;D  Politics.