The Bankruptcy of America.

[Tandalayo_Scheisskopf]

http://www.moneytalks.net/editorials.asp

The Bankruptcy of America


By Porter Stansberry


America is bankrupt.


This from Jagadeesh Gokhale and Kent Smetters.


No, these men are not a Saudi terrorist or Southern right wing extremist respectively. Instead the former is the Senior Economic Advisor to the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, and the latter is a full professor at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.


Credentials notwithstanding, the men's conclusion would seem preposterous. America has never seemed more prosperous. Even this recession has been minor.


On the other hand, their source seems reliable: Gokhale and Smetters got their data from the U.S. Department of Treasury. And they performed their present value calculations on the order of then Secretary of the Treasury Paul O'Neill. Smetters was, until recently, on staff there, as the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Economic Policy.


The Treasury needed new numbers because the Office of Management and Budget's numbers have almost no connection to reality. (For example, OMB projects a constant 75-year average lifespan in its Social Security and Medicare cost estimates even though the average lifespan in America is already 78...and increasing at the rate of three months every year.)

EDITED BY ADMIN: COPYRIGHT

[RainDog]

1. very interesting article

funny that these guys don't ask some obvious questions, though...

like why are CEO salaries so outrageouly high, both compared to the rest of America, and to CEOs in countries around the world.

why aren't their salaries tied to performance?

why do we continue to allow corporations to pretend they operate from the Bahamas and other places to avoid paying anything back to the country which allows them so much freedom otherwise?

why won't our govt look into offshore banking as one of the sources of funding for terrorism, and while they're at it, maybe they can look into all the accounts the richest of the rich use to avoid, again, contributing their fair share to the commonwealth of this society?

why should anyone believe in or invest in such a corrupt system?

why would anyone do anything other than save money, considering the apparently crush of debt that so many are living under?

what else can you do?

[indepat]

2. It's enough to make one wonder whether or not this Administration's

tax and fiscal policies are sound when considering the several hundred billion dollar annual budget deficit and just how the USA would be able finance its defense spending, including all that sophisticated weaponry, should others be reluctant to buy our paper, as they were when such happening largely precipitated the Soviet Union's collapse. No wonder the Federal coffers are being rapidly emptied for the almost sole benefit of loyal patrons.

[sam sarrha]

3. I think the plan is to bankrupt the states so people lose their pensions,

so corporations stocks can get a fresh start by maximizing profits enhanced thru stealing people's pensions, the banks profiting off home and farm foreclosures. forcing older people to work low paying jobs for their entire life.

[The Zanti Regent]

4. The plan is to eliminate Social Security and Medicare

The Republicans are deliberately running the Red ink to bankrupt America. They want total elimination of any welfare for the poor. WHy do you think Bush pushed this faith-based bullshit?

Because there will be NO Social Security or Medicare by 2006 if the Republicans are re-elected. The vallur of the dollar will collpase, the IMF will be forced to come in and administer austerity measures. AND what do YOU think they will choose for the ax? Social Security and Medicare! Kiss them goodbye.

My dad was able to retire at 63. I will have no choice but to try to flip burgers until I die from the loss of my health insurance. Oh, I forgot, Pat Robertson may pray for me if I send him a sacrificial gift!

[peacetalksforall]

5. Expect more -

Make demands -

corporations must pay taxes on all salaries paid to foreign workers who are doing the job formerly done in the U.S. withouth any shenaigans of job descriptions. The rate rate paid needs to be based what the U.S. worker would have made.

Our tax dollars are slipping out of our fingers - it is our money - it is being misapprobraited. We don't give a damn.

A few people in the middle class and those making minimum wage cannot support the world.