US debt passes $14 trillion, Congress weighs caps

[PoliticAverse]

Source: Associated Press (yahoo.com)

WASHINGTON – The United States just passed a dubious milestone: Government debt surged to an all-time high, more than $14 trillion.


Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110115/ap_on_re_us/us_debt_wars

[DavidDvorkin]

1. Military spending is the fundamental problem, of course

But instead social programs will get the axe.

[bossy22]

2. no its not

the fundemental problem is a massive reduction in tax revenue and a large amount of people that need federal assistence due to the economy

[fascisthunter]

3. I Think BOTH are Factors Here

not one without the other. Our military expanding the way it has was unsustainable for years, and the hippies warned us all. Now we see an unsustainable military budget and tax cuts for the greed heads that helped start the wars and occupations. Talk about insult to injury.

[Ghost Dog]

4. Greed. It's the greed that motivates both.

And that's run up an environmental debt to the planet also.

[bossy22]

10. its not unsustainable

if we had a sane tax revenue policy. Military spending is at about 4.5% of GDP- well below the peace-time coldwar average of about 6%. What happened was that we cut taxes and increased military spending by a good amount. If we kept the taxes the way they were during clinton and didn't have this recession we would be in fine budgetary situation (a deficit about 200 billion but the government doesnt need to run a surplus to be fiscally stable. As long as the deficit is less than the growth in GDP you can continue to borrow forever).

Also the military is in need of a major mordenization- all the reagan era equipment needs to be replaced within the next 10 years so gutting defense spending now is just going to make it that much worse 5-10 years down the line. Might as well pay for it now and get it over with. It also wouldnt hurt if they just ended these stupid wars. if they ended the wars you could take that 150 billion that we spend on it a year- take 50 billion put it back into the base budget modernization accounts and take the other 100 billion and either reduce the deficit or use it to pay for some unfunded programs

[JDPriestly]

15. Just close 1/2 of our bases overseas. That would at least bring

the money back so that it could be spent here and stimulate our economy. We pay rent on many if not all of our overseas bases. We have hospitals, schools and housing and all sorts of stuff to keep up on some of those overseas bases. It is just ridiculous. In this day and age, how important is it that we keep a large on-the-ground troop presence in Germany or Japan? Some troops yes, maybe, and air strips, etc. But we have a pretty big troop presence in Europe -- probably also in the UK. How absurd can you get?

[Warren Stupidity]

17. federal assistance as in unemployment benefits are not

'fundamental', they are temporary. And they are not nearly as large as the absurd, and permanent, military budget, that along with the stupid obama-bush tax cuts are what have been driving the deficits through the roof year after year since 2001.

[Owl]

12. +1

[grahamhgreen]

14. +1, We need to tax the rich at the rates of the greatest generation (94%)

[SpiralHawk]

5. Now, the Republicons will WHINE that we need to do something

But they kept their fat mouths shut while AWOL Bush and Five Deferments Cheney were leading the Republicon Borrow-and-Spend Charge to FAIL City.

Republicons got no cred whatsoever on economics...

[MannyGoldstein]

6. "Make no mistake: we must slash Social Security by 25%

That'll pay for our uniquely American experience of two wars and tax cuts for the wealthiest.

As a needed precaution, I've instructed my Treasury Secretary, Tim Geithner, to hand over all control of the money supply to the banks. This will ensure that our economy will be as good as our children envision it.

And hey, you turkeys on the left: who the &$%# else 'ya gonna vote for, chumps!"

[denem]

7. THe US handed over control of the money supply to the banks in 1913.

You have heard of the Federal Reserve, right?
A Woodrow Wilson triumph that the Progressive Party opposed.

[MannyGoldstein]

9. No matter how outrageous I try to be

Reality has beat me to it.

[earthside]

8. You said it all ...

... in just 80 words.

[ixion]

11. "weighing caps"... hmmm, we're 14 Trillion in the hole... CHARGE IT

:puke:

[DeSwiss]

13. Massive amounts of government debt is not a problem.....

...when you do it all with:


- K&R

[MH1]

16. I remember at the end of the 90's there was talk of the debt being eliminated completely

and there was discussion about what that would mean for t-bills and such like. (that discussion was pretty much over my head)

But ya know what was most important in those days had something to do with a blue dress.

[Yupster]

19. But in reality the important issue

was the bursting of the tech bubble which put all hopes of a permanent surplus in the trash heap.

[faz]

18. Raising government debt limit reflects people's attitude via Congress

deadbeats without thinking about repaying it.

Borrow as much as we could as long as we don't need to pay it back.

Spending what we don't have has become human right and national pastime!

Wow!