It doesn't matter whether economic growth is strong or weak. 16 trillion in debt is bad for the country.

Just print more money!

What also may have been a huge improvement: just giving every tax filer $6,000. We avoid wasting money on administration of the money, we avoid spending it on politically-connected companies, and we certainly avoid paying for advertisements to talk about the money we spent. Of course it just means we owe $831 billion plus interest down the road. Tack it on to our other trillions.

In fairness, deficits aren't a one-sided problem. But eventually folks need to come to the harsh reality that we're spending way too much money and you can't borrow forever. I'm not sure if we should consider it heart-warming or heart-burning that Congress fought over cutting $34 billion last year.

The problem with giving every citizen in a heavily indebted country money is that they just use the money to pay back some of their debt. Yes, ultimately that money does circulate through the banking system etc. but if you use the money for directed investment you probably achieve a higher fiscal multiplier just because less of the money is spent on debt reduction (which is a hit to GDP). I don't disagree with you that a lot of government spending is done in a very wasteful way and companies like Boeing basically live off of lobbying the US govt into making bad decisions.

Essentially the problem isn't the absolute value of the debt but the value of the debt relative to the wealth of America(ns).

good call PP

You are all missing the point.

It is generally accepted in political theory that the political spectrum isn't a line, but a circle. As a result, as you move further to the extreme right or the extreme left the views/beliefs tend to converge.

Libertarianism is an illistration of that relationship.

I watched some clips of this and it made me feel awkward enough to watch no more.

I can watch televangelists swindle money from old people, no problem. I feel like people are at least aware of the game and they generally participate in a manner that is mostly harmless (although silly, imo).

But this shindig made me kind of uncomfortable. Firstly because it wasn't a televangelist who limits his game to soaking people out of their money and jewelry. These are the managers (sometimes mistakenly referred to as leaders) of our country. They enable torture, death sentences, wars and actions that lead to large scale poverty causing the unnecessary deaths of hundreds of thousands, if not millions. They've managed to cross breed religion with politics and replace the priority of human rights with a singular focus on money, despite the ever increasing lawless and arbitrary nature of the monetary system. And these people gather to hoot and holler, reinforce their biases and generally put on a show fit for a bunch of lunatics.

I can't follow this at all. It's beyond me.

LOL

This clip from the Dem convention is also rather ridiculous.

The vote is to change an amendment to say:

"Jerusalem is and will remain the capital of Israel"

Must watch clip to understand.

http://www.youtube.com/...p;feature=player_embedded

This type of shinanigan doesn't only happen at the RNC.

that sucks too oats.

:(

I could "almost" get it if he was making a "majority" call, but who could call either of those 2/3????

I THINK THAT IS WHY HE DID IT THREE TIMES. HE HEARD TWO THIRDS VOTE AFFIRMATIVE... IF YOU SUM THEM.

BEST QUOTE I'VE SEEN IN REPLY TO EITHER THE DEM OR REP VOICE-VOTE FARCE VIDEOS:

Neo: Why do my eyes hurt?
Morpheus: You've never used them before.

I think it's hilarious that people think Romney is the solution to anything...

Looking back at how they spent the 800 billion, or much larger figures floating around I do not see any current political party as being viable.

24 million Americans out of work or underemployed, and no solution in sight. The kicker is they have money to burn on propping up the old system. i.e. when is the next round of Quantitative Easing QE3 going to be implemented?

33% of the 24 mil. out of work, could be put back to work as entrepreneurs with the kind of money they are throwing around. Many franchises can be purchased for under 100k, and come bundled with the equipment, business plan, name brand, training, and upper management, needed to make the investment work.

An alternative is providing the business planning services needed, vouchers to fulfill the business plan doled out as the business grows thru its start up phase. Not all businesses take $1-2 million to get off the ground. Another piece to the puzzle is to offset some of the licensing and regulatory costs to a later date when the business is profitable. The gov is already sitting on huge amounts of empty office space and unused equipment. So leasing office space and equipment for an offset amount to be paid later is not going to be anymore detrimental then leaving it empty and unused.

This is not a freebie, there would need to be an agreement between those getting the money for a business and the gov. Anyone helped under the system would pay slightly higher taxes for 10 years on the profits generated by the business, to pay back the initial investment. Or any other creative vehicle the gov can come up with to get the money back. If someone fails to get the business going then it reverts back to the Gov to be handed off to another person willing to take on the responsibility.

We can continue to pay out, benefits to people on unemployment, and/or welfare with no ROI, or spend the money in a smart way and rebuild the small business base in the US. No large business is going to survive without a solid foundation to stand on. That foundation is small business. Our jobs come from and are directly related to this foundation.

I am not hearing anything even remotely approaching ideas like this to get people back to work. FDR used the money to hire people directly and put them to work on gov infrastructure projects. the key was bottom up, start at the bottom and give the money to the average worker, and then let economics take its course. Top down never works, and is only used to protect the status quo, which both parties are hellbent on doing.

i agree wholeheartedly.

Watch Inside Job... an excellent documentary on this.

While benefits to people who are not working may seem like a drag it's certainly a better stimulus to the economy than QE to prop up some financial segments of the economy. The people at the very bottom are forced to spend money due to necessity. They have to inject the money into basic consumer goods.

In France there is a law that the price of bread can never go over a certain price, so everyone can afford it and not starve. Sounds like a good idea to me.

Ahhh geez, the Democrats did the same thing with the voice vote?! *sigh* It seems like their both puppets to the teleprompters...