You know, much was made by the Democrats and/or Obama before the debt ceiling was raised about how not raising the debt ceiling threatened our bond rating which in turn threatened the money we have to pay to service our debt which in turn threatened to increase the interest we ALL pay on our own borrowings (credit card debt notably -- remember that fine print says they can raise the interest rate at will, and that probably applies to debt carried over from the past).
Well, the debt ceiling was raised. But we are still at serious risk of having our bond rating downgraded. Why? Because of the sheer amount of our debt, the rate at which we are digging ourselves further into debt. So, if the bond rating of the US is downgraded . . . who is at fault?
I say the Democrats and Obama are at fault. Our budget deficit is a spending problem. Our spending, since Obama entered office, has increased from 19% of GDP on average over the last 40 years to 26% of GDP -- and this step change cannot be explained by a large drop in GDP (GDP has been static or slowly growing, but it hasn't gone negative). It is that 37% increase in federal spending relative to GDP that is at fault here.
Just one more nail in the coffin -- I believe and hope -- of the 2012 election prospects for Obamination and the Democrat senate majority. What say you?
Its Bush, the Arab spring and the tsunami. The way I see it, even though our GDP has shrank since 2007, we are in much happier times with Democrats in charge.
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John Adams “The moment the idea is admitted into society that property is not as sacred as the laws of God, and that there is not a force of law and public justice to protect it, anarchy and tyranny commence.”
Ronald Reagan: 'Everybody that is for abortion has already been born'
"I never said I was worth it. I only said I wouldn't do it for less " William F. Buckley Jr.
The political pukes from both partys own any bond rating downgrade that takes place. A country that owes 14.5 trillion dollars is not a good credit risk.
It has to be owned by the embarrassments in the Congress, on both sides of the isle, for their inability to control spending.
Their inability to maintain a balanced budget.
Don't forget the leadership in congress unable to do their jobs. We now have both branches of congress selecting a handful of people negotiating in closed doors "so called" cuts in spending. It's not suppose to work that way. Both the house and senate are suppose to work on their own bills, with open debate, pass them out and then conference together to come up with a single bill.
The house represents the people, the senate represents the states. We have gotten away from the latter due to direct elections of the senators. We need to go back to states legislatures selecting their representatives.
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John Adams “The moment the idea is admitted into society that property is not as sacred as the laws of God, and that there is not a force of law and public justice to protect it, anarchy and tyranny commence.”
Ronald Reagan: 'Everybody that is for abortion has already been born'
"I never said I was worth it. I only said I wouldn't do it for less " William F. Buckley Jr.
I think Obama "owns" it as well as both houses on congress. All sides seem to be incapable of cutting their overspending or doing any real reforms of costly social programs.
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Jesus Christ--The reason for the season!
If you can read this, thank a teacher. If you can read this in English, thank a veteran.
If you're certain you know everything, there's little opportunity to learn anything.
Cal, it's law that all departments get increased each year. Its been that way for many decades. That way it's easier to do the budget. Even if they froze spending to a 0 increase next year, that would be scored as a 9.5 trillion dollar cut. Go figure.
Interesting, no one has mentioned the "Penny" plan yet.
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John Adams “The moment the idea is admitted into society that property is not as sacred as the laws of God, and that there is not a force of law and public justice to protect it, anarchy and tyranny commence.”
Ronald Reagan: 'Everybody that is for abortion has already been born'
"I never said I was worth it. I only said I wouldn't do it for less " William F. Buckley Jr.
Well, FM, a controlled annual increase is one thing.
What we have here is uncontrolled increases. We have rampant spending without a way to pay for it.
The Chinese gov't is bent out of shape over the downgrade. Maybe the Chinese will stop buying US debt.
Quote:
NEW YORK/SHANGHAI (Reuters) - China bluntly criticized the United States on Saturday one day after the superpower's credit rating was downgraded, saying the "good old days" of borrowing were over.
China -- the United States' biggest creditor -- said Washington only had itself to blame for its plight and called for a new stable global reserve currency.
"The U.S. government has to come to terms with the painful fact that the good old days when it could just borrow its way out of messes of its own making are finally gone," China's official Xinhua news agency said in a commentary.
Who "owns" the bond rating downgrade?
