By Fareed Zakaria, CNN
Watching the return of the Greek crisis, many people in America are wondering, are we next?
Will America face the same financial disaster that the Greek government faces, with a soaring deficit and debt, markets that have lost faith in it and a downward spiral of budget cuts that then further depress the economy?
It might, but let us understand something really important: America stands in a fundamentally different place than does Greece.
Greece has two problems. First, it has a big budget deficit and markets have lost faith that it can ever repay its loans.
Second, it is an unproductive economy and cannot generate enough economic growth over the next few decades. In economics-speak, Greece has a liquidity problem but also a solvency problem.
The United States, by contrast, does not have a solvency problem. The American economy remains one of the world's most competitive, with many of the fastest-growing companies in most of the advanced industries. It houses the best capital markets in the world, the greatest universities and the most dynamic society.
America is demographically vibrant, thanks to immigration. It will be the only rich country that will see its population grow over the next 25 years.
America could face a liquidity problem - that is, it could have difficulty financing its debts and deficits if markets lose faith in it. But, again, let's be clear: This has not happened yet. In fact, right now the world is lending to America more cheaply than ever before.
The most important difference between Greece and America is this: America has many paths to solve its deficit problem. Were it to implement the Simpson-Bowles Deficit Reduction Plan, for example, it would instantly give America among the strongest public finances of any rich country.
Would Congress simply allow the Bush tax cuts to expire - returning rates to where they were under Bill Clinton's presidency when America created almost 25 million jobs - that one action would provide the federal government with $3.9 trillion in revenues over the next decade and basically solve the deficit problem. We would still face the long-term problem of entitlements, especially health care costs, like every other rich country, but the short and medium-term crisis would be over.
Greece, Portugal and Ireland have no such economic answer to their problems. Europe is choosing between only terrible and dangerous options in resolving the Greek dilemma - massive, unending bailouts or a default that could turn into a Lehman Brother collapse type of event.
Now, America's economic problems might have a simple solution, but our political system seems utterly unable to get us to this solution. One party refuses to even think about tax increases, the other will not take seriously the problem of entitlement reform. The result is paralysis.
If we do end up losing the trust of markets, and it can happen, it will not be because they lost faith in America, in our economy and our society, but because they despaired at the country's selfish and self-defeating politicians.
On July Fourth weekend, that's a pretty depressing thought.
For more on this, you can read my column at TIME.com.
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You sound like addl revenue solves the debt problem. Obama will spend all of that and more. Obama will not tackle entitlements, cut spending as needed, unleash oil/gas/coal, get rid of onerous biz regs he has stacked on by the thousands and on and on. Pull back the super confusing health care law either.
Obama is collapsing. Obama is determined to take USA to far, far left policies. You and Obama don't understand the America people.
Please never present such a childish, simplified problem to the budget issues.
Barack Obama far to the left? Somehow I don't think so! Since he became President, he has swung more and more to the right and just like under the Republicans, the Pentagon and foreign dictators get top priority in Washington. We need to get out of all of these obnoxious wars which benefit only the wealthy and the right-wing politicians in Washington!!!
Onesmallvoice, do me a favour please, don't stamp Obama as a "right-wing thug"! He's not!
"In fact, right now the world is lending to America more cheaply than ever before."
So far so good, but we live in a world full of unknown perils. Greece is a good lesson for the world. Read the writing on the wall and act wisely before it's too late.
We're headed for another crash and this one will be game over. Remember those derivative thingys that unwound causing the 6000 point drop in the stock market back in 2008? Think the banks learned their lessen? Not according to our government, specifically the Office of the Comptroller of Currency (OCC) prove they haven't. But no one on Capitol Hill is even talking about this now. Friday there was a good write up on this called Derivatives: A Capital Markets Gong Show For Whom The Bell Tolls (google it) and inside it a link to the "OCC’s Q1 2011 Report on Bank Trading and Derivatives Activities"
TOTAL derivatives for Commercial Banks is presently at $243 Trillion reported in the "OCC’s Q1 2011 Report on Bank Trading and Derivatives Activities." Morgan Stanley’s “books” grew $9.1 TRILLION in just three months with a market capitalization of 35 billion! That's insane! Also if you paid attention to and wondered how PIMCO got the bond market wrong, and what our oil reserves recent release of 60 million barrels was about, the article is a good read and backs up it's points with links to the original sources.
The only way we could have gotten $249 trillion in new derivatives, which like before, no one knows who the counter party risk goes to is with the FED's help. In fact its obvious the government, FED, and banks are working together to try and keep Humpty Dumpty on the wall and the media is clueless on this.
I think you've made the only comment that could be more warped than this entire Marxist article.How stupid does one have to be to not understand that WE ARE OUT OF MONEY!! I'll tyoe it slowly so maybe you'll understand it easier. WE ARE OUT OF MONEY! or maybe you'll understand this better. sin dinero! Obama's stupid little rain deer games are not going to work this time.
We have a budget of nearly $13.5Trillion
This year we will only raise $9 Trillion in Revenue
Now lets say we were to tax the "RICH" as Obama wants to do to pay only for his stimulate the unions with $830Billion in shuvel ready jobs. BTW that worked out great. There are only 4.2 million taxpayers that fall into that category
That will equal out to $91,000 per person that makes over $250K a year. More likely everyone that pays taxes will pick up the bill. So in reality anyone making over $24K a year or a family making more than $48K a year will owe $5,400 just to pay for his failed stimulus plan. That not their part of the debt. That is only the stimulus plan.
Now maybe you are not smart enough to figure out what that really means but I know darn well CNN can afford to pay a mathematician to figure that out. Which means they are intentionally lying to the nitwits that cling onto every word.
You think Americans won't riot in the streets? Remember Marc Ferman, LA? Remember the Chicago Bulls? NBA Finals? What do you think will happen when those entitlement checks bounce? Wake Up America!
I agree. If anything, he is right of center. But for the teabaggers on this thread, anything not hanging off the right-wing cliff is left. Our whole politics has been distorted by the extremists on the right. If we don't fight back, they will take us over that cliff.
The debt of the US and the debt of the Greece are not remotely analogous. One paradigm for debt doesn’t exists in the monetary world anymore than one paradigm of physics exists in the physical world (Newtonian/Quantum). The US is a currency issuer and Greece is a currency user. Debt for a currency user is a burden. Debt for a currency issuer is the savings of the currency users. All savings by users in banknotes, deposits, or treasuries create a corresponding liability with the issuer as a matter of double-entry accounting. The issuer's debt is the savings of those users who choose not to spend in the marketplace. The academic community continues to trip over itself because of their fundamental misunderstanding of our monetary system.
The US will go the way of Greece like next week and then China will be the one imposing conditions for release of a bail-out package, LOL
Stilllnotincharge– It's "reindeer", not "rain deer ". Turn off Faux News, and try reading a book for once.
sheesh
Yea, that's our problem.
Americans arent TAXED ENOUGH!
when you tax the rich... take for example OIL COMPANIES... you increase the cost of gas!
taxing anyone is a tax on EVERYONE.....a drain on the economy....
because government just WASTES it on bureaucratic nonsense and bombs
its stupid. enough already.
CNN LOVES corporate welfare
and MSNBC was bailed out with the zillion dollar bailouts
FEDeral reserve triples the money supply, your money is now worth 30% of what it was. watch food and gas prices in the next two years
RG Wrote
I agree. If anything, he is right of center. But for the teabaggers on this thread, anything not hanging off the right-wing cliff is left. Our whole politics has been distorted by the extremists on the right. If we don't fight back, they will take us over that cliff.
July 3, 2011 at 8:10 pm |
I'd rather fall off the cliff than sink into the abyss.
You've been smokin' again, right????? Obama is the most leftist prez America has ever had. His policies allow him to preside over the decline of America. Some legacy! Zakaria is a leftist too and somehow he thinks taxes are too low. Really???? How about JOBS to boost the tax revenues? He paints a picture of this great America that produces plenty of things, but that is far from reality. By rigging the market to give the facade that all is well, Obama and his Wall Street cronies (banksters) are luring us to the edge of the cliff as it crumbles beneath our feet. Only the intelligent of us, DEMs excluded, think this is a horrible place for such a great country. And yet, Obama wants to increase the debt ceiling so he can borrow more to sustain our govt and make us further beholdened to China. All of this is lost on the low mentality DEM base. They can never grasp the seriousness of debt and the situation we're in. In truth, they are not patriotic and hate this country, GOD and any form of capitalism even though some communist countries like China are seeing the benefits and embracing the outcomes. We need conservative Repubs, not just Repubs or RINOs to turn this country around and create jobs. Let's hope we can get 'er done in one before it's too late.
Just think if everyone as dark as a Grecian would leave the country and take along some trailer-trash with them under each arm.
He didn't move to the right. The American voters bitch slapped him there during the midterms.
Oboma is a middle of the road USED CAR SALESMAN...end of story!
Obama is not far left, if anything he is "Bush Light". Amber, what exactly have the Republicans got in mind to increase jobs? Remember 2010 and Jobs, Jobs, Jobs?? The American voters are showing their buyers remorse over falling for that one. All the Republicans have done is meddle in people's private lives and worked on busting the teacher's unions. .that and pad the pockets of their wealthy donors. You seriously need to turn off Beck and Fox news if you have to resort to the America haters, and "not patriotic" name calling.. It's ironic that Republican who claimsto love America, so clearly hates American citizens
The right is riduclous. Stop blaming Obama for right wing policy failures, this is not the 1940's, wars do not lead to economic revival. Right wingers place the entirety of blame, for the debt, on Obama; however, he did not accumulate it. The problems came from the Iraq and Afghanistan wars which cost 14 trillion dollars. In addition, a large portion of this accumulated debt went to defense contractors.
Though this money stayed within our boarders, problem is that the wealthy save much more than the middle or lower class. Saving, on a macroeconomic scale, is considered a leakage. Which means that the money fails to pass through multiple hands in society.
Now that a democratic president could not erase the Bush deficit, like Clinton was able to previously, he is bombarded with criticism. Then the republicans have the audacity to question the patriotism of the Dems because they are unable to erase a republican caused deficit and beausethe Dems are starting to acknowledge the growing disparity between the upper eschelon and the rest.
Obama loves Europe and has been pressing hard to make the USA just like them. Yes, our future is Greece's present.
Did acting like a retard make you feel better?
It must be tough being a eunuch.
You are so right we are heading to a very dark place. I'm very scared of what is to come.
We need to boycott or tariff Chinese made goods, and reestablish labor in friendly countries such as India, ASEA, South America, etc. That revenue will come back to us in the form of business. China doesn't buy anything but stuff that is made on their soil. They don't benefit anyone but themselves. The low prices can be achieved elsewhere, don't believe the Chinese hype.
Would Congress simply allow the Bush tax cuts to expire – returning rates to where they were under Bill Clinton's presidency when America created almost 25 million jobs – that one action would provide the federal government with $3.9 trillion in revenues over the next decade and basically solve the deficit problem.
LET'S DO IT.
@Keksi
We'd blow through those extra revenues in two years. That's assuming that government spending doesn't inflate to make up the difference, either. I'd say $4T in extra revenues would last one year. The problem we're facing is not a revenue problem but a spending addiction problem. Government simply has promised voters way too much, and it will not make good on a majority of those promises.
you realize about 3/4 of that extra revenue comes from the "poor" - our current 50% not paying any taxes and top 10% paying over 70% is a result of the Bush tax cuts - somehow I don't think Obama is ready for any solution that does not soak the productive part of the economiy.
The Bush tax cuts that Obama and the Democratic Congress extended last December already have an end date so this point is moot.
Prove this administration can show it can be responsible with the increased revenues and not continue to poor monies into social programs and you've got yourself a deal. Better yet, how about I take a few thousand dollars out of your salary every year and give it to a drugged out thug and call it "welfare". Well fair this... Include drug testing for welfare, unemployment, and any other social program handout and watch how much revenue comes back. You will be amazed. Obama is as left as Stalin, except Stalin admitted his agenda. Right of center.... pffft... More like slightly more right than extreme left with Daley entering his admin. Glad to see the bleeding hearts are still blind as bats.
@DrEllis You've got no concept of what the left is, what Stalin is or what reality currently is. You might as well say that everyone that's used the public education system is a hardcore Communist the way you're talking, just because it utilizes pooled public funds.
You are right, I agree. Bush of 8 years put us in this situation and now they blame Obama well the economy takes time to be pulled out of to make it right. President Obama needs to be tough he needs to be tough with congress on both sides and with the american public he wants to make everyone happey but he needs to get tough on the US and not let people push him around. No matter who is in office Americans will complain nothing makes americans happy they need to complain be happy with what you have, the United States is still a great country to be in. Lets all make it great.
The left/right paradigm is highly inaccurate. Both of our parties are fervent supporters of socialism, warfare, debt and all the poverty that results from those policies. The tea party is a complete and utter joke. They despise Obama's socialism but Republican socialism is quite alright. Expanding medicare and refusing to get a handle on the entitlement problem.
Moreover, if we don't resolve our insolvency, we will collapse– not just like Greece, but much, much worse.. perhaps like the Wiemar Republic and Argentina. This will devastate all entitlements and all welfare.
Chery, your response is a pile of stereotypes. Some facts you left out: 1) Obama has cut taxes multiple times, including 30% of the stimulus bill, cutting Social Security and Medicare payroll taxes by one third for a year, even the extension of the Bush tax cuts; 2) Obama was fiscally responsible with the health reform bill, making sure it REDUCED, yes reduced the deficit, by about a trillion dollars over the first 20 years ($280 billion over the first 10 years). 3) The stimulus, which very likely prevented Great Depression II, is only a bump in the budget deficit. TAX CUTS ARE LONG TERM COSTS as far as the budget are concerned. Put patriotism first: Stop lying about people you don't like.
How did the stimulus bill prevent the great depression II??? If anything it extended this great recession. Obama is an idiot and is so in over his head it's laughable....(P.S. you maybe confusing TARP and the Stimulus Bill)
Wow. Some serious mis-information there. No, 1/3 of the stimulus was not "tax breaks" as most of that went to folks who paid no FIT to begin with. Extending the "Bush Tax cuts" was not a cut in taxes and much of the "stimulus" was given to local and state gov'ts to help them pay for what they already owed and to expand local, state and Federal gov't while providing the private sector (the sector that actually can expand the economy) with little. Obamacare will not reduce the budget deficit or health care costs, but will only increase health care costs as well as the deficit and unfunded liabilities like Social Security has, but to the 10th power. Lastly, gov't doesn't create jobs, it merely has the ability to facilitate the private sector, of which it has done very little since the recession started. You want to believe your position is objective and "honest", but it is as factually and objectively incorrect and dis-honest as the Far Left propaganda sites from which you got it.
The author of the article shows spectacular naivity once again. Just about every article he writes is filled with a basic mis-understanding of his topic and showing that he knows/understands little more than the average person on the street. I was simultaneously amused and saddened with his previous article on the Constitution, and surprised that CNN continues to publish such journalistic mediocrity.
Jim is so wrong. 1/3 of the stimulus WAS tax cuts. And the reason states got help was not to expand spending. It was because most are heavily dependent on property taxes. With people losing their homes at record rates (and not paying property taxes) and others seeing their property values decline as much as 50% (therefore paying 50% less property taxes) the states were in an immediate budget crunch. Sudden their revenue stream was greatly reduced. Stop telling lies and start facing reality. It would make it much easier to solve our problems.
Sorry, RG, you're confused. There was little in "tax cuts" in the "Stimulus". Essentially, only the bottom three income quintiles received a "rebate", but the bottom two income quntiles pay nothing in FIT and the third quintile pays very little. One cannot have a cut in FIT if one doesn't pay any FIT to begin with. Those who produce, create most of the wealth and pay the vast bulk of FIT use money the most efficiently and effectively had no tax break with which to stimulate jobs and the economy whatsoever. Such "rebates" to lower income earners was a very weak short term solution to a long term problem and was very ineffective and wasteful. Further, the first 1/3 of the "Big Gov't Growth Plan" went to states to shore up their Medicare budgets as those budgets had been mis-managed for years. Another third went to expand local, state and federal gov't. Even the other day, Obama was laughing about the "shovel ready" jobs not really existing as he had thought. 3/4ths of the nearly One Thousand Billion Dollar "Stimulus" was truly wasted and painted us into a corner. It is now hindering normal economic growth in this recovery phase of the economic cycle, just as economists had projected.
@RG. Shut up! You are an Ignorant Moron of a Dunce-acrat. You, like so many Dunce-acrats refuse to accept that your Party has pissed away ALL OUR money to support your slacking voters. You're time is up.
Jim Davis- Wow, what an intelligent contibution. "Dunce-O'crat"...did you get that from Hannity or Beck ?
@STU. Dunce O'crat is a response to his comment "Teabagger". You insult me, I can call names too, don't like it? Show some manners and I'll do the same.
Honestly I think you need to lay off the pipe because you have 0 honesty in that entire post
Cost of war in Iraq and Afghanistan 4.4 Trillion Dollars , Lives lost quarter million , Obama didn't start the war !!!
Then why doesn't he pull out? Because he can't and our military presence is necessary. Oh by the way, those wars also resulted in: a) the beginings of a democracy in Iraq, and b) the routing of the taliban in afghanistan and the eventual capture and killing of Osama Bin Laden. What did the stimulus package get you?? Answer: OBAMA = FAIL!!!!
I agree with Nobamabashing; people are forgetting that the U.S. has spent the money on the wars that should have been spent domestically. You don't have to be a brain scientist to figure that one out people. And with states cutting their aid to college students and universities, they are shooting themselves in the feet because we will lag behind other nations in educated people. Instead of educating foreigners who hate America, we should be educating Americans.
Oh yeah sure, those Taliban we really routed them huh Carlos? And that Iraqi democracy- look at how well they protect minorities!
If you couldn't tell, all of the above was sarcasm.
Republicans often ignore their "liberal spending" of the Iraq war. Dead silent. What a joke.
Republicans conveniently forget about the cost of our ridiculous military adventures. It's even more humerous that Republicans are complaining that Obama isn't ending THEIR wars sooner.
Notice we didn't hear from the tea baggers until after Obama was elected ? I guess W's deficit was "patriotic".
Fareed is a descent, thought-provoking journalist. However, he's not digging deeper ... because CNN, like other media companies (whether left or right leaning), are puppets to their corporate masters. Check out what notable economists fear is going to happen next. Listen to the horse's mouth: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ECi6WJpbzE&feature=share
Cherry is a classic conservative. Someday soon she will realize that global warming is not that warm fuzzy feeling she gets from sticking her head up her discharge portal and that liberals are all we have left to save this country from complete financial collapse. Other than the 8 years of Clinton, America has been dissolving under supply side economics and sinking in a two class state. Had Cherry went to school she might have become a liberal instead of just another mid western country bumpkin without a clue. Have another piece of cherry pie big girl.
The only person showing ignorance here is you. Mid-western bumpkins huh? Keep in mind the some of the best universities in this country are located in the midwest. I would also put almost any student who has graduated from a mid-west high school against their brethern in other parts of the country anytime of the day. It's liberal in the big cities that absolutely have no clue. I have traveled all over this country and trust me the midwest is well educated and nice compared to most of the rest of the country. You are the one that needs to get educated.
Best universities are in the midwest? Because Princeton, Harvard, Yale, and Stanford are in the midwest right? And you would really want to discount Stuyvesant in NY, Lawrenceville in NJ, and Thomas Jefferson in VA? The midwest has some great schools, but saying that the region is superior to the coasts is just going too far.
The last time I checked, the University of Chicago School of Economics was not on the east or west coasts.
"The University of Chicago department, considered one of the world's foremost economics departments, has fielded more Nobel Prize laureates and John Bates Clark medalists in economics than any other university."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago_school_of_economics
Really god post, I agree.
Obama is about as center right as a President can be. His health care plan is basically the same one proposed by Republicans during the Clinton Administration.
Cheery Bethea: You have a good point, too bad you're hair is covering it. I'd give you a battle of wits, but you'd come UNARMED.
Correct. You give Congress $3.9 Trillion more and they will find $3.9 Trillion of spending and we will still have a $1.5 Trillion deficit and $14.2 Trillion debt. Fareed really shows where his allegiance lies when he believes that if we taxed people more then more jobs will be created. Obama is not Bill Clinton, Ben Bernake is not Alan Greenspan, and Timothy "Rain Man" Geithner is not Robert Rubin. There are too many variables which Fareed ignores proving that they do not teach economics at Colombia School of Journalism.
That's not what happened in the 90's... Maybe if we had zero taxes that would satisfy you. Bottom line is, gov't needs money to function. Things change, and the need for spending changes. When you starve the gov't you will get more Katrina's, more gulf oil spills, more attacks on the USA. Your narrow minded myopic view of the world is typical of the conservatives in the US, who have supply sided us to death by giving away our treasury to the military and to the wealthy then complain there is nothing left to ensure we can have social security and medicare. It's a pathetic rouse that americans have bought for 30 years.
What are you expecting from primary American Propaganda machine?
Every article should be stupid for stupid audience ...
It is not our politicians, but the american people, that seem to be the root of the problem. Politicians just make choices that best suit them - once the electorate has been so idiotically divided over non-issues. Disguisting are the partisan games we play. Obama is the source of all evil, or no, Bush was responsible for all that befell us! And Zakaria just feeds furhter into this model - then he complains. As if caving in on taxes, or on "entitlements" would solve it all.
We do not have productive economy. We in fact do not produce much. We cannot live of "services", especially our fabled "financial" services. Our corporations take advantage of PRODUCTIVITY to shed workers, just to make more profits. But the profits are gone into the forrest of "financial instruments", and are NOT reinvested into economy. Result? Loss in jobs at all levels, from unskilled to highly skilled. Corporations have, in effect, become FOREIGN corporations, taking advantage of all domestic tax and other privildges, but keeping their profits accross various tax haven islands. Our "federal reserve bank" has been giving money to foreign countries and corporations without ANY oversight, and upon the first trouble, ran to taxpayers to COVER their losses. And now, about "entitlements". They are no more "entitlements" then the payments to military industry, contractors, and other taxpayer-dependent activities of choice. In fact, our 'ENTITLEMENTS" are paid for, in full. Social Security has been increased in eighties and nineties to address baby boomer, as is at present having a HUGE SURPLUS, that will last until the baby boomer generation thins out. Why does not our STUPID population know this, and why would someone like Zakaria, HIDE THIS? The retirement funds, you keep on calling "entitlements" are no less sacred then the trust funds set up by wealthy for their kids and grandkids. They should be subject to THE SAME MARKET. But they are not. The money is being spend instead on the PRIVATE SECTOR SUBSIDIES in the form of all the wars against a handfull of mountain people, or by sticking our noses into other people's civil wars. Our trust funds need to be SACRED, and THEN spend on private sector whims and subsidies. Once properly accounted for, our REAL budget (minus the money collected for Social Security and Medicaid), is spent mostly on defence (legitimate), wars of choice, and foreign "aid". That is, well over 50% of budget is spent that way. Until we get some clear accounting, what "needs" to be "cut", with "liberals" pretending to "protect" poor people, while "conservatives" pretending to support "business" - will just remain in the realm of SLOGANEERING. And Fareed Zakaria is out there with the best of the slogan makers.
on the contrary, you are the promoter of hatred and ignorance. There are too many unproductive (in mind) people like you at Capitol Hill that causes all these problem.
WOW – someone gets it!!! Your comment was right-on... I love the people who say just raise taxes to cover the budget deficit without having a clue about the impact on the underlying economy or the minute impact tax increases will have on the deficit. They couldn't pass a math test with a calculator!!!!
He has actually moved to the right to appease Republican stiff freaks. The man is digging his way out of EIGHT YEARS of Republican hell. Debt. 2 Wars. Lies. Deceit. It's all factual; no rhetoric sadly.
Bush nearly destroyed America. Give peace a chance. It's not left nor right. It's correct.
and Libya is still not a war? At least Bush had the decency to go to congress for approval. The Dictator on the other hand has not! Impeachable offense!
Let's not forget that it takes longer to build or rebuild something than to destroy. It took "dubya" Bush 8 years to sink us so it will take more than 8 to rebuild this nation's economy. They really should eliminate political parties and just have humans since we ARE humans first. People should vote for the person and not the party given that so many politicians flip flop back and forth between parties just to win. Not everything is black and white, there is gray.
Joe, stop taking the easy way out and chart who controlled the CONGRESS and not who was PRESIDENT when the country had fiscal and spending problems. Its the CONGRESS that drafts the budget NOT the PRESIDENT for the last 4 years the Dems have controlled the CONGRESS hence the fiscal MADNESS!!! SPEND SPEND SPEND
It's simple, everyone must work, everyone must pay some taxes, rich can pay more (and a higher percent) than the poor. Whatever we collect in taxes we need to live within our budget every year...If our life expectancy grew from 62 to 78 then we need to retire at age 70 instead of 65. It's quite simple...if we understand that we all have to work more, spend less, save more and conserve more then and only then can we avoid the Greek Tragedy.
Couldn't agree more.
I say, nail the Hupty Dumpty to the Wall, with 9 inch nails?
To Cheryl: You are Michele Bachmann. You think just yell: "make Obama a one-term president" will solve all problems. Just simplistic, naive, personal attack, negative ad.
That's a pretty naive comment @Cherry... The country's economy, job stability and overspending debts were caused by a war we started in 2002 and an economic disaster that hinged on oil price gouging in 2008.... How can that be Obama's fault when he wasn't sworn in until January 2009???!... We're getting tired of people like you masking your hatred behind ridiculous thoughts that required no thought..... Just call him a ni66er and go back to FOX News....
Um.... Don't post again. That was a painful comment to read knowing what part of you thought it up.
Maybe your right, maybe your wrong. What I see is nothing more than a blame game here. You must remember the collapse happened under the previous President. The spending in those years was off the charts, especially with foreign entanglements {Iraq}. Deregulation added to the fray with corporations given more of a free hand. Real Estate deregulation that was allowed occur created many of the defaults that pushed the economy possibly over the edge. Wealthy Americans control more assets while middle America fights for the scraps. Oh yes, and all those average hard working people who lost everything because they could not pay off a medical bill. Where is Obama in this? I can't say he's perfect; actually far from my expectations, but thats politics. I can honestly say that he's pushing for Americans who have less of a say. His predecessor asked us to just buy stuff and say "Hey, thats a global economy." Eric Cantor suggested when Obama wanted to supply material from U.S. Steel for road projects we should look for the best price from places like China. Look it up, it's on youtube. So maybe, we should all look a little harder at the game being played instead of pointing to one person. If you were in his shoes what do you think you can accomplish?
The wealth of this country is at the top. We have trillions in savings in the form of large corporation and old wealth families. They better start thinking of investing some of that money in our country or even that money will be worthless. Come on top 2% pay your damn taxes! We here at the bottom half are already so far in debt, because our wages haven't kept up with the cost of living and you want to take even more from us? Pay your damn taxes and after you do, guess what, you will still be ultra wealthy. The holy trinity of the Republican party is Greed, Selfishness, Gluttony = GOD
Obama's taking us to the left? When's he gonna start?
Yes, he will spend all of the money because he is a black man. Let me think who that guy who was handed a 250 billion dollar surplus back in 2000 and he turned over a 700 billion dollar deficit to President Obama. You know, I think that was our first President appointed by our corporate owned supreme court George Bush.
You're comment just gave me a chubby. That is the easiest and most sensible thing I have heard said from anyone in awhile. I'm glad there are some of us out there with some brains left. Thank you.
I don't know what cool-aid you've been drinking but the financial problems America is facing were caused by the GOP.
Far left like FDR? If memory serves, we finally got out of the great depression by spending our way out. WWII was the biggest socialist programs in this country's history. Government spending gone wild with a 92% top tax rate. What was the result? Social and financial security for all and 50 years of unprecedented prosperity. Is that what you're afraid of?
You just love the blame game. Everything terrible in the world is all Obama's fault. Sure, he's disappointed a lot of people. Myself included. But clearly the only solution the other side presents is blame. The Democrats have made a mess. Where's your scorn for the Republicans disastrous handling of things as well. Seriously they can't even come up with a strong candidate for President. All they've provided is a clown car full of the same old phony "christian" agenda garbage. Hopefully you'll blame them when they can't get their crap together and not Obama or anyone else. This is the Republicans election to lose and they are already trying hard to lose it.
And PS please never present such a childish, simplified comment again.
Yea, that's our problem. Americans arent TAXED ENOUGH!
lol
when you tax the rich... take for example OIL COMPANIES... you increase the cost of gas!
taxing anyone is a drain on the economy, because government just WASTES it on bureaucratic nonsense and bombs
its stupid. enough already.
Joe, taxes are part of our life. Do not defend those who are cheating on taxes, because it only makes the burden for the rest of us more difficult to bear. Corporations should pay taxes. The example you offer is really, really outlandish. Oil companies should pay taxes. They are not looking after the benefit of gas-paying public - they charge whatever the market will bear, and keep enormous profits in overseas shelters. When companies cheat on taxes, politicians take money from our Social Security fund to pay for bombs. Then they tell us that our pension funds are going to be depleted! The truth is, Social Security Trust Fund is not only audited regularly, but actuarial studies project the levels of contributions in order to keep up with the demographics. Back in nineties, contributions as well as the celeing were increased for deal with the baby boomer generation. This is why the fund has currently over a TRILLION surplus.
The politicians are misleading us, so is the media. For starters, they call it "payroll tax", instead of SS contribution. They have just recently REDUCED this "payroll tax", which must be against the law! No changes can be made unless there is a revision in the actuarial results, indicating that such a surplus is not warranted. The game played here is simple: use OUR TRUST FUND to stimulate the economy, regardless of the impact on the fund! We also routinely COMINGLE private and public finances - a big NO NO!! Our politicians are routinelly giving away money to private sector under all kinds of pretext, mostly in the name of some future good! Excuse me, but our public funds are not the property of the political class to give it away in the manner royals did once to their faithful nobles! Our public finances are gifted to corporations for "contracts" or "services", and most of the time one would be hard pressed to find out where the money went. We should NOT DEFEND REFLEXIVELY something we do not understand, just because our party or a politician says so. We really need to get out of this habit!
Cherry,
I was looking in the news for one of those hopeful articles about who we are as a nation and why we will overcome our difficulties.
To my great dismay and surprise, I found that the extreme right wing pays you trolls to post even on July 4 weekend.
Here are some facts that make you out to be the lying idiot that you are:
1. Obama has not added any significant new regulations. I was working in Congress 31+ years ago when we passed the last major enviromental law, the Superfund legislation. The Clean Air Act, The Clean Water Act, the Safe Drinking Water Act, the Toxic Substances Control Act,. the Quiet Cities Act, and the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (a high-falutin' name for the law regulating garbage disposal) were all passed BEFORE THE 1979 Superfund legislation.
2. You trolls never mention any individual "burdensome" regulation you want to eliminate. Why? Because then we could all examine costs and benefits. For example, it IS a burden - a big one - for industries to comply with the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, and the Safe Drinking Water Act. But we all know what the alternatative is: it used to be that you could not see six blocks in Los Angeles during the summertime, and Lake Erie used to catch fire. (Yes, Lake Erie actually used to catch fire.)
3. Entitlements: Obama put $2 trillion in spending cuts on the table in the debt ceiling costs. The talks broke down because the Republican ideologues in the room - Eric Cantor, for one - would not agree to $400 billion in tax hikes for the rich and corporations. That is, 80% spending cuts, 20% tax hikes on the rich - and the GOP wouldn't take the deal. I don't know whether you are as stupid as you seem, or just a hypocritical righ-wing liar. I do know that there is not a third alternative when one comes to assessing your personal character.
3. Oil/gas/coal: With respect to oil and gas, production and exploration are going full speed ahead. Obama TEMPORARILY halted drilling in the Gulf to make sure the regulatory system was working (You know, the one that failed and cost how many billions to clean up after?). The Obama Administration speaking of how far "left" it is, is not listening to environmentalists' concerns about the newly aggressive use of "fracking" to revive production in vast numbers of onshore wells.
The fact is that oil and gas production are functions of price. PRICE, PRICE, PRICE, PRICE, PRICE. That and OPEC are the ONLY controls on oil and gas exploration worldwide. When prices rise in real terms, drilling goes gangbusters. When they fall, drilling slows down.
As for the use of coal: well, either one accepts what 95% of the world's climate scientists say, or one goes with the paid techno-prostitutes and kooks who deny that human activity is causing greenhouse gas emissions to rise. I can guess were you are on that issue. Suffice it to say that no rational person who isn't heavily invested in either oil, gas, coal, or remaining a moron agrees with you.
4. The "super confusing health law." Given how addled you are about everything else, I can understand why you would see it that way, poor creature. I'm a small businessman. I understand it. I like it better than what we had before. It falls woefully short of what we need - a Medicare-like system for everyone,
Speaking of spending cuts: one of the biggest health care expenses faced by the Medicare and Medicaid systems is drug costs. The REPUBLICANS seriously damaged the federal budget and prevented Medicare and Medicaid from spending money by passing the law which forbids Medicare to negotiate drug prices. They gouged the federal budget of billions over time on behalf of the drug companies.
Good grief. More diatribe from those who determine "stupid" by the source from which it originates and to whom "compromise" is an inherently good thing because it means getting one's way rather than what's proper.
Lake Erie never caught on fire, the Cuyahoga River did
President Obama had nothing to do the financial problems in this country...it was the cowboy Bush who brought it on, and the republicans/teabags who are, today, keeping it going.
Far left??? The US is the ONLY nation in the world without maternity leave! My friends in Europe got 1 year fully paid! My friend in Asia got 6 months fully paid. A woman I work with here got 2 weeks. We are the only first world nation where someone who gets leukemia or a brain tumor can lose their job for being sick and then just die. In Australia, Israel, Germany, France, Hong Kong, etc. you will get treated. Here you will just die. Are Americans worth less??? I know a woman here working 40 hours a week but living in a homeless shelter (when she can) because she doesn't earn enough working for minimum wage to have an apartment or car. Obama is still sending people out for rendition and hasn't closed Gitmo. I don't see anything even remotely left wing. Not even a tiny bit!
Cherry, you sound like you don't understand the point Fareed was trying to make. It seems to me you are the one who oversimplifies things.
Cherry...perhaps you and the republican/teabags do not understand America. Stop blaming President Obama for all the republican crimes...yes, crimes...wars...illegal at that, deregulation of banks, etc. It is the republicans that have brought down America...it is President Obama who is trying to bring America back.
If you think the remarks by Fareed are simple then you have never been outside the US and have never looked at the country without your political blinders. If Clinton, with all his personal problems, could bring the US into the black, why couldn't his policies be valid today. This has nothing to do with right or left, it's about what the country should do to get America back to being a strong and viable nation.
Better to spend money in a way that puts those dollars in the hands of average Americans who will then spend it on life necessities thereby putting that money directly into the economy again. Giving millions to billionaires only helps the people who are selling yachts and who run hedge funds.
Obviously you wouldn't know what the "far left" is if it hit you in the face. Quick, name one large spending program that Obama has put in place besides the stimulus (40% of which was tax cuts, 30% aid to the states and the rest one time infrastructure spending). No, the health care bill actually reduces spending according to the CBO. Now, name some spending that the GOP put in place during the first 10 years of the decade. Unfunded Medicare Benefits, two wars, massive tax cuts, agriculture subsidies, the list goes on. So who is it that busted the budget, who took a surplus in 2000 and turned it into a 1.2 trillion dollar annual deficit by 2008? Not Obama, not the Democrats, yep good old George Bush and the Republican Congress. Learn history, be informed, turn off Faux news.
What government programs do you support? Helping Americas Children learn. Teaching children helps Businesses. it provides them with a work force that can understand what needs to be done and ways to get it done efficiently.
Mybe Corporations should take over the cost of Educating the American Child. Educating does not help the American Worker. Their standard of living has declined since the courts have inpeded Unionization. The workers are finding Health care to be a Luxury, so their ability to live longer and be able to enjoy a retirement is less. We have allowed companies to have entitlements. They can break contracts, they can mismanage their companies and they can ship jobs all over the world without having to pay the price of displacing millions of hard working people. As a people we have no pride in our work. This is because No One Wants to Accept Responsibilities. The coeporations and managers of the businesses need to look long term. They should start with making 401k and IRA plans voluntary. Let the Corporations bring back retirement plans to the work force, which the corporations pay for only! Let us look at the work week. If we want full employment, maybe we should mandate that the workweek be NO GREATER than 32 hours. No Part Time or Independent Contractors.
It is time for the Whinners of the Chamber of Commerce to start to get Business to do what it is capable of:
Get Business to HIRE WORKERS
Gte Business to FUND RETIREMENT
get Busness to take chances and risk and Mke America Proud again!!!
Banks need to stop relying on Credit Agencies, and need to MAKE LOANS.
We need Jobs, good pay, and a retirment system that works, so that Americas Workers can Buy Homes
and PUT Americas Construction and Furniture workers back to work.
We need the court system and the government to allow for EVERY American Worker to be able to have a Union that will
represent them. Then we can have a really great Health System. As to the Pharmaceutical Industry that employs the great scientists and spends on Research, its time to say: Our Taxes have Supported Your Research and Developement,
you are allowed to make a profit, but if you charge too much, we will allow competitors to market against you.
Lastly, the Media News: Isn't it time you got back to where, newsmen reported the news, and tried to tell the "slanted" sides. Isn't it time to get back to Eric Severoid, Walter Cronkite. Aren't You Embarrassed at a National News show, like the NBC News with Brian Williams, who does not heve time to give a taste of the news in the world, but always has 10 minutes for a "Feel Good" person of the week. And CNN, what do you think Ted Turner is feeling about a News Network that spends little time on News, but a lot on Political Crackpots, Sluts, and Michael Jacksons funeral. The american worker and public deserve more.
I hope that we get back to work and give our children a world of : Clean Water, Food that is safe, and a feeling that they can go to the stars and bring back the heavens.
The politicians that say we cant, I say lets get them out of our way.
Obama won't do anything about the budget for one simple reason. All budgets originate in the House. The president gives them his recommendation, which nearly ever Congress completely disregards for every sitting president in the absence of a bicameral majority. Regardless of who has been in control of the House, it has consistently wasted large amounts of money while failing to increase revenue.
Cutting spending is really easy. Save $10 billion a month by ending the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Save $3 billion by stop paying Pakistan to be our "ally". Save a $1 billion a month on the Libya war, let the British and France do it. Save between $200 and $300 billion a year by stop defending Saudi Arabia and the Persian Gulf; let someone else do it like China, India and Japan. Republican Ron Paul has proposed huge cuts for the Defense department and the GOP says nothing about his proposed Defense cuts but when President Obama mentions cutting defense, they scream that the world will come to an end. The US currently has over 730 foriegn military bases see http://www.alternet.org/story/47998
The Cold War is over and it is time for the US to bring home all of their military. The US can no longer afford to be the "cop" of the world. The US has been in a war economy since December 7, 1941 except for brief period from 1992 to 1998. 1992 to 1998 also happened to be the time of greatest prosperity and shrinking budget deficits. If the GOP insists that the Defense budget cannot be cut let them raise the taxes to pay for it. Since raising income taxes is forbidden by the GOP; maybe they can put a $2 or $3/gallon tax on gasoline. At least that would lead to huge cut in money going to enemies. The Defense budget is over $660 billion/year. Cutting it by 50% would still allow the US to have the most powerful military in the world.
I hate to break it to you, but our spending problem existed long before Obama took office. While I don't agree with some of the things Obama has spent on, I would say his deficits are out of necessity to fix the ailing economy. The previous administration rang up deficits largely because they wanted to, and not because they needed to. The only exception would be funding for the Afghanistan war. Bush spent as much on Iraq than Obama's health care plan would. So, ask yourself – would you rather spend $ 1b on a poorly plan quagmire in the middle east, or something that actually will benefit Americans? I'm sure your Fox News talking points don't allow you to think for yourself, but hopefully the rest of the people who read this still do.
One of the most ignorant and immature comments.
Where are the jobs Republicans? You promised that if elected in 2010 you would focus on jobs! WHERE are the JOBS you promised Republicans?
First they crush the economy, then they lie to get back into congress.
Republicans = LIARS.
The funniest part about your comment is anywhere else in the world Obama would be considered right. Our country has just gotten more and more conservative over the years. For me personally Obama is not anywhere near far enough to the left. I want nationalized gay marriage, cheap easily available abortion, easy citizenship for all, higher taxes on the rich, insurance for every citizen, cheap affordable college.
Could we go the way of Greece? I hate to say it but it is possible with our bonehead Congress and House. The possible government shut down is egregious. There is no need to have that happen. We are so mad at our elected officials and their bullshit petty politics and ego building self aggrandisement. Let the tax cuts expire – a no brainer. We need to stop paying salaries of Congress and House. Get them off the gravy train and make them act. Until then; no salaries for them..
Well said, Phil. Thank you.
Disagree. Letting the tax cuts expire just means we don't have the guts to do the right thing because we don't want to take responsibility for ourselves and our families. We want to mooch off the other guy.
Jim, letting those tax cuts expire is the right thing to do. We've had those tax cuts in place for over a decade now, and look where we are. Sorry, but "more of the same" isn't going to do anything for us. It's time for us to stop beating our heads against the wall, and stop blaming all of our problems on the least among us. It makes a good talking point, but that's about it.
Jim, Those tax cuts didn't give me a job, it just kept my wages low raised the cost of my living and kept me in debt. Tell me, since you and your kind want to blame the debt crisis on me and millions of others stuck on the same boat, tell me how losing my job and not being able to get another one to keep paying my bills, tell me how with my below modest income caused wall street to fail? I am stuck in the systems you conservatives built this country on. Greed. Give all the money to the most wealthy and blame all your problems on those who work very hard at what we do. We do all the hard work building this country and when we dream we dream of a vacation or being able to retire. Something you wealthy take for granted.
It is clear that the Bush tax cuts were a mistake. Do we have the courage to correct a mistake?
Wrong....they were not a mistake. They were an effort to help hardworking Americans keep some of what they earn. Where I live a School Teacher and and Accountant combined can make $250k; hardly the millionaires and billionaires that Obama labels them as........We need to take a Machette to what the Government spends....The U.S. Postal Service and the Department of Education are two big targets...also push responsibilities to the states.....
Carlos: The couple you described would not be hit by Obama's tax proposals. The standard deductions for a couple would bring them well below the threshold. And, averaging 125k/year as an accountant or a school teacher would be doing really, really well.
We'll be very, very lucky if we go the way of Greece. We will likely go the way of Argentina (with a collapsed currency) if we continue with the status quo
I've been to Greece many times and they've had unquaified people working in government jobs because of nepotism just as we do here... yes, America is using nepotism more and more in public and private industries/positions which is why, for one, the government spends so much money... too many government workers. It may be an exaggeration, but if you drive in NYC, you might find more license plates designated as "diplomat" than you might find cabs. And those cars don't pay tickets or fines when parked illegally. Ask yourself why not? The law is the law and they should. But that's how Greece's problem started when the high and mighty immune themselves from what the common people confront daily.
Standing Ovation from the audience
Why is it that people take such broad, stupid swipes at "Congress"" rather than pay attention to the facts? You morons elected these Tea Party numbnuts to bring their self-righteous idiocy to Washington, and now, when the grownups are trying to get them to agree to $2 trillion in spending cuts and $400 billion in tax hikes, they walk out. That isn't "Congress" –that is the Republican right wing.
Perhaps instead of voting for nitwits again, you could pay somewhat closer attention to what is actually happening, and vote for those who bring solutions to the table. Obama has floated so far right of his constituency that he is more moderate Republican than Democrat these days, in an effort to get a deal. And the petulant jerks brought to Congress by the Tea Baggers are refusing the deal.
And regarding salaries.... Why is it that Congress should go without pay, when the financial crisis was caused more by Goldman Sachs than anyone else, and the average pay of Goldman Sachs employees (that is, 36,500 of them) rose to $438,000 in 2010? Shouldn't the polluter pay for the pollution - whether it is environmental pollution or the pollution of our economic system?
I disagree. Congressional leaders are doing nothing more than attempting to score political capital for next year's election. They will scream, whine, and cry as much as possible, but are unwilling to be perceived as the cause of the nation's financial meltdown. They will wait until the last possible minute, suddenly agree on what they've been arguing about the entire time, to the compromises we've all expected the entire time, and blame the other side for the fiasco in their re-election campaigns.
Fareed neglected to mention another key difference between the US and Greece: the US has its own currency and, consequently, its own monetary policy.
Marc
If only us in the South could return to the Confederacy, then we wouldn't have to worry about this.
so proud to be a loser he is
Loser? Have you heard of sarcasm, glacnyyyh? By the way, show some damn respect for people in the military.
Respect for what??
I agree, states need to start leaving the Union like rats leaving a sinking ship.
america is on it's way down. last leg
What a proud loser he is for trying to depict the U.S. downfall.
say to say, America is going the way of the Roman Empire before. Going down.
historically, every great nation falls sooner or later; and by allowing people who don't care about our nation move in and live here, it just accelerates the inevitable.
Good article because it speaks the truth. Our politicians and their stubbornness are keeping us in this hole. This stupid game needs to end.
One of our problem's is that we keep printing currency with the federal reserve and we don't have anything backing up our dollar, like gold or silver.
Thanks for one of the most shallow and moronic statements of the day. You must be a Paul supporter. What a joke!
aaron, your just the kind of person that would put the US into this mess. Obviously you dont know anything about inflation or what a fiat currency is.
and i hate to say it, the US cant get out of this mess. Once China stops buying American debt you guys are done. As well as anyone that associates with the worlds reserve currency.
Not a good article. All he is doing is outlining the "options" that our elite has crafted, and politicians present as "alternatives'. None of this is true. This is what the real owners of the country want, at present. They have all the money they want - off the books - for building all sorts of imperial outposts. Bridges from nowhere to nowhere in Africa, Asia, Latin America. Airfields in jungles for - well another possible imperial advantues. The bottom line is, nobody has asked for the explanation of the ENOURMOUS spending around the world into a fantasy imperial network. And why do we think that the "defense" budget is only around 5% of the budget? Because of the social security THEFT. By saying that Social Security WILL BE SHORT OF MONEY, this is forcing us all to think that this needs CUTTING. But it is NOT TRUE. Social Security right now has a TRILLION dollar surplus, thanks to the rapid increases in the nineties to cover for babyboomer phase. So, FIRST THE CORRECT ACCOUNTING OF SOCIAL SECURITY PLEASE. Then, let us take this TRUST FUND out of the budget, and determine what is the REAL REVENUE and REAL EXPENDITURE, and the percentage of budget spent on defense. That, my dear friends, amounts to OVER FIFTY PERCENT OF THE BUDGET. But if you mask it with the social security in the mix, you get the false percentage. These are the lies perpetrated by both parties, as the powers to be behind them, want to continue spending on imperial bases, outposts, airports, roads, bridges, compounds, weapons storage facilties, and the untold other facitieis that we have no idea off. As a miniumum, it should be HONEST to let the people know where their money is going to. But instead, they will raid the social security money in the name of - saving it!!! Can we ask politicians to show us some basic, kitchen table math on all those issues, instead of REPEATING AND REPEATING what our options are, so that the noise is so drilled into us, until - like horses with blinders - we are conditioned to see what they want us to see.
These imperial bases, outposts, airports, roads, bridges, compounds, and weapons storage facilities will be needed on 12/21/2012 to fight the extraterrestrials when they return to take over our Earth. Don't believe me? Read every historical religious piece of literature and then check on the UN, USA, and Great Britain's defense plans in the event of alien invasions.
yes, it will happen. this country is doomed. look at the demographics of this country.....
King Obama will By pass Congress on Debt Limit
Not just could but certainly will unless we identify the root cause of the problem, private central banking. Unless we
do what Iceland did and default on all or at least most of this private debt we will absolutely be strip mined by the
banks as Greece is being looted now. We CANNOT solve an excessive debt problem with more debt. Until we
return to constitutional debt free money we we NEVER solve this problem.
Why are the people who are so obsessed with the idea of American exceptionalism also so obsessed with the idea that we are like Greece? In reality, we are nothing like Greece in any economic, fiscal, or cultural sense. American entitlement programs are designed to get the bare necessities to those who need them. We don't have 6 weeks paid vacation every year (we in fact have none), we don't have paid maternity leave, we don't have a 60 year old retirement age. What we do have is a system of tax loopholes designed to benefit the rich, a military budget of world conquest proportions, and too much reliance on huge corporations that render most small business opportunities a pipe dream.
Genius, they are downsizing our military.
The way I read it, we are going to have a military spending freeze, but no actual reductions in spending, and we will continue increasing spending in active theatres. Do you realize that we spend more on our base military budget, excluding Iraq and Afghanistan, than the next 15 countries in the world combined? When you include Iraq and Afghanistan, the spending is even more gigantic.
I know what we spend. However, all of our services are downsizing. The Navy is denying people re-enlistment due to this thing called Perform To Serve. In the next few months, they are going to do this Enlisted Retention Board for certain ratings, for E-4 to E-8 with seven to 14 or 15 years of service, and they are trying to cut more 3,000 people. Those 3,000 + service members will have to be out by next year. We are also shutting down many bases because of budget cuts. While we do spend more than the other countries of the world, we are still downsizing big time.
Another shallow stupid analysis... you are on a roll, Trey. The military is shifting away from traditional warfare budget items, but make no mistake... the budget is going up. It may not go up as much as originally forecast, but it is going up nevertheless.
Our tax system is slanted toward the lower and lower middle class if you ask me, not the rich, the top 5% of the wage earners in this country pay 40% of all collected taxes and the bottom 48% don't pay ANYTHING. You can not keep a country solvent with almost half of it's citizens not only not paying their fair share but LIVING off the government. We need a flat income tax of 10% and a value added tax of 5% on all goods and services. Goods and services produced domestically could receive a partial refund to help create jobs. Corporate taxes should also favor US based corporations.
There you go....were is the candidate who stands for this and will make it happen?? Could you imagine the boon to the economy?? Jobs would be endless!!!
What planet did you decend from? The poor and middle class are getting financially raped while the top 2% are getting richer exponentially. CEO pay just went up 23% this year while middle class wages have increased a whopping 1/2%. And they are being made to foot more of the bill for their benefits. So, in reality, the pay of working people has decreased. People don't pay taxes because they are either too poor (try keeping a roof over your head and feeding a family on $20-30,000/yr.) or because they are rich tax evaders who hide their money overseas and benefit from tax loopholes that only apply to rich people. When was the last time you saw a tax loophole for poor people?
@RG. The LOOP HOLE for the poor comes in the form of FREE HEALTHCARE, FREE CHILDCARE, FREE WELFARE, FREE FOODSTAMPS, ETCETCETCETC!! Only problem is IT AIN'T FREE. WE'RE BROKE! Come on...... Even you can't be this STUPID!!!!!!!
well said Genius,
First of all let me explain that 6 week paid vacation. Basically they get paid monthly so they get 14 months of salary in a year. However, the entire year's income is just divided by 14 instead of 12 as it would be here. Their annual income is so low to begin with that AMericans would laugh at what people in Greece make. And yet, everything they NEED to buy or OPT to buy, costs so much more than here. Educated people, such as teachers and social workers, make less than $25,000-$30,000 where as here they earn double. Gas costs more than $5 a gallon over there for the last 8 years.
So divide your annual income by 14 and then pretend that the 13th and 14th payments are vacation. The average person did not own credit cards in Greece until they became part of the EU. Only stores in big cities accepted credit cards before joining the EU. Now every little village has stores that take credit cards so membership in the EU allowed this to happen.
It's a known saying that the big fish eats the little fish and this is exactly what is happening. Germany basically wanted the rest of Europe to buy its goods and if it means allowing the poorer countries to borrow money in order to purchase these goods, then so be it. The more they buy, the better for Germany's industries whether it be Mercedes Benz, BMW, and Audi or Siemens or the various pharmaceutical companies.
Compare it to a drug pusher who keeps allowing a user to buy the drugs on credit and then eventually wants him to pay up. Yes, he'll keep loaning him the money in order for him to keep supplying him with the product ... to the point where the debt is so high that he eventually knocks him off.
And why is it that you think that the problems of Greece are - entitlements! It is because our media told us so. The continuous use of the word ENTITLEMENTS is perjorative, intended to make us think that it is a generosity of taxpayers, and that "prudent" politicians should cut them back in order to save some for trully needed! What a pack of lies! Trust funds are NOT entitlements that someone can put their paws on. They are not different then private trusts, that insure the income is managed for subsequent generations. Social Security, (real)) pension plans are trust funds. They are inter and intra generational. Any country can define what contributions are needed in order to allow for retiring at any age. Our wealthy people often set up trust funds where a newborn can receive a retirement from the time they are born. For ordinary mortals, a lifetime of contributions are needed to secure retirement. Actuarial studies are conducted regularly to examine if the fund is keeping up with the demographics. In Greece, people CONTRIBUTED more into retirement, and could, therefore, retire earlier if they chose. The problem in Greece is a classical case of political elite playing fire with the international finance. NOT
And why is it that you think that the problems of Greece are - entitlements! It is because our media told us so. The continuous use of the word ENTITLEMENTS is perjorative, intended to make us think that it is a generosity of taxpayers, and that "prudent" politicians should cut them back in order to save some for trully needed! What a pack of lies! Trust funds are NOT entitlements that someone can put their paws on. They are not different then private trusts, that insure the income is managed for subsequent generations. Social Security, (real)) pension plans are trust funds. They are inter and intra generational. Any country can define what contributions are needed in order to allow for retiring at any age. Our wealthy people often set up trust funds where a newborn can receive a retirement from the time they are born. For ordinary mortals, a lifetime of contributions are needed to secure retirement. Actuarial studies are conducted regularly to examine if the fund is keeping up with the demographics. In Greece, people CONTRIBUTED more into retirement, and could, therefore, retire earlier if they chose. The problem in Greece is a classical case of political elite playing fire with the international finance. NOT to fund the retirements, education or health care. They borrowed the money from the big boys on Wall Street, France, Germany. And they sqandered the money they borrowed on speculating. IN FACT, THE TOTAL GREEK DEBT LAST YEAR WAS 150 BIL. THIS YEAR, THEY SAY IS 300 BIL. Last year, EU approved over 500 BIL do deal with debt problems. Yet, this year, ANOTHER INCOMPREHENSIBLE AMOUNT IS NEEDED. Oh, how stupid we are. The money is going to the banks that lost their money by speculating in various securiities that are now nearly worthless. Most of those banks are French and German. But, wait! This is not all! So, they are "saving" Greece by using EU money to cover deep holes in French and German banks. But since it was GREEK money they were speculating with, IT IS NOW THE PROBLEM OF GREEK TAXPAYER. But that is also not all! Let us assume that Greece takes Island route, and tells banks to buzz off. In this case, French and German banks would turn around and demand payment on their insurance (CDS, crediit defaut swaps) placed with US financial institutions that would be paying out - an estimated 200 billion! Since these "instruments' were never ACTUALLY COVERED BY ANY REAL ASSETS, in short - there will be no money to pay. So, those institutions collected GOOD MONEY from those banks, who collected good money from Greece. Now, Greece "ows" whatever the banks say they owe. And the banks know full well that they CANNOT collect on their CDS. So, if Greece goes down, so do the zombie banks, and zombie financial institutions that sold them "insurance". WE ARE NO DIFFERENT THEN GREECE. In our case, we already have taxpayers on hook for trillions of bailouts, "stumuli", quantitative easings.... Only in case of Greece, EU wants to know right away who will pay for it. In our case, we were still not told how will those trillions forked over to the casino bankers will be paid. Naturally, the easiest thing on earth is to grab the small taxpayer, raid social security, medical and education funds. Then while at it, get down to municipal services, and whatever is not nailed to be grabbed. Where we are DIFFERENT then Greece? Greek people know they are ripped off. We - quite the opposite - argue that we SHOULD BE RIPPED OFF. We piously say how our ENTITLEMENTS need to be cut, and teachers are doing too well. And the health care is too generous - the health insurance companies sitting on billions of our money - are entitled to those obscene profits. That is, in essence, the only real difference between us and Greece.
If we don't get our financial house in order and quit trying to be all things to all people including having the tax payer support deadbeats then yes, we could and probably will go the same way. With almost 50% of all Americans having a zero Federal tax liability we won't last long. It's our own fault, we elected these idiots.
You said it Sage....!!!
Fareed, I think you missed to mention that if American's fail to invest in their own-markets, then we also have a big problem. American faith in; small businesses, gov treasury; bonds, certs, etc, stock market, etc. is important & vital for this nation at this point in time to continue to stay vibrant. Made in the USA is what we need to buy.
Would Congress simply allow the Bush tax cuts to expire – returning rates to where they were under Bill Clinton's presidency when America created almost 25 million jobs – that one action would provide the federal government with $3.9 trillion in revenues over the next decade and basically solve the deficit problem.
LET'S DO IT.
YES!!!! let these damn Bush era tax cuts expire....afterall this country's economy went down the toilet during the Bush era.....I want Clinton BACK!!!!
DEMs FOREVER have the shortest memories and attention spans!!! You want the dot.com bubble back where millions of seniors lost most of their life savings? It was the Clinton, Dodd and Frank trio who put the current housing bubble in place by believing that EVERYONE should be able to own a house, no matter if they couldn't pay back their loans. You want more of that??? You want higher taxes that stifle economic growth??? You want hyper inflation??? All of these ideas translate to higher costs for the little guys because, as any economist will tell you should you wish to listen, any additonal costs imposed on businesses are passed on to the consumers. DEMs are such knuckleheads when it comes to rational thinking beyond today. They don't have the capacity to play the "if this happens, then that will happen." The ignorance is really sad and shows where education is lacking in our parenting skills and schools.
I just hope that the people will take to the streets to send a message to those in Congress to send a message wether our ceiling debt is raised or not. There is no partisan ideaology that can solve this problem. Both parties are responsible for getting us in the mess so they should work together to get us out of it.
"If we do end up losing the trust of markets, and it can happen, it will not be because they lost faith in America, in our economy and our society, but because they despaired at the country's selfish and self-defeating politicians."
could not have said it better myself, Thank you Mr. Zakaria
Already happening! So Sad All because of ". Selfishness "
Can it be reversed ? Yes. Will it. NO !
Why would anyone listen to these Globalist pundits and politicians? The author of this article thinks the Constitution is outdated. Politicians want to fix our problems only to the point where they keep their jobs... they still hand out billions in foreign aid , support illegal military operations all over the world, and are responsible for selling out our manufacturing base. We don't like it, so we vote Democrat. Then Republican. Then Democrat again. It's Einstein's definition of madness: Doing the same thing and expecting different results.
i hope we do. we need to if america wants to survive for real
Glad you had the courage to say it.
Could? There is no "could" about it. We ARE going the way of Greece.
Sure, it "could" be avoided, but not with the current crop of politicians. Hell, not with ANY of the politicians we have had for the last 60+ years. Further, there is no two party system; this is an engineered collapse. We're going down and anyone who has been paying attention knows it.
If you're surprised by all of this economic news and are asking yourself, "how did it come to this", all you need to do is read the Constitution then go look in the mirror.
You hit the nail squarely on the head. America is full of lying, cheating, immorality, unethical behavior, and takers and users voting in the sociopaths who promise them something for nothing while they fleece everyone of everything.
Right on, you guys!!! Business as usual. Greece will happen to America. The informed folks in this country are already preparing for our collapse. The deaf, blind and dumb DEMs will be the ones hurting and wondering what happened. Of course, they will try to blame everything on the right. That's their MO. LIke you said, they need only look in the mirror and face their poor voting choices to understand how America has gotten to the brink. All the while Obama is painting pretty pictures, hoping you all will believe and the left wing media fails to report the truth or spins it in a positive way instead of actually reporting or analyzing what is happening. They must think they are also elitists and will be exempt from the downfall. No one will be exempt when the dollar is devalued to nothing. DEMs think this isn't happening because they NEVER hear or see it on CBS, NBC, ABC, CNN, or any of their left wing news channels or newspapers. The media will be very guilty of misleading the public one day soon.
Hey Fareed if you can't take the heat you can always go back home to India, we wont' stop you.
RED, WHITE AND BLUE BAVEEY!!!
America will collapse, much worse than Greece. Our corrupt Khazar puppet politicians can only play the shell game for so long before everyone finds out the pea is long gone.
Could we go the way of Greece? Well, we already have the crowds yelling for more government money... We already have the massive debt... We already have a government in turmoil... Aren't we already there?
we can hit the police with yogurt(maybe Greek yogurt)
I think Fareed is absolutely right. Entitlements need reform and taxes will need to be raised. Where does a voter like me go with such an opinion?
Fareed mentions that the US has a vibrant society and a very competitive workforce. Apparently he does not go out into the real world very often. As Americans we have protected our rights as workers so much that we have become less and less productive. Factory workers have lunch breaks, smoke breaks, and bathroom breaks, not to mention that we tend to work slow and like to have jobs that only require us to push a button and expect to earn $10 an hour or more. No wonder why companies hire illegal immigrants for work since we have become less and less competitive and people who come from other countries can produce twice or three times as more output as we Americans. This may no be the real cause of our economic decline but it's sure helping.
You're 100% right, we have become too mediocre and lazy. With this attitude we will not be able to compete against emerging economic powers.
John you are a dope. If anything we are overworked.
You're right John, we lack productivity and we are bad workers, thumbs up.
Your comment is correct John. I don't know if this happens everywhere in the country but here in the south people are just too lazy, the take too many breaks, they work too slow and don't like to be corrected by their superiors. with this type of behavior at the workplace no wonder we're headed to the bottom.
Today, Wisconsin is the only state in the Union that has a spine. The rest of us just bend over and take it while Congress votes over and over again to extend the tax cuts for billionaires. Meanwhile the 401(K)s we've been paying into are pillaged by day traders and Wall Street crooks who trade minute-to-minute while the rest of us just want to save for retirement. The healthcare insurers convert everyone over to HSA plans that absorb 12% of our paycheck. Those of us who've been paying into Social Security for the last two or more decades won't be getting back any of that money when we're elderly. There won't be any Social Security, Medicare or Medicaid when Generation X is elderly. Ross Perot warned of this back in 1992; but we didn't listen and just made things worse by selling our country to the oil conglomerates in 2003. So, in the future, to be elderly will mean that you're either homeless or dead. But that's just fine and dandy to those billionaires who became multi-billionaires with their tax cuts.
Fareed mentions that the US has a vibrant society and a very competitive workforce. Apparently he does not go out into the real world very often. As Americans we have protected our rights as workers so much that we have become less and less productive. Factory workers have lunch breaks, smoke breaks, and bathroom breaks, not to mention that we tend to work slow and like to have jobs that only require us to push a button and expect to earn $10 an hour or more. No wonder why companies hire illegal immigrants for work since we have become less and less competitive and people who come from other countries can produce twice or three times as more output as we Americans. This may no be the real cause of our economic decline but it's sure helping..
So, with all that great stuff going for the old USA, why then has it allowed itself to get SO MESSED UP....we should be then lender not the lendee, we should be leading the way showing the world how to make the best of a bad situation rather than continually going backwards and the US is the ONLY country in the world STUPID ENOUGH that even with economic disaster parked at the door step, the US is now solidly involved in SIX wars of its own making.
The US may not fail according to your way of thinking, all it will take is one lender country to say NO to the US and the others will follow and then the rest of the world will discover that they can get along without the US...that will be the turning point.
The handwriting has been on the wall for quite some time that this country is falling into third world status. I am just shocked at how fast it's happening. Just look around. Our jobs are disappearing like never before. We are distracted by so called reality TV and being dumbed down in a way that makes us oblivious to what's going on. Sad...
There are not two parties and anyone, like Perot, who seems to have a chance will be convinced to take sufficient actions to discredit themselves or else. We have a Khazar machine, plain and simple, a machine that killed Kennedy and has killed others.
dude. chill.
II'm saving my money and learning to speak Chinese. As soon as I can, I'm making my escape. I suggest you all do the same. . .
A real down home love the country American you must be huh? This comment validates my other one down below
It's People like you are the problem with this nation, bleeding it dry and once it doesn't serve your selfish needs it's off to whore yourself to the enemy of America if it pays for your coke habit and cable bill.
Why not leave now "Patriot"? What an idiot.
You think he was being serious? I took it as a moment of levity to try and lighten up the discussion a bit . . .
China's having debt problems as well.
China does not have as many freedoms as the US (such as on the internet).
China may be improving, but that is because their greatly overspending and eventually it will catch up with them as well.
It's not a matter of If, it's a matter of When.
The American Party needs supporters, the Two Party System is leading us all to destruction. To much corruption and cronyism.
Join the new party, lets get this thing rolling towards the 2016 elections.
http://www.askfmb.com/Newsfiles/TheAmericanParty.html
Bush tax expire = austerity measures.
Lets not reduce spending, but increase taxes to pay for it.
Welcome to Amerika.
WELL SAID!!!
This writer is such a leftist globalist if anyone thinks he's writing with the good of America in mind you're an indoctrinated fool. He like most non American born residents don't care about America, they just care about what America has to offer and to rape and pillage and nothing more.
If we were invaded by Muslims or Latinos from the south 70 % of these people would join the ranks of the enemy. Period. They're here for the beer and to plant their home nation's flag here and nothing more.
You know how Glenn Beck said Progressives are the problem? He's wrong. It's ignorant Fox News watching loons like YOU that are the problem. Half the people here don't have any idea what's going on in their own backyard much less the rest of the world.
I am so freaking sick of these doomsday predictions. The USA has been through incredibly rough times before, we can make it through this one and we don't need a bunch of loser conservatives talking the game when they started our debt mess in the first place. Idiot.
Keep your head up your dumb azz buddy, I could care less what you think about jack shiite frankly, and it's deadwoods like you who will be crying for people like me and others prepared to fight when the anarchy comes from deadbeat leftist punks like you who just left college with your affirmative action degrees and can't tell shiiit from Cheyenne when it's staring your dumb azzzes right in the face.
You ostrich left wing dope smoking idiots wouldn't know the enemy if it crawled up your azzz so keep your empty head in the sand and when the roof falls in don't come to us to protect your DADT azzes so you can come to us and pay your drug habits and section 8 housing costs. Leftist fools and Deadeats.
The enemies of America 50 and 100 years ago couldn't get on 3 jetliners without flying gear and a bomber between their legs with 19 others lowlife scummmbucket Islammmer's and take down 2 skyscrapers that 12 of my family friends died in you wangsmoker. In those days. It took an entire Japanese wing of Kamikazes to do it and that's why idiots like you have no clue about defending a nation and or how to achieve it. That's why your dumb community organizer who got elected by smokers like you hasn't UNDONE ONE SINGLE BUSH HOMELAND SECURITY MEASURE,, AND IN FACT HAS TRIPLED DOWN ON THEM TO THE POINT HE 'S STRIPPING DEPENDS WEARING 80 YEAR OLD WHITE FEMALES INSTEAD OF TURBAN WEARING MUSLIMSit.
You kids are morons, and you show your age and ignorance by making such a dumb childish statement. "Oh we've been through troubles before"
And what troubles have you been through? How to pay your college loans that you blow off like everyone else your age? Or what cable package to keep when times get tough? What crack pipe and cologne to take to the clubbing with you? Have you ever done shiit for this country besides get on the internet and spout off "kum bah ya" idiocy when the enemies of America laugh at your ignorance as your tax ans spend and spend some more political whores run this country into financial ruin? 5 generations of my family died for this nation and not to have it taken away while a third of the country like you are too stupid and stoned to know the enemy when it's in your orbit.
Furthermore, My family has a seat on the CBOT and I don't have to worry about a damn thing in my life from now til the day I die and then some.....however, we patriots are out here fighting for idiots like you who don't can't or won't know the score until the enemy climbs through your front door of your SOHO apartment and puts a gun to your head
|And that's just the homegrown hooodies and scumbag illlegal aliens taking over every urban block from Manhattan to LA to Chicago and back who are trying to kill anyone they can for Michael Vick Jerseys and Nike Ghetto gear.....In fact some dumb just sprung from prison broham got his football star high school son killed for in New York over the weekend for a bottle of cologne. Anyone you know? Sounds like it
Meanwhile do yourself and your parents a big favor and please pull your head out of your dumb asss. I'm so sick of you worthless elitist scum who think the rest of us are freaking coconut farmers. Shove that liberal elitism you haven't even earned yet up your momma's backside while she's cooking your dinner tonight you puzz.
I agree; and why are they even on this website anyway? did they mistype the 3 letters? did they intend to type F O X instead of C N N?
I agree Alpha. The hysteria and negativity being generated by many of the conservatives is down right frightening . . . we need reasonable people to keep their heads above the fray and focused on the positive.
I'm a registered Dem and I agree with Chicago Nick. Our borders should have been closed long ago. Today's foreign-born citizens see America as a giant piggy bank and nothing else.
I don't agree with ChicagoNick but the borders should have been closed and Bush didn't lift a finger to do that because his sister in law is Mexican. If we believe that brainwashing idea that they are fight for American then we are dumber than those Germans that got brainwashed into believing Hitler.
World War II was fighting for America, but everything after that was not. We stuck our noses in nations where it doesn't belong. If Saddam wanted to keep killing his people, that their business, not ours. That wasn't our freedom we were fighting, it was the assumed freedom of the Iraqis. Bosnia? that wasn't OUR freedom; that was somebody else's. Not everyone is meant to be free... some populations don't know how to handle freedom. They are better off being told.
So now how many U.S. military men/women were killed in Iraq? for what? It wasn't bad enough we lost over 3,000 on 9/11 now we lost even more Americans in a war without a purpose... other than to obtain oil. That's the bottom line. The rest of the world knew the motive, but we were lied to and brainwashed into believing there was another reason.
Americans need to start thinking for themselves in a common sense fashion and NOT believe everything we see/hear on TV and in the newspapers. We need to stop being so naive and ignorant to the facts. We need to wise up to the fact that political parties (both) will do anything and invent anything to destroy/oust somebody in the opposing party that will do good for America just so they can look good.
It's time to think with our God given brains and NOT with our bank accounts.
I think we’re already there...!!
.....If "king" Obama tries this Chicago Mob stunt..bypassing Congress and Constitution and Raises debt Ceiling without Congress Approval...You can Bet..the U.S. economy will Collapse...along with most of the world...July 5, I plan to move ALL my family Corp. and personal OUT of U.S. Treasuries and into Israeli and Canadian bonds...Perhaps and greenbacks to Canadian dollars or Mexican pesos..will be far more valuable...
Americans should have been outraged years ago. America is a perfect example of people in a free country that have the ability to control their own government and destiny falling asleep at the wheel. its never too late but it needs an awakened public.
China is the foundation of all our problems.. There is no way we can continue inventing and innovating products and they (China and the other slave labor countries) benefit from producing them by employing their own workers, copying and infringing upon copyrights while neglecting the environment, health care of their people. There is nothing complicated about this situation, it is the outsourcing of jobs that is destroying not just America but all the developed western countries. The hell with China and its oligarchy. Globalization and unrestrained capitalism which ignores the workers is the cause of the planet's economic debacle. Our politicians and major corporations are in cahoots with the filthy bankers. We must wake up or soon we will all be as miserable as the Chinese slave laborers.
China is not the root of the problem. Our Corporate leaders who decide it is better for their bottom line and their next 90 results are the root of the problem. When is the last time you read about a Corporate leader creating jobs in America because they wanted to give back and create a local healthy community? i.e. Corporate greed is the problem. As long as the game is to maximize near term profits with no other contraints then American workers will lose. The dynamics will only change when the American worker makes the same or less than those in China or South America.
... next 90-day results...
Agreed, places like China and India will make sure wages in Western nations will never improve but continue to steadily decline, but the real problem and why people in these countries can work for pennies on the hour is due to overpopulation.
If the world can address overpopulation, quality of life around the world will improve, but as long as there are people with opposing views to address this issue (anti-abortion, etc), quality of life will continue to decline while we continue to point fingers.
If you are worried about overpopulation, how about you kill yourself instead of advocating murdering babies.
have states declare Sovereignty cede from the union and separate itself from the government tell uncle sam and all its banker buddies they now have to eat the debt that it created. Regardless of how these crooks try and say different We the people arent responsible for this debt. Our politicians. and the banksters they bailed out with our money live rich and high on the hog at our expense. they seem to have forgotten they work for us not the other way around.
this financial crisis was artificially created by banksters and anti american politicians to give themselves more power and property
same thing was done during the great depression that was also created by bankster cartels like JP morgan. warburg and rothschild
many of these same crooks later founded the equally corrupt federal reserve act
the same fed responsible for pillaging america for centuries
After all the dust has settled, not a single one of these crooks were prosecuted and no fines were laid, instead they were given truckloads of bailout cash. The next time this happens, it will be up to the american citizens to riot outside their offices.
If we get to that state I propose we sell off all our politicians and bureaucrats to the unsuspecting Middle East people looking for someone to lead to a point they think we are at. That should cover about one week’s interest on our debt, but it’s the long term value we will benefit from.
"America is demographically vibrant, thanks to immigration."
Durrrrrrrrr.
Uh, YEAH...
That's why its time for the American People to step up and tell– I mean DEMAND our government take action and lower our debt.
Clearly healthcare, social security, and military are the biggest spenders. We need to cut into those, maybe even greatly cut into them, and slice our debt by at least 4 trillion, note that I said at least. There are other, much better, ways to do these things.
Don't cut things that are going to be of use to us in the future.
Well someone, I demand our government take action to CREATE JOBS. And every sane economist on Earth will tell you: Reducing public expenditures in a recession means contracting the economy. JUST LIKE WHAT BRITAIN IS DOING NOW. Indead, all the sane economists agree that Greece will see staggering job losses as a result of the austarity measures just approved by their legislature. The laws of Econ 101 have not been repealed!
AMERICAN, GREED!!!!
More plurality to new world govt evolving from old anglo system of"I'll lop your head off if you disagree,though we come very close @times.Hegemony is a crock.Too many people to lead all the lemming off the cliff."
This is exactly the stuff Ron paul has been talking about for 20 years, and holds firm and true today. But the majority of you have been trained to dislike him , meanwhile sabotaging your own futures. And he is not afraid to say he will probably not win because of how much you have to change! And you dont have the balls to call out obama on his lack of change! boy its gonna be a awkward 4th of july.
Ron Paul acts like he is not part of either party – that's a good thing in my opinion. But seems to give him no real fighting chance. Hope he rises to the top somehow given his real (and non partisan) concern on this issue.
If republican lawmakers have their way, the average mortgage interest rate will be 23.50% by 2013. I am fully convinced they do not care about this country. Partisan politics and smashing people without significant wealth is their main interest.
I agree with you which is why they should eliminate parties altogether. Obama can't accomplish anything he wants because he arrives at a dead end when the Consevatives block him. I seriously think a U.S. president has no control that some other force is controlling all policies, no matter which party is in the White House. Someone ties their hands.
Britain has a budget deficit equal to 100% of their GDP for most of the 20ths century. So some of the sky is falling rhetoric may be just a little exaggerated. We can learn something else from Britain. It's conservative government is going for major cuts in public spending unlike the United States, Britain IS AT NEGATIVE GDP GROWTH.
"The United States, by contrast, does not have a solvency problem." This is the LIE that main stream media perpetuates. If America doesn't have a solvency problem then why does it need to borrow in order to remain operational and liquid? Without loans, presently, America is BANKRUPT. It would need to go into Chapter 11 REORGANIZATION to be solvent. All the legal and accounting mumbo jumbo won’t explain this away.
I have many lies. Like the lie that the health reform act didn't apply to Congress. Like the lie that there are death panels in the legislation. Like the lie that there is a government takeover of our hospitals and private practice doctors. THESE LIES CAME VIA RIGHT WING EMAIL. Not the main stream media!
Fool. Obama care does not apply to Congress. The death panels are not in place and the AMA is fighting them. When you get your news from Democrat party outlets (CNN, NPR, NBC) you remain ignornat as a bucket full of obama.
Things couldn't be better in America right now. Are any Americans starving to death like kids do in Southeast Africa? Are military dictators like Robert Mugabe and Pol Pot sending their cronies out to loot and pillage the populace? No. You still have all your SUV's, your widescreen TV's, IPods, laptops, and fast food restaurants. The problem is that Americans are incredibly spoiled and pampered, are too obsessed with money, want things to get better right away without doing any work since we live in an instant-oatmeal quick-fix society, and frankly have become rather stupid after ten years of the Bush Administration and reality TV. If you think things are bad in America, go live in Zimbabawe for a while.
Rube.
Phat, try growing up.
OF COURSE we can 'go the way of Greece', and even WORSE! When (not if) our fiat currency loses enough value and purchasing power to where our people have no faith in it anymore, a nightmare scenario can easily occur, and fairly quickly. At that point, only gold, silver, guns, bullets, water, and food will be the NEW CURRENCY!
Stock up.
America has a few fundamental issues.
1: Gay rights are more important than jobs
2: The Republicans don't care about jobs, they're too busy giving terrorists money (oil companies run by the Middle East)
3: Obama doesn't care, he's too busy trying to destroy Israel by making alliances with terrorists (the Palestinians)
4: Dems will spend and spend and aren't ashamed of it. Repubs will spend and spend, and lie about it. Either way, this ends up with members of both parties in a back room somewhere, laughing at the American people, the same voters they're screwing.
This NEEDS to happen in America for EVERYONE to wake up and realize that deceit is a way of life in the USA. No one is free, all are slaves to the whims of the government, and this story (and most of the comments here) proves it.
News flash on Israel – it's not a state. It is not in our best interest to have an alliance with them. It's finally time for a US president to stand up to the Jewish lobby.
Kietero, the evidence is that the Democrats care a lot about jobs. They passed the so called stimulus bill. Of the $800 billion in this stimulus, one third was in middle class tax cuts intended to put some money in your pocket so you might spend it buying a barbecue and create more jobs. Two thirds of the money was spend in FDR style infrastructure and renewable energy development, which both put more money into the economy to create jobs and invest in our future, the same way private companies spend on research to affect their future prosperity.
It there was "evidence" that the God King Obama had created jobs he would be talking about those jobs. What he HAS said, and even the Democrat Party news outlet CNN played the clip, is that " those shovel ready projects wern't so shovel ready".
The picture pretty much outlines our problem. Elderly teabaggers calling for extreme spending cuts. They aren't willing to make any sacrifices concerning their programs, and they're oblivious to the fact that Medicare is one of the main drivers of the deficit. Uninformed voters unwilling to make any sacrifices – that's modern day America.
The God King Obama and the Dem controlled Congress jumped up spending by 25% over the last two years and are now not willing to go back to normal spending levels. That is the problem.
The productive people in the country are sick of being robbed by the Obamist of their hard earned income just so Obama and the Progressives/Socialists use my money to buy votes from non-productive class.
why comparing Us to Greece ...CNN becoming more like Fox fix news
LOL America is finally down playing itself and admitting it runs a state full of foreigners, as the old expression goes you get what you pay for.
Greek politics indeed!
Fareed blowing hot air again, spinning b.s. As long as Obama is president our economic and moral death spiral will continue. The productive class does not trust him. The non-productive class will attempt to keep him in power. If he remains in office after January of 2013, either through election or Chavist style machinations, all hell is break loose in the streets of America.
I hope you're posting from a secure facility.
I am locagted on the Obama plantation. Those of us who work for a living and take a risk to raise the standard of living for our families are now at the mercy of Obama the slave master.
You are not kidding. 2 classes? Dude you got problems.
Fareed is still trying to brainwash us about more immigration is good for us..I also bet he wants his immigrants to be non Europeans,undocumented from Mexico who only speak spanish, Arab muslims and last not least a lot more African bushmen. Nice try Fareed
Only something like 35% of Americans have a college education. For the other 65% there are no good paying jobs. The US should immediately allow immigration of college educated people. Those foreign students graduating with Engineering & Science degrees should be given the opportunity to stay in America. These educated are the ones who will create companies and jobs in America. Corporations that base there manufacturing in the US should get some type of tax advanatge for doing so.
Brian you are crazy. Who do you think built this country? European laborers without any education. Where on earth do you get the idea that everybody wants to/should/needs to get a college education? The last thing we need in this country are foreigners that want to break open the American piggy bank.
On the contrary. A majority of the startup in Silicon valley are foreign born Engineers educated in the US. They are creating companies and creating jobs. Your "piggybank" statement is 100% wrong.
Any country with a social safety net and any semblance of health care for the needy is a target.
The insanity of our "leaders" and the corporate Goliath can be explained with just one short sentence: our economic decline has been orchestrated. Massive spending continues during the worst financial crisis our nation has seen since the great depression. We've added Libya as a third conflict. Our government refuses to work together to solve anything. On the left, the "progressives" want socialism. On the right, the richest 1% wants to continue their domineering grasp on 99% of the wealth. And we're choosing sides? No. We won't be out in the streets rioting like the Greeks and even if we did, it's probably too late.
THE SOLUTION TO THE U.S. DEBT IS MORE JOBS. --– The evidence is that the Democrats care a lot about jobs. They passed the so called stimulus bill. Of the $800 billion in this stimulus, one third was in middle class tax cuts intended to put some money in your pocket so you might spend it buying a barbecue and create more jobs. Two thirds of the money was spend in FDR style infrastructure and renewable energy development, which both put more money into the economy to create jobs and invest in our future, the same way private companies spend on research to affect their future prosperity.
I can honestly say that you are full of b.s. Most of the 800 billion went into the cofers of unions to cover their bankrupt pension plans and help them buy GM. Little if any made it into the shovel ready projects you God KIng enunciated. He has confessed that the money was essentially flushed down the toilet.
Mr. yakyak, show some integrity and don't lie about someone just because you don't like him.
I wonder where Fareed gets his facts. He said during his take: "America is demographically vibrant, thanks to immigration. It will be the only rich country that will see its population grow over the next 25 years." What about France? Within less than 20 years, the population of France (about 67 millions today) will overtake that of Germany. The birthrate of France stands today at 2.1, which means that it has statistically the numbers to at least replace its generation. Therefore, the US is not the only rich country that will see its population grow over the next 25 years.
Hmmm... are you really touting population growth as a bonus right now?
If anything, we need to curb our population growth. Resources are limited. We don't need a hundred more people here.
Agree with OP. Less people, less demand on energy, housing and resources.
The object of my post was not to advocate population growth into itself, as a philosophical or indeed as an economical advantage versus population decline. I was merely pointing to the inaccuracy of Fareed comment to the effect that the US is the only rich country that will see its population grow within the next 25 years. That statement is simply false. I am not advocating anything, I am not making any value judgement, I am simply urging Fareed Zachariah to get his facts straight. I follow GPS every Sunday (I never miss a show) and often Fareed is not accurate in his factual statements.
Yes we are the next Greece, except, we will redefine the financial disaster. Greece is the appetizer and the USA is the 7 course meal in fiscal disasters.
that's an interesting analogy LOL
Here's a solution... disallow social security checks to be disbursed to foreign nations. If one retires, he should be required to spend that money in the U.S. to boost THIS economy. Even with the nations in Europe have financial problems, the EURO is still higher than the DOLLAR. And as long as it stays like that, gas at the pumps will remain high.
Since america didn't learn ANYTHING from the robber baron century, we are doomed to repeat it. Anyone remember when those robber barons created a race to the bottom by "playing" states against each other? They literally held states hostage, forcing them to abolish wage laws, minimize work safety standards, eliminate enivornmental standards, and forget about unions or healthcare.
Guess what???
The same nonsense is happening on a global scale. The modern day robber barons are playing countries against each other. They are bribing us with jobs if we "unregulate" our markets to the poing where there are few social safety nets, and no environmental standards.
Only way to solve this is gonna be world war 4 and maybe 5
The biggest robber barons on the planet right now are the SEIU fascistas and people like Trumka, supported by their sugar daddy Barack Hussien obama.
What good is $4 trillion over 10 yrs, when we're spending $4 trillion every year?
If Obama has any say in it, we will achieve what Greece has achieved and more! That will teach those darn rich people, how dare they succeed in Obama's America.
"[Letting the Bush tax cuts expire] would provide the federal government with $3.9 trillion in revenues over the next decade and basically solve the deficit problem. " Yeah? This is ridiculous. Our current deficit is $1.5 trillion a year, so how does $3.9 trillion over 10 years wipe that out! And the notion that the current deficit is $1.5 trillion is a fairy tale. The US government does not use GAAP accounting, so it does not include in its deficits/debt the value of future pension/Medicare/Medicade benefits. People have estimated the deficit using GAAP accounting, and it is about $5 trillion a year. Google it for yourself.
America is different & can never go the Greece way. It is a potential country with great history of coming up & sacrifice. Besides it has immense human, intellectual & industrial resources with par excellence technology & skills still simmering under pressure of divergent political interests. America can take a turn to progress, development & endless job market from the moment GOP, Democrat & other upcoming political parties come together under common American Flag of Revival. No country in the world can be ever compared with America for anything. It is common that Democratic countries take time to come together till they face extinction & it happens in families too. All adults see differently, act differently & aim differently as it has to gather consent of everyone young or old with ultimate decision making with dad & mom. But in democracy none wants to surrender the decision making to others & that is where democracy is weakest but not worthless. Freed Jakaria is correct America is a country of immigrants with diverse skills & knowledge with other marvelous qualities of hard work, innovation & inventions. So there is no fear of America going the way of Greece unless Congress leads to.
This made about as much sense as Fareed's article, which is to say NONE. You can't deny the future by pointing to the past. All doomed empires were at some point fooled by their past success.
Unlike Greece, I hope that the u.s.a. (useless states of america) goes bankrupt!!!
So you want us to lose our sovereignty to foreign banks and corporations? Right now the mulitnationals are picking Greece clean. The Greeks will not stand for corporate rule. Americans don't seem to care if we have a flag or a corporate logo.
We already lost our sovereignty to foreign banks and domestic corporations
Here's what you do. Let the US default, then the rich who have hoarded trillions, can then buy up American parks, roads, mineral/timber/water, and other infrastructure, for pennies on the dollar. It is called Disaster Capitalism. You force a crisis, then capitalize on the chaos.
Look at the chaos Scott Walker has caused in Wisconsin. Look at what Kasich has done to the working people of Ohio. Both Kacish and Walker have used shock and awe against their citizens. They are now hated, but they have been able to shift the power from the voters to the corporations.
The Republicans (Corporatist) have always said the private sector is superior to our government and that our government should be run like a business. How many businesses are democracies?
You have to love CNN. Headline: "WILL AMERICA GO THE WAY OF GREECE?!?" Article: "Of course not. It's an idiotic comparison." Conservative reaction: "OMG! AMERICA WILL BE JUST LIKE GREECE!"
This is a silly, superficial article. It's as if Fareed is pointing out how nice the china and crystal is aboard the Titanic. If you can't see the iceberg ahead, Fareed, do us all a favor and step aside – let someone else occupy this space on cnn.com. And please stop blaming politicians and lobbying for your Constitutional Convention. Instead, why don't you use your column to put the spotlight on politicians who have committed this country to MASSIVE, UNFUNDED ENTITLEMENTS. Private sector job creation is the only way we are climbing out of this mess. How long will it take you to figure this out?
Poor, Kirk. You drink the koolaid way too easily. Entitlements aren't a problem for decades. The problem today is UNEMPLOYMENT... not the deficit. We should be investing in massive infrastructure projects that will create private sector jobs, and will fix our decaying roads and bridges. Money has never been cheaper to borrow.
Yes, Aaron, and so you are calling for yet another stimulus package. Well, if it works as well as the last one, we will become Greece all the faster.
Let private businesses CREATE the jobs – the government has tried and failed at this too many times to mention. There are trillions of dollars on the sidelines (private investors), but they are not putting in because the government stands in the way.
Seriously, another stimulus? You have to be joking, my man.
I'm sorry but your much-loved corporate America is outsourcing every job it can. I'm afraid are naive when it comes to machinations of big business.
Nice talking points.
Seriously, you have no idea where the jobs will come from, do you? Mostly from the growth of small business, funded by private money ($5 trillion) that is sitting on the sidelines. That money is going nowhere until we have a coherent fiscal and regulatory policy, which neither Obama nor any of his economic advisers (all but one of whom has resigned, by the way) seem capable of providing.
Ideally small business is what we need, but it's hard for Americans to take risks when they have to deal with things like housing bubbles and $4 gas. I would call for something more directly obtainable...like new business laws aimed at eliminating outsourcing.
Note to Kirk, small business is learning the Corportate way real fast. As example, I work for a privately funded startup of less than 120 employees. However 25% of our employees live in India and our Manufacturing is done in China. This model is part of the problem not the solution. As soon as other countries develop their engineering prowness that will be offshored as well. The model is to maximize short term profits for shareholders with no other constraints. As long as the game is set up to be played that way there is no hope for the American worker at any level, other than CEO or boardmember.
bptsj I think you hit the nail on the head, too bad our government is not onboard
I bet you also believe private healthcare insurance companies are wonderful.
Wondeful at what? Keeping prices down?
Well, if that's the case they failed miserably.....
So exactly what is the point of having privately run middlemen insurance companies?
Massive unfunded entitlements? I'm confused. The only entitlements I see happening are criminal investment banksters and big corporations redistributing our tax dollar wealth into their pockets with the help of the federal reserve.
But that's too complicated for the average person to understand. It's much simpler to blame some poor joe for collecting medicaid and food stamps. I mean, we all know these poor Joe's have complete control over commidity prices (food and oil), healthcare costs, housing and rent prices, and of course inflation.
MJ suffers from the same lack of understanding that Cherry suffers from. We can either cut spending or raise taxes, or both. The president has suggested the later and of course the GOP is not interested. Why, because the GOP wants American to fail because they are only interested in political advantage. In 1965 the top tax rate was 90% and the country prospered and the rich got richer. As recently as 1980 the top tax rate was 70% and the country prospered and the rich got richer. Today the top tax rate is 35% and the country is broke and the rich are richer than ever! During the 20 years Reagan, Bush 41 and 43 were presidents they created 24 million jobs combined. The greatest period of sustained jobs growth was under BIll Clinton who created 18 million jobs in a mere 8 years without tax cuts. Theoretically has Bill Clinton been president for 20 years he would have created almost 50 million jobs. The argument that GOP policies will create sustained economic growth and jobs is a myth.
Clinton years were all illusory wealth, as were the Bush years. You can't point at a bubble economy that's inevitably going to crash as the height of prosperity.
There are consequences to government usurping wealth from private people to give to banksters and elitists. Usurption of wealth means less capital and consumer goods and that means a poorer country. The way a middle class is developed is due to sheer productivity and abundance of consumer goods. If government impedes productivity, the poverty will result is government's fault alone and no one elses. To expect people to suffer and have more taxes taken out of their paycheck is horrific morality. Especially considering that these taxes will do nothing but fill the coffers of special interests.
Fareed, you forgot to mention one important difference between Greece and the United States:
When the United States goes under, there will be no one to bail us out.
You are correct fadenlight, America is going under. It will not be famine, disease or disaster that brings America to its knees, it will be personal greed by those that pull the levers of power and we have nobody to blame but ourselves for allowing them to bilk America to death.
Agreed, because we were the one's bailing out everyone else. Those running this country were more interested to saving the world, they didn't look in their own back yard to see what was going on. Actually there will be someone to bail us out....CHINA! They would be more than happy to take over this country, they've wanted to for sometime now. As I see our American flag fly wave on poles and hear the National Anthem on the radio, it makes me sick to see those who ran this country past and present run it into the ground. What WAS the greatest Nation has declined over the years, we have NAFTA to partly blame for stealing our jobs. We have Senators and Congressman to blame for overspending, getting their wealthy paychecks and living their lavish lifestyles while the rest of the hard working citizens are struggling to feed their families. We have those who placed us in Middle East wars we should have never gone into, I noticed this country was in decline 10 years ago. I didn't need analyst's to figure that out, I also stated there would be a skirmish happening. Who knows when, who knows where but the citizens have had enough and they will vent their anger in some way. Do I blame them? No! I know what they are going through, we need someone to care for this country. It's obvious those running this country don't care, if they did then we wouldn't be in the situation we are in now.
we lose 430K jobs every week; multipy that with 2 and a half years under Obama, and we have lost over 50 million jobs! our work force is 110 million... republicans don't care what is happening to the country and have paralyzed our government. Our fascist rich are clueless how bad things are and wont allow their taxes to go up...yet a lot of this dept has happened ever since reagan gave the rich the run of this country – they have destroyed america and the american dream for all of us...WE THE PEOPLE HAVE NO SAY INTO THIS NEW WORLD "DEMOCRACY"
no americas full of fags we cant go back because the americans are all crippled n rely on everyone else to save them but no one likes them anymore so.... no more money?
btw ...CNN IS A JOKE
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20080624144235AAPd45e
Do we really need an article on whether our economy is similar to Greece's? My 4th grader has more intelligent comparisons.
If Greece defaults it will cause the entire world credit supply to immediately collapse. Why, because we are talking about $145 billion borrowed dollars that are not getting pumped back into the world monetary system. Will the world survive, sure. If America defaults on the $2.7 trillion dollars we owe around the world will the impact be much worse, sure? The world economy will more than likely collapse entirely and cause a worldwide recession bringing down all those countries that are austere and solvent along with us. That is not 4th grade, it is probably in the magnitude of 6th grade?
Looking through these posts is VERY depressing. The word ignoramus would be almost a complement.
The usual media hyperbole, scare the hell out of everyone for no reason, except to make money. The Dems and Reps are making idiotic noises now, but in the end, they'd be monumentally stupid to allow us to default on any debt. Every one of them would be burned at the stake.
I can read the coded message in the photo of the two flags.
"The United States, by contrast, does not have a solvency problem."
The ability to print money to pay the debt is why there's no solvency problem. It doesn't count as a solution, though.
I am a Canadian who has been watching your country unravel, and after having read the posts above, all that I can say is that if you don't manage to get your act together you are f--d, and not only that so are the rest of the countries in the world. Choose a dynamic leader and get rid of your 2 party system, you are too polarized to be able to solve it, and I for one will be very sad to see this happen, there will be riots in the streets, and we, the rest of the world will be sitting back watching and hoping that you solve this dilemma.
If you have read the posts this far, you will see how divided you are, these posts are a microcasm of the divide in your country, good luck to you, the world needs you to rectify this or we are all doomed.
Problem is that they let to many illegal immigrants and have given them to much money for free like food stamps and cash and medicaid. We need to stop allowing them to come in. They need to be sent back to there country. Enough is enough. Pretty soon we need to put the borders up in California and Texas and call it Mexico. Then they complain that the US is bad go back to your own country and complain to your goverment.
The difference between Greece and the US is that we still have time to enact austerity on our own terms before the Chinese force it on us.
Let the tax cuts expire. Cut Social Security and Medicare. Cut defense spending. Something for everyone to hate, on both the left and right. Which ought to indicate that it's the correct, responsible thing to do. And which is why it'll never happen.
However, if this fantasy could come to pass, we'd be in the black in a few years. Furthermore, invest in sci/tech education, R&D, and the like. Those fields are the job-generators of the future. Anything else is a waste.
The richest 1% pay 37% if the taxes in this country and in total only 49% pay any tax at all. That just doesn't seem fair for starters. Then you have generational career welfare recipients who are rewarded for failure and poor decision making having baby after baby, and those who pay taxes can barely afford to raise one child. No wonder the moral compass of this country is going down hill, look at who are doing all the breeding. This has got to stop. EVERYONE should contribute. Not just the middle class and the rich. On the other hand you are punished by layers and regulation for being sussessful.
The richest 1% also own about 37% of the wealth in the country, so that seems fair. Furthermore, if you consider that the top 1% includes Wall St. crooks, then lots of people might find it OK to tax heavily those people whose claims to create jobs or value are dubious at best.
Classic response from a typical conservative. You will notice that while bjd1020 gripes about "the poor" collecting a welfare check he never mention corporate welfare. Last year alone big oil made over $140 billion dollars yet the American tax payer subsidizes them with corporate welfare. Rich farmers that earn on average $487,000 a year also received corporate welfare. Not to mention the big daddy of them all, defense contractors like Haliburton that also receive corporate welfare in the form of no-bid contracts and two wars. I learned along time ago that someone wearing a three piece suit and carrying a briefcase can steal a lot more of your money than a bag lady pushing a shopping cart. Wise up fool....
There's always the possibility we could go the way of Greece. Republicans enjoy political rhetoric and rallying Americans against the Left and accusing them of being Evil and Socialist. Apparently being a Republican is the same thing as being unbiased. Apparently there should be a one-party system in America, and apparently there's no such thing as having your own political beliefs. Because we all know Democrats are evil and unAmerican. I don't have proof of that, but we all know its true? Sarcasm btw.
I dont think they are evil, just stupid...afterall anyone who has any common sense knows its the democratic agenda over the last 3 decades that led us here in the first place.
What is wrong with the news?? We are having a reactor issue that could pose extreme health and even total environmental issues to the US as well as the world and you report nothing because of a political blockage of the news when the entire world could be endangered?? Why?? politics be damned and report the truth
If the Republicans want tax cuts to help the economy, give them to small and big businesses, but stop the personal tax cuts and loop holes. Encourage CEOs to pump money back into the their companies. Cap executive level salaries for companies that choose to benefit from federal tax breaks.
There are many worthwhile federal entitlement programs, but many that are only self serving to the elected officals that support them. The reality is that there is gross irresponsible spending behavior on both sides of the arguement. I'd like to see CNN put down the Democratic banner, and start writing some truly unbiased articles on these critical economic issues that are impacting millions.
"Greece has two problems. First, it has a big budget deficit and markets have lost faith that it can ever repay its loans.
Second, it is an unproductive economy and cannot generate enough economic growth over the next few decades. In economics-speak, Greece has a liquidity problem but also a solvency problem."
Obviously it would be hard for us to go through all that they're going through. People in the US don't retire at age 45 and we are one of the hardest working ones, we have the least vacation time for god's sake!
Man, reading comments on financial topics on CNN is disheartening.
Nothing but blame, finger pointing, e-yelling and hostility. Everyone has an answer and it's always the right one. Strangely enough, everyone is also always wrong and in the worst way.
The problem in this country isn't Republicans or Democrats, it isn't Obama or Bush left-overs, it isn't whatever you want to say it is... it's us. Citizens, people who can't control their emotions when it pertains to cold, hard, negative facts. People who would rather mix diffusion of responsibility with anger and blame. It's easier to say why everything is the way it is and why so-and-so is messing everything up than it is to actually face the facts of what needs to be done. I offer no solution, as I freely admit to having none. But I do know with the insane, hostile rhetoric people spew daily nothing positive will be accomplished, and what progress is made will be offset, down trodden or ignored and through that further progress will be even harder to achieve.
Don't want to be to live in a country going the way of Greece? Don't be children, use your inside voices.
no solution huh, then please STFU
That'll help. I promise.
"Would Congress simply allow the Bush tax cuts to expire – returning rates to where they were under Bill Clinton's presidency when America created almost 25 million jobs – that one action would provide the federal government with $3.9 trillion in revenues over the next decade and basically solve the deficit problem."
One republican did all that mess from 2000 to 2008...
Didn't even read the article but have to comment on the Headline. Journalism can incite violence. America is fine.
The U.S. financial crisis in many ways is similar to Greece's. Both countries deficits are at 100% GDP. Both countries are burdened by high percentages of government workers. In Greece's case, 20% of the workforce, or one in five, works for the government. In the USA, the percentage is about the same at 17% (federal, state, and local) and more than double that if you count all government contractors. That's a lot of weight to carry. Both countries have large and liberal entitlement programs. Both countries have tax problems. In Greece it is due to tax cheating. In the USA, it is due to resistance to any new tax increases. Both countries also have assets they could sell. In Greece, the government is selling hundreds of miles of coastline. In the USA, the government is sitting on top of 9,000 tons of gold, the largest reserves in the world, worth at least $432 billion, and superfluous since the world is no longer on the gold standard. Additionally, the USA has over 1/2 billion acres of public lands. Currently, some of these lands are leased to ranchers, farmers, miners, and oil and gas companies for a fraction of their market value. Sale of just 10% to 15% of U.S. public lands alone would solve the deficit problem, and a sale of both U.S. gold and land over ten years would give time to work out longer term budget solutions as well without draconian cuts to social programs and defense. A longer, softer landing is preferable to shorter, harder one, in my opinion.
Alright, so these are some ideas that I've taken a liking to and wouldn't mind seeing enacted (some won't have anything to do with the economy, at least directly):
- Cut the Bush Tax Cuts
- Raise taxes on the upper 2% of income earners to around 55-60% (still low compared to where they were 60 yrs ago)
- Get out of Iraq and Afghanistan by February 1st, 2012
- Stop the US involvement in Libya
- Cut the Defense Budget by 50% or more (2010's Defense Budget was $663,700,000,000)
- Use some of that money to invest in infrastructure (underground pipes, roads, railroads, updating electric grids, airports, broadband connection, etc.) – This would give plenty of people jobs and hopefully give the US a more up to date infrastructure
- Then fund a program where teachers would be re-evaluated on their teaching abilities and if they fall below a certain standard, they'd be fired and more ambitious teachers would take their places
- Cut subsidies to Oil Companies (have you seen their profits?? they don't need it)
- Pass the DREAM Act. Like it or not, immigrants are the backbone of this country and these kids deserve an education
- Enact a program that helps rehabilitate prisoners
- Sharply hinder the CIA & FBI from doing covert operations inside the US or in other countries through budget restraints or Executive Order
- Switch to a Electoral System of Proportional Representation, cause I think most of us are sick of the Two-Party System (plus this could be considered more democratic because we are given more choices)
- Look into suspending or cancelling all Free Trade Agreements because as we've seen it's done more harm than good for countries (such as NAFTA)
- Sign a Executive Order, restricting "special interest groups" and "lobbyists" from essentially bribing our politicians into doing (sometimes, not 100% always) something in the interests of who they're representing (not the people) – This would probably be overturned in the Supreme Court do to Free Speech restrictions but gotta make a point right??
I'm just scratching the surface here but this is some of things I'd like to see happen in our country. I'm anxious to see the responses. Thanks
I'd like to ban corporate lobbying, too, but the Supreme court said that you can't do that. After all, corporations are legally people, so you can't restrict their 1st Amendment rights.
However, given that they're people, I'd like the president to keep track of which corporations are giving, and how much. Then he could start a war with some ornery Muslim country and draft the boards of directors from these companies to fight. How close they get sent to the front line would be inversely proportional to how much money they gave.
After all, with rights come responsibilities.
I doubt that few would argue against the need for budget cuts to rein in the deficit. However, significant consideration must also be given to increasing revenue (whether through closing tax loopholes or increasing taxes directly). Increasing revenue would help ease the impact of budget cuts on people on mainstreet, and ultimately speed up our recovery. Intransigence, or stubborness on the part of Republicans is both short sighted and dangerous (emphasis on the position, not the party itself). Unfortunately, the Republican party has been short circuited by a hot headed freshmen class, and a distabilizing Tea Party. If the prevailing narrative continues to be slash, slash, slash, while the rich and powerful, get more rich and powerful (no bias intended), then grievances will swell to a point where the likes of Greece and worse will become more probable.
Tell me if you're heard this one before. "It's the greatest ship ever made." " God, himself, could not sink this ship!" The ship was called the Titanic, and it did sink on April 12, 1912. Listening to you describe mighty America, I shake my head as I read this because I keep hearing this over and over and it scares me. You have far too much confidence in America. We're tettering on the biggest collapse of any country in the history of the world. All of the so-called measures by Obama and company are merely window dressing on a massive wound. I work in the mortgage industry and I'm here to tell you that I know that there are another one million mortgages going to foreclosure and umpteen people behind on their payments. The picture is much worse that they are telling Americans. I see a depression coming that will dwarf the one from the thirties, people will not believe the scale and the scope. Frankly, many spoiled Americans will not be able to deal with it. In a country where they deliver pet medications to your door, we are not use to cutting back or doing without. Remember, the day you read this, then you can say there was one guy out there that told us the truth and saw this coming. My advice, eradicate all debt, build up your savings, cut back on spending and store aside essentials. Stay close to friends and family, people will need to bond together to get thru this.
Government isn't bad, a constitution that dates back to the last ice age is!! Invest in infrastructure, education(OMG government spending!!), lose the Bush tax cuts and reform the medical system, so it is the GOVERNMENT who controls it(Canada, Denmark, France are owning us!).. But before this can happen, the constitution so only be a record of how democracy (at least somewhat) started!!!
so–>should
The article stated:
The most important difference between Greece and America is this: America has many paths to solve its deficit problem. Were it to implement the Simpson-Bowles Deficit Reduction Plan, for example, it would instantly give America among the strongest public finances of any rich country.
The problem here is that Obama totally ignored his own deficit commission when the cuts were proposed. The cuts were labeled "draconian". This is in theory would help, but politicians will never have the guts for this and voters would never allow it. Solving the problem will take political will that will never exist in the US.
The people clamoring for tax cuts for the rich as a means of economic stimulus have forgotten a simple rule of Econ 101.
What is the marginal propensity to consume (MPC) for a wealthy person? Likely much lower than for someone less well off.
For instance, the median income in NYC for a household was $54,554 in 2009 according to the U.S. Census Bureau, which is just a touch over $1000/week. Say that this household also has a child or two. Now add up costs for rent, utilities, food, transportation, etc and how much do you think that this family has left as "disposable income?" They're likely spending a good chunk of every dollar that they earn on necessities of survival.
On the other hand, the wealthy are likely just investing their surplus funds, since they can more than afford to provide for themselves. If you give them this money back, what do you think they will do with it if they never planned on spending it in the first place? Pass it on to the workers? No, they will simply invest it with the goal of earning more profits for themselves, and spend only a small percentage of it.
To say that our government will simply spend more if we give them more is crazy- they spend now whether they have the money or not! If this is the case, then where does it make more sense to put these revenues for the good of the whole? In the pockets of the wealthy, who will only spend it on themselves, or in the hands of the Federal Government, which will apply it to the programs that it has already implemented regardless of whether it has the money or not?
Clearly the solution is two-fold: cut spending and raise revenues. But if all of the spending cuts are going to come from programs which benefit the majority of people (like education), and all of the revenue increases are going to come from the ones who can afford it the least, how is that a fair option? In fact, many economic theories peg education as a crucial factor in long-term economic growth.
WHY DOES OUR COUNTRY HAVE TO GO THE WAY GREECE WENT ? IT DOESNT!!! IT CAN BUT IT WONT! WE WONT LET IT
oh yeah about the oil reserves,me being a nature person move all the animals in alaska somewhere farther from americas alaskan oil reserves and then start drilling so we can STOP DEPENDING ON FOREIGN OIL and stop losing billions of dollars trying to keep up with our insane oil demand,plus gas prices are spiraling out of control
"stop" - US has 2% of the world oil reserves and consumes 25% of the world's oil. Oil is sold on the open world market. Economists have already calculated that increasing US production might actually reduce the price of gas by as much as a couple of pennies. That difference would be completely dwarfed by fluctuations caused by commodities speculation. Oil companies have currently only explored less than 50% of the areas they ALREADY have under lease. Why exactly do oil companies keep whining about not being able to drill when they haven't even explored over half of the area where they already have leases?
Perhaps from regulation. However, we should have high oil prices. I'm all for keeping gas around $4-$6/gal to help get the US off the dependence on oil. But our leaders will not allow that. In fact Obama just coordinated large releases of strategic oil to bring down the price.
Exactly. Part of the cruel reality of the market is that even if they do drill in places like ANWR, that oil may be exported before it ever reaches the American consumer.
Some estimates have placed the amount of oil that we could get from ANWR, given current infrastructure and technology, at around 1 million barrels per day. This is only a few percent of daily U.S. consumption, and that's assuming that all of the oil is retained domestically. Any price decreases could easily be offset by supply cuts from other oil producers, such as in OPEC.
Sheesh. The comparison is ludicrous and continues with more media hype to try and keep injecting adrenaline into their viewers/readers.
First, the US is far to big to be bullied like Greece is being bullied. I'm not saying the US shouldn't get spending more under control, but comparing the US to Greece totally ignores the dramatic level of difference created by the economic mass. The US is "too big to fail" while people are only worried about Greece because of a disruption it might cause.
Second, anybody who actually pays attention to the real economic numbers in play with the US deficit knows that the whole deficit "crisis" would completely vanish if Congress were to do ABSOLUTELY NOTHING - except to raise the debt ceiling strictly to allow existing conditions to play-out but pass absolutely not other laws. The main problem is that you have to actually go track down and look at real economist calculations to know this is the case. The media (left and right) is completely lost in their deficit drama fetish to actually report hard facts.
If Congress were to raise the debt ceiling then go on a permanent vacation, the whole "deficit crisis" would vanish on its own. CBO data already shows that.
The problem is that current CBO projections assume the Congress will not simply go on vacation and do nothing. The current CBO projections assume things like congress will again renew the unfunded Bush tax cuts, congress will again renew other temporary tax reductions, etc, etc, etc. If Congress did nothing, the combination of the restored revenue combined with GDP growth, together with no additions to spending, will make the deficit crisis vanish.
Now given Congress can't be trusted to do absolutely nothing, which is reflected in the CBO projections, what this REALLY says is that if Congress were to simply allow the unfunded Bush tax cuts to expire AND adhere to PAYGO (pay as you go), then the deficit "crisis" would also magically disappear.
But alas there's the political addage "never let a good crisis go to waste" - whether the crisis is invented or not. It's always safe to assume the vast overwhelming bulk of the population will know nothing of the core economic analysis.
finally something TRUE,GOOD JOB
I wouldn't call them the "Bush Tax Cuts" anymore. It's more like the Obama Tax Cut Extensions.
It's not like raising the tax rate will automatically bring in the anticipated revenue for the government. There is a drawback. That revenue gets extracted from the economy which would most likely slow growth. Using the era of Clinton is somewhat deceptive. To bring in those revenues that were under the Clinton era, you'd have to bring back the Internet craze, the Y2K tech bubble and the Nasdaq bubble. Those three bubble created a lot of revenue for the government through capital appreciation. Bush paid for it via the bursting of those bubbles, only to watch another bubble grow.
In the end, these reporters need to do their homework and analysis before writing near drivel.
Along with creating the Inflow, policymakers need to stop the unnecessary outflow to like Libya, Afghanistan, Pakistan, etc. the rigged income from Iraq went to few who owned oil companies and investors. People have to unselfishly improve the country.
It's just a matter of time.
Every week brings more news of the record profits for CEOs and corporations while growth for american workers is less than a single percent.
If I was one of the powers that be, I'd start loosening the reins a little bit before riots do break out. I realize how unconcerned and how deep american heads are in the sand, but there are people starting to wake up (sheep). The bottom line is the American dream was stolen by the wealthiest 4% who took over the government and started creating laws to benefit them while simultaneously screwing the middle class.
They don't even try to cover it up anymore since they're above the law and above any kind of repercussions. They got sloppy though with that approach and facts and reality are starting to seep into the brains of the average American who is struggling to make ends meet and has no access to health care. This is a plutocracy at this point; make no mistake about it. This is the very wealthy ruling the very poor.
I don't know but it'd better not.
It isn't a question of "could it happen", it's matter now of WHEN? ... and it could start as soon as Aug. 2, based on the impasses currently trying to be negotiated in Washington. The economy is doomed, if all present fiscal and economic policies remain in place. Period.
I think you've made the only comment that could be more warped than this entire Marxist article.How stupid does one have to be to not understand that WE ARE OUT OF MONEY!! I'll tyoe it slowly so maybe you'll understand it easier. WE ARE OUT OF MONEY! or maybe you'll understand this better. sin dinero! Obama's stupid little rain deer games are not going to work this time.
We have a budget of nearly $13.5Trillion
This year we will only raise $9 Trillion in Revenue
Now lets say we were to tax the "RICH" as Obama wants to do to pay only for his stimulate the unions with $830Billion in shuvel ready jobs. BTW that worked out great. There are only 4.2 million taxpayers that fall into that category
That will equal out to $91,000 per person that makes over $250K a year. More likely everyone that pays taxes will pick up the bill. So in reality anyone making over $24K a year or a family making more than $48K a year will owe $5,400 just to pay for his failed stimulus plan. That not their part of the debt. That is only the stimulus plan.
Now maybe you are not smart enough to figure out what that really means but I know darn well CNN can afford to pay a mathematician to figure that out. Which means they are intentionally lying to the nitwits that cling onto every word.
You think Americans won't riot in the streets? Remember Marc Ferman, LA? Remember the Chicago Bulls? NBA Finals? What do you think will happen when those entitlement checks bounce? Wake Up America! It's about to happen if we do not cut this govenment by at least 1/3.
In many ways, America is the way of Greece now, as Greece are fiscally looked at by the EU as being the same as US republicans.....spend just as much as ever, but don't tax the rich or corporations to pay for it. Dine & dash economics.
Our corporate tax cuts are already fairly high. In addition taxing the "rich" only brings in a fraction of the needed revenue. If you want to solve the deficit problem (not the debt problem), you need to tax the middle class. But democrats, republicans and most of Americans will not go for that. So this time, it will be interesting to see how much more debt Americans can stack up before the house of cards falls. Should be interesting to watch.
the president can not spend money dipshits. why do you not assign the blame to the folks who spend the market? next time try both chambers of the house....
The federal government plans on adding $700 billion to the defecit this year. Even if they were to cut that in half, which they will not, we would still end up with $3.5 trillion in new defecit over the next decade. And Fareed thinks that adding $3.8 trillion to the government's revenue over the next 10 years would solve our defecit problem? I think he needs to go back to the chalkboard and check his math. The reality is that America is in deep trouble. The fact that not raising the debt ceiling would result in almost immediate default on our debts means that we are borrowing money to pay the interest on our other loans. Think about that. The federal goverment only collects about $1.4 trillion a year in tax revenue, which means that we would need to reduce our budget by one third just to break even, and that's not even counting the increasing debt service payments. In order to make the transition from borrowing to repayment, the wars will have to end, entitlements will have to be cut drastically across the board, and taxes will need to be raised substantially not just on the wealthy but on everybody. Of course, that's not going to happen. What's going to happen is that the Federal Reserve is going to monetize our debt by printing boatloads of US dollars, which means that we're going to end up with a currency crisis. In short, Fareed is very, very wrong.
IThe wealthy argue that they shouldn't have to pay for those who have not achieved the same level of success as themselves, yet completely ignore the fact that their own success was determined by the system and the government which is established in the United States.
The United States provides a lot of benefits for the wealthy: political and economic stability, a strong military, defense of corporate and personal interests overseas, tax loopholes and legal provisions which benefit corporations and enable them to invest in capital more efficiently, and a strong system of universities and research institutions which enable technological development.
In fact, many corporations rely on government spending as their business, such as in defense contracting and other projects.
These leaders owe their success to the system as well, and as it has traditionally been in many cultures, it is the civic duty of the wealthy to give back to those who have enabled their wealth.
To say that it's a zero-sum game with taxing the wealthy is simply an ignorant statement. The wealthy don't spend their surpluses in areas that benefit the economy, such as education, capital investment, or increasing the wages of their workers. They hide it overseas or entangle it within complex derivatives that make it difficult to properly assess risk and liability.
Money that goes to the Federal government doesn't just disappear into a black hole. It's spent on programs which often benefit the people and the economy in the long-run. If the money is in the hands of the rich instead of the government, nothing changes. The money eventually has to be paid by somebody in the end, whether now or in 20 years. If you cut the programs as the other alternative, rather than raise the revenues to implement them, then you still lose just as much. For instance, by cutting education funding, you likely preclude future economic and technological growth that would have made up for those costs.
People who are misinformed though will simply repeat the propaganda that is spewed from all sides of the political spectrum, without any sense of its implications. Having our politicians, many of whom are lawyers and not economists, try to formulate these policies is like having a car repairman advise on the engineering of the automobiles themselves. They work in similar fields, but lack the expert knowledge that comes with formulating the proper approach.
how many college grads are looking for a decent job? tell me where America is going with 9.1% unemployment. People who say that this is just temporary are out of their minds. The manufacturing sector is almost gone from our shores. Teenagers cannot find jobs because older people with more experience are grabbing them like hotcakes. Can someone tell me how this all started?
Fareed Zakaria, you are like Obama and the Democrats you so obviously support. You are all looters of the American people. IMO, as for people like the muslim killer Fareed Zakaria you can leave now. We don't want or need any or your culture, and please take the lazy non assimilating blacks with you. None of you know or understand the constitution, or that we are a Republic, and not a Democracy. Just get out.
The definition of a republic is a representative democracy, as opposed to a direct democracy. Excellent mastery of basic definitions you have there.
“Cut Spending” = I’m too stupid to contribute real solutions
“Slash Entitlements” = I have money and I’m too stupid to contribute real solutions
“Get rid of regulations” = Playing by rules is too complicated for me
“repeal Obama care” = I have never been seriously sick
This is why we need more guns.
So let's think about this:
Cutting government spending during a recession, when the private sector is unwilling to make up the difference –>
Economic contraction->Decreased incomes–>Decreased tax revenues–>Smaller tax cuts off of those incomes–>
Smaller economic stimulus through tax cuts, plus further economic contraction which likely increases the long-run deficit problems
Only a fool would blame the spending from Obama's stimulus for causing these problems. In fact, prominent economists thought that it was TOO SMALL to make the impact desired, which was in large part due to the clamoring of the same people who now hypocritically criticize it right after denying it the funds necessary to be successful.
The political games have blinded people from the reality of policy making. Politicians are only concerned with power, which means they have to make the other side look as bad as possible. Often, this involves preventing the implementation of policy under their regime which would be beneficial for the country. Until this jockeying stops, the government won't function as desired.
Anything to yourself from the truth. Sit down with a calculator and do the math. I will give you the numbers are most recent. I'll even round them down for you.
320 million americans
154 M Work
100 M Pay taxes
48K Average income
42.M americans make more than $250K
Debt 14Trillion
Stimulus added 830 B to debt
Obama says it created or saved 2 million jobs
sorry that should be 4.2 million make more than $250K
Have you ever taken a class in macroeconomics?
It's about a lot more than just the jobs. When the economy contracts, there are cascading effects and feedback loops that continue to deepen the decline. When revenues decline, production and hours decrease, which leads to fewer hours for even retained employees, which leads to less disposable income, which leads to further declines in revenue, etc.
The government has to step in during a period like that to offset some of the decreases in private spending, or these cascade effects will deepen the recession and lengthen the time of recovery. Sure, it could bounce back on its own if you do nothing... in 10 or 15 years. I'm sure we'd all be willing to make that sacrifice, right? Yeah right.
During the Great Depression, the Federal Reserve refused to assist banks that were going under because they thought that it was simply the fault of poor management- at every bank. Because so many dollars in savings were disappearing, the effective money supply tumbled and tumbled.
To the idiots who think our government owes only $14Trillion. Think about this. Interest. If by some miracle we roped in spending and stopped this administration from bankrupting the entire infrastructure, balanced a budget and was able to pay off $1Trillion of deficit per year.
This will never happen anyway, I'm just saying if.
We no longer owe $14Trillion. We owe $14Trillion plus interest for one year. We have a workforce of 154million. Over 50 million of those do not pay taxes because they are below or near poverty. We would have to have a 40% flat tax. all 100 million taxpayersat an average income of $48K a year which is the national median
So each of that 100 million will owe annually 19K a year in taxes to pay the debt and current spending so we do not rack up new debt.
No matter how you break it down we have 100 million taxpayers paying the bill for 320 million people.
It can not last
I will almost be re leaved when it all comes crumbling down Maybe the idiots that vote for the tyrants that have racked up this debt will wake up and see that they have been outwitted by nitwits and join us in fixing the problem. I doubt it but maybe
What's also interesting is that the loonies think that the fact that the poor and middle class don't pay as much in taxes is contributing to the problem, rather than that it is actually a symptom of it.
These people can't afford to pay the taxes because middle class income has stagnated in the last 10 years in real terms, while that of the upper class has continued to increase even through the recession.
Why has this deeper problem occurred? Why has the gap between the rich and the poor continued to grow in recent years? We can't afford to tax the poor because they can barely afford to put food on the table now, let alone if they had to pay 30% of their income to the Federal Government.
If the rich want to keep collecting more and more in income, then they should be willing to provide for those that they take advantage of in the process of acquiring such funds. Who were the victims of the financial collapse? Not the corporations, but the everyday Americans. This is the price that we pay for this income, so it is only fair that the ones who cause these problems foot the bills that are attached to them.
I'm sure thats what your Government professor taught you and you got an A+ in his class. But in the real world The economy reacts to what the government is doing. If the gov threatens them with extortion they protect their money.
Combined salary's me and my wife make about 80K a year. 6 years ago we made $90 a year. and that with nearly 15% inflation. We pay nearly $9K a year in taxes. While people I work with whose spouse does not work gets UNearned Income Tax Credit.
So basically I work a little over a month soI can give it to them to by rims, or a new TV or whatever they waste it on every year. I see the ignorance personally so don't tell me that they are struggling to put food on the table. I know better.
I'm not saying they're aren't families in need. But there needs to be massive restructuring of entitlements.
I agree withyou, but 320 million Americans? does that include illegals? If so that is not Americans then. He's not taking that into consideration. I don't think the upper class has stopped vacationing or stopped buying a new Mercedes or Porsche because of the economy. Maybe the upper class should pay the taxes for the lower class and the middle class shouldn't pay any to even all the classes. One thing the upper classes forget ... that lower and middle classes are purchasing their products or services.
If the CEO of a company (ex: HP or Microsoft) is making a great deal of money it is because a lot more lower and middle class people are buying computers than upper class people since there are fewer upper class people to begin with. Without the lower classes, they would sell enough products to stay in business so these idiots need to realize that. Why do you think many American malls have empty stores.... because the lower classes can't afford the merchandise. Why has Macy's been selling lesser quality clothing, because obviously the wealthy can't keep Macy's running, they have to sell cheaper made products to get the average Joe and Jane to continue shopping there.
If Chrysler and Ford want to stay in business they need to appeal to the lower classes; the wealthy usually buy German, British or Italian cars ... not Pacificas and Fiestas. It's in the interest of corporations to pay more taxes so average people can afford to buy their product which in return will generation producing more products.
Correction – they pay less in income taxes. Which are not the majority of taxes. They pay disproportionately more in state, service, property and gains taxes.
The No 1 problem in America is "Zero Liability Voter" They have nothing to loose except for their entitlements that the 100 million taxpayers owe them.
And we now have parasites in the government willing to steal from us and give to them. More than 1/2 the citizens. scratch that. More than 1/2 the voters receive entitlements. We will never fix the problem if they can vote $ for themselves
seriously, here we go again blaming the poor shmoe on the bottom of the economic ladder for the country's woes.
You realize if we paid people a living wage and tied it to inflation, almost all these entitlements would go POOF. The fed would truly find a way to keep inflation down instead of printing tons of cash to hand out to it's criminal investment bankster buddies.
And since when do the people on the bottom have control over health care costs, food costs, oil costs, housing costs, renting costs, and other necessities that make them POOR to begin with
Put the blame where it truly belongs.... on the borked political system that creates laws that benefit the elite few at everyone else's expense.
Discretionary spending on entitlements is large, but still only a minor fraction of the total U.S. budget – that's why the Democrats don't take entitlement reform seriously, because the only things that really need to happen to them are that they need to be restructured to reflect the fact that the male-breadwinner family structure is obsolete. Between this and eliminating tax caps on them they become solvent forever. In fact, Social Security runs a surplus! The idea that entitlements are ruining our economy is specious and was created entirely on the fact that the GOP thinks it's immoral for people to care for one another. And Social Security is not an entitlement, we pay into it our whole lives and collect at the end – it's more like a single-payer Roth retirement account.
No, our spending problems come from three places – one, the Bush tax cuts came from the GOP idea that we could just spend all day, start 5 or 6 hot "low intensity" land wars in the subcontinent (a move every general throughout history has said is a good way to lose a war) and a couple of cold ones, because the debt shall not be questioned. Obama tries the same tactic, and all of a sudden this is his fault? Bush also created government extensions and a procurement program that has a no-questions-asked policy about company behavior or the prices that private firms charge the government. Recently, two shell corporations made from a business that makes corporations sold the government millions in parts that were both counterfeit and cost tens of thousands of times what the government would've paid paying Americans to manufacture the parts here, let alone just procuring from the local Home Depot. Medicare part D just pays Big Pharma whatever it wants to charge on drugs. There was and is no negotiating and no competition, which is cronyism it its finest. Procurement and public/private partnerships have to go.
Second, the majority of our revenue goes to two things: Fed loan debt and the Pentagon. Add in non-competitive procurement and no-bid contracting that overcharges the Government by thousands of percent points services that the government could create itself or go with existing private services, and this problem is exacerbated. They are becoming behemoths that are promoting empire by the dollar and by the bullet. They need their leashes reigned in, and now.
Third, the discussion on responsible revenue has been poisoned by the myth of the tax oppression of the rich. While the right moans about taxes on the rich, the fact is that while they technically have to pay more in income taxes, the whole tax code was designed so that they wouldn't even have to pay that, though loopholes, tax havens and write-offs they themselves designed. It also completely ignores the fact that the richest make their wealth from "capital gains", whose taxation is virtually nonexistent. The corporations here in native Oregon usually pay less in taxes than I pay for a drink at the vending machine. The richest corporations pay nothing, receive refunds from the government, and refuse to invest in local infrastructure or jobs. The last "tax holiday" they were given saw a lot of money repatriated for almost nothing, saw no jobs made, saw hundreds of thousands of jobs laid off or outsourced as executives at the companies repatriating gave themselves raises and bonuses.
The majority of taxation in this country comes from non-income/social contract taxes, and such taxes are paid disproportionately, both by class and as a percentage of pay, by the middle and underclasses. Illegal immigrants pay more in local and state and service taxes than the corporations and executives illegally employing them. I find this recent Northeast University study of S&P500 companies telling:
"Between the second quarter of 2009 and the fourth quarter of 2010, real national income in the U.S. increased by $528 billion. Pre-tax corporate profits by themselves had increased by $464 billion while aggregate real wages and salaries rose by only $7 billion or only .1%. Over this six quarter period, corporate profits captured 88% of the growth in real national income while aggregate wages and salaries accounted for only slightly more than 1% of the growth in real national income. …The absence of any positive share of national income growth due to wages and salaries received by American workers during the current economic recovery is historically unprecedented."
So here's what's at the heart of the problem – corporations have overrun everything, refuse to pay their workers, who cannot then pay taxes or spend on taxed services or products, while these same corporations that refuse to pay taxes or invest in business continue to lay people off and get what little is left of the tax and social contract system dismantled. You can only drive costs down so far without revenue increases.
There are budgets in the House and Senate, the most visible being called the People's Budget, which would use proven and sound economic principles and successful progressive policies to get this country back on sound footing with less deficit spending than the Paul Ryan plan, and would do it ten years earlier. I don't hear anyone taking that seriously. It's telling that few even take seriously the plan put forth here, because even though Clinton oversaw the first surplus since Nixon he's a liberal and therefore a communist terrorist.
The greatest period of American growth had a term – the Trente Gloriouses in French, between 1955 and 1975, when progressive policies designed to protect the world from the nightmare bred between the Alpine countries, when the top tax rate was 90%, which not only prevented aristocracy, it did not stop people from doing well when they worked, and it gave the government plenty of money to run the scientific experiments to improve our lives, maintain infrastructure and prevent abuses of our utility supplies, such as food, water, power and sanitation. This, along with high unionization and an expanded social contract, created the greatest era of equality, prosperity and social justice this country had ever known. It ended with Nixon and the creation of the Powell Memo, written itself by fascist sympathizers in America, which has guided the GOP since, and the country has only gotten worse since.
This reverse-socialism for the powerful, this upward redistribution of wealth and corporatization of the government, where the rich own everything and control everything through their corporations, where empathy and the social contract are things to be reviled, where war is good and rights are bad, where the state regulates people and gives business freedom – this has a name. When Mussolini created this social Darwinist system of government in the 20s to combat the rising tide of those who denounced the rising tide of left-leaning people who denounced the elite's ruin of Italy's economy by the tides of WWI.
He called it corporatism, and it eventually gained the name fascism. It's here, it's draped in a flag and waving a cross, and it has all the big corporate solutions to small government problems, ready to sell to you with a smile and with disdain for everything your Founding Fathers rebelled against Empire to end.
Slight grammatical correction to the second to last paragraph – strike the first "the rising tide of those who denounced", it's redundant.
Miss Grammar has spoken. Somehow she got the Fox News stick out of her butt, and threw in some nonsense that had nothing to do with what the original poster was trying to impart. Typical Repub.
I can't help you. Keep getting your facts from cnn and the dnc's homepage and continue to hate the greatest country on earth. This time next year I'll be retired living tax free in Belize. I hope that hope and change works out real well for you.
BTW I know it's still bush's fault. Maybe you should campaign with that one
All this nonsense about how the middle class has to take on a mountain of debt/taxes to enable the poor to live like they aren't,... well,... poor..... has caused our basic problem in the real estate market:
read George Will's review at
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/burning-down-the-house/2011/06/30/AGeRSGuH_story.html?hpid=z5
and those were Democrats.
Some people just won't be able to have everything everyone else has. Deal with it.
On the subject of entitlements such as healthcare, please stop comparing us to Canada, which has national healthcare. Canadians earning $10-50,000 pay 15% in income taxes for that healthcare. Ours pay about.... squat. So they should get... (wait for it).... squat.
This is incorrect. In fact Canadians earning $10,000 with no kids would pay 0% in income tax. A family with two kids earning $40,000 would pay 15% income tax on about 22,000 earnings. so about $3000 for their whole family. Also, in the USA people earning less than $50,000 still have payroll taxes deducted, in Canada there are no real payroll taxes, only income taxes.
If the 110,000,000 Americans in that zero-bracket paid the same 15% as their counterparts in Canada, it would provide about $365 billion to pay for the healthcare they keep demanding. I'm willing to do it if they are. Problem solved.
In fact, in Canada the middle and low income households pay similar taxes (total tax burden) to the USA, the upper income earners actually face a higher marginal income tax rate in the USA, but they are able to write off so many expenses and use so many loopholes that they actually pay a significant amount less in the USA than they would in Canada.
The U.S. is the only rich country whose population will increase in the next 25 yrs? Hmmmm - Stats Cda says that "From 2009 to 2036, Canada's population could grow from 33.7 million to between 40.1 million under the low growth scenario and 47.7 million under the high growth scenario." Canadian per capita GDP is about $39K, the 12th highest in the world. Love the show.
Yep. But more likely we'll go the way of Rome. We are already in social degradation, no longer believe nor trust in God, allow homosexuality, kids to have very violent video games programming them to be violent adults... but then complain about violent adults... allow drunks to drive and get DUi's over and over again, have no regard for others talking and texting and watching DVDs while we are supposed to be driving...
Overconfidence with high debt is the recepie for disaster!!
I bet that guy holding the sign has no problem sucking up his social security benefits and medicare.
You are so correct!
Please, go out – run for office, get your friends to run. We have got to take it back. Teabaggers are a nightmare of ignoramus balogna!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Keep on re-electing them!
For those attacking the addition of revenue through increased taxes as a doomed path, I invite you to visit Canada. Our tax rates are lower, but our tax revenue is much higher because we don't have the loophole laden system that the USA does.
Canada has a strong economy, stability, a much better off middle class, a great public education system, universal health care, lower crime rates (less than 1/2 the rate of violent crime), much better health statistics, and so on. We also have a very capitalist oriented system.
We are not Greece!
US like Greece?
Wow that means our food will get better but our wine will taste like turpentine!
I found this article to be another example of the media trying to scare people. Shame on them and shame on cnn for running it. Responsible journalism is essential during these times and we are infiltrated with crap. This article is CRAP!
We are not Greece. Greece, the first great democracy, and Greece is not what it once was – over a thousand years ago!
The United States clearly has too much debt. However, it can be rectified. All those that hated Bill Clinton forget that he brought our government into a surplus after the Reagan and Bush years. President Obama needs to keep us on path and then when we FINALLY get out of these middleeastern entanglements (where so many good young and career service people and contractors have lost their lives) we will persevere. We are Americans and we are different. We are the ones who didn't belong in our home countries because we think differently – even if we are decade and century descendants. We believe that everyone has opportunity. Europe is wonderful and experiencing huge problems all at the same time – but they are not us.
It's simple, everyone must work, everyone must pay some taxes, rich can pay more (and a higher percent) than the poor. Whatever we collect in taxes we need to live within our budget every year...If our life expectancy grew from 62 to 78 then we need to retire at age 70 instead of 65. It's quite simple...if we understand that we all have to work more, spend less, save more and conserve more then and only then can we avoid the Greek Tragedy.
If Republicans let it.
Seriously?!? Letting the tax cuts expire would solve the deficit problem, but not the debt problem. I felt misled, and anyone who read this garbage and doesn't understand economics would think that the tax cuts expiring would lead to a promising future. But in reality, tax increases, such as what occurred during B. Clintons reign limit the number of jobs created. I will say, a balanced budget is nice to see, but that can be accomplished by limiting the bureaucracy, not taxing further what I need to keep a roof over my family's head.
RON PAUL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Ron Paul is an oxymoron. He claims to be about free, free, free.
Guess what ladies – if you need to make a "choice" – he is not pro-choice!!!! If you are a women then you are not free, free, free!
Ron Paul is a fake. A fraud. A misnoma. Stop treading on me! Give me some real Americana – but not Ron Paul.
You don't know any thing about Ron Paul then.
You most likely dont want to be free free free
"...America is demographically vibrant, thanks to immigration. It will be the only rich country that will see its population grow over the next 25 years..." +++++ This sounds like propaganda to me. Anyone who thinks our already-short-of-water nation has resources enough for triple the population of 900M around 2100 (the way it's headed) instead of 400M with very restricted immigration without it is either mislead or wants cheap labor.
What Fareed is saying is that he wants more foreigners in America so they can claim a bigger stake of it.
USA sucks
We would but we can't find it.
The time for arguing is over.
The debt ceiling must be raised.
Tax revenues m,st be increased simply to keep the governement able to pay the interest on it's debt.
There must be a freeze on any new government programs-that means anything-even those programs in process right now.
The Fed has to raise the Prime rate it charges banks woerldwide for the money they refuse to lend to anyone.
The U.S.Treasury needs revenue right now.
That means tax revenue.
This is'nt rocket science people.
You spend -x you need to have -x to be able to spend.
The Republicans want a two billion dollar a week war for the next five years-where's that money coming from?
You can't cut it out of all the social programs to get it.
THE MONEY IS NOT THERE.
YOU NEED TAX REVENUE .
Phil, You are correctamundo.
Thank you for being brave enough to be truthful.
If we don't stop all these foreign involvements and wasting billions of dollars trying nation building and if we don't take a realistic look at raising taxes it could happen!
If you remember the line from Patton it really rings true today! "No one ever won a war dying for his country–wars are won by letting tjhe other poor bastard die for his country!"
Choose your next words carefully, duck.
i wonder what happens if i take this stick and i poke it in your eye...
nice column. stephen king called and wants Fareed Zakaria to know he already wrote something far more scarier than you. like a lot more scarier. SO, BOO YA!
How does ending the Bush Tax cuts, netting about $4 trillion over a decade, get us out of a $14 Trillion debt hole, which is growing at a rate of $1 Trillion a year?
We have little job growth, the nation's income is going to the rich, not the poor and middle class, many of our jobs are being outsourced, so there is a constant erosion of the job base/income, and we are debasing our own currency as fast as we can print it. Debts on SS, Medicaid and Medicare are increasing, as people live longer, and care gets more expensive.
Within the next 10 years, the other "rich" countries may very well lose faith in us. The Fed goes unchecked, the GOP can't even raise tax revenue on their buddies, the rich, much less the rest of us, and spending on entitlements won't slow anytime soon. Plus financing every war we can get ourselves into, and we just let The Fed put it on our unlimited credit card?
If things continue on this course, I EXPECT us to go Greek in 10-15 years
BD
The ENTIRE world economy is collapsing and there is no one who can stop it.
It's collapsing because it doesn't serve the planet anymore.
It's entirely biased toward the G8 countries and, inside those countries, the bias is toward the wealthy.
This imbalance is cause.
I make 8.50 an hour, after taxes I think I work for around 6.75 an hour, will that be enough to help bomb villages?
You probably voted GOP who only care about their Millionaire and Billionaire friends.....
We're all peons in this new era of the corporate robber barons.
I think we should change the US flag to something different. Lot of people in america hate that flag.
It won't happen, the spineless political leaders will give in after causing needless suffering in order to grandstand for their ideology and their ignorant followers. This is all a game to them because there are no consequences or accountability, so, some will suffer as a result of this game and the ponds are human beings.
This will be the last game, because the development of a solution is being constructed, The American Party, a party that starts at the bottom and rises to the surface.
Complexity is always defeated by simplicity.
http://www.askfmb.com/Newsfiles/TheAmericanParty.html
If, on August 2nd, America defaults on its debt for the first time in history, it will be a choice by the Republican Party.
Republicans will have chosen to willfully cripple the American Economy for decades into the future,
in order to continue a few more months of unbalanced power and wealth for a tiny number their corporate sponsors.
Such evil and stupidity is almost beyond the imagination,
But that is their plan.
We must not allow them to destroy America.
I paid the ol IRS off, gottem back to zero after penalties and interest and all. Am i doing enough on my war effort part?
Enjoy each and every one of the 536 days remaining!
Let me guess... you are another corporate minion?
Who isn't? Do you use deodorant, drink Pepsi, use toilet paper?
Go the way of Greece? Are you kidding me? That is why Greece is Greece, we can get away with 20 trillion dollars in debt, they cannot. We have Obama. Enough said.
Try as you might to frame things as though we are above it all, keep in mind that CORPORATIONS RUN THIS COUNTRY, NOT THE CONGRESS. THEY ARE PAID MINIONS JUST LIKE THE TEA PARTY.
I believe Greece also has another major problem – their agricultural practices have led to the loss of most of their topsoil, thus they cannot feed themselves. The U.S. may find itself in the same boat, especially as the price of oil drives up the cost of chemical fertilizers and pesticides.
Crisis ? The only crisis is making sure jersey shore stays on TV and I can swing my fat but over to burger king for a triple whopper. Living the american dream, one onion ring at a time.
So long as it does not go the way of islam like in this video : http://theync.com/media.php?name=22225-shocking
We all know liberals are never wrong! Therefore it is impossible that the U.S. would ever have a terrible debt situation like Greece, especially after President Obama's miraculous stimulus of $2.8 trillion which saved us all.
This is why I hate CNN. They decided to make this the headline article on the FOURH OF JULY! How un-patriotic of you CNN. Focus on the strengths of this great nation.
Are you liberals finally waking up?
What strengths are you talking about? We're 14 trillion dollars in debt, steeped in corruption, we live in a fascist corporate plutocracy. It's not a democracy, etc, etc.
It is alot more serious than you think! Don't under estimate the seriousness of the problem. US is in financial ruins.
then stop voting for obama, admit your buyers remorse, and you will be forgiven.
America would have been paradise under McCain/Palin!
Me an Mayble grow tweed and watch riots on CNN in between NASCAR, when i used to pay taxes there was a bridge I used to take to work been broke a 2 years or so. I got fried for showing up late on my moped late. This year how can I chip in on the hole war on terror thang. I got a pit bull out back, ol Obama could maybe us one and maybe I would get a Christmas card. I got booted from my double wide im in a single now Mayble anit happy bout it, but I guss Ol Uncle Sam got my back go USA!
Im tired of reading this guy Zacaria. he is not an expert on eanything. Just a big blogger. See ya
Happy 4th of July my beautiful America and to all of you Americans. It is surely rough times but we will get over them.
Godspeed!
Amen.
so long as we say "no" to liberalism, yes, we will be a happy nation once again
Amen, Snarks.
Both parties are to blame people, the democrats use foodstamps and other programs as a form of economic slavery to keep people from trying to make, it just to get there vote. And the GOP plays to companys and the wealthy for there vote and influence in Washington. We the people of the United States need a third party in congress and the white house to fix these probelms which isn't that hard to do really. Think about it we gave the EPA power to shut down our Steel, coal and oil busniess forcing us to rely on China and the middle east, we also have to highest corp tax in the world at 35% folks Companys want to come here because of our skilled labor force, but we tax them so much who could blame them for going to China after all we still buy there products. After all thats why we are in the middle east the Saudi's want protection from Iran and you watch this will be the next cold war, we must pull out of these conflicts and work with Canada to build our own secure energy supply and yes Canada is the US number one supplier of oil. But this falls on the American people every 4 years we have the chance to change the system but yet well still vote like robots....
North America could do so much more than America! There should be no borders between Canada-America-Mexico! Let's tax the entire continent and build a world empire! Wait...the Romans and the British already tried that!
536 no North American Union BS. But all jokes aside it would be nice to have a North American Oil Cartel...
The only source I find to be MORE questionable than the CBO or GAO is Fareed Zakaria – who seems to have elevated himself to degrees of expertise well beyond his pay grade.
Since when did journalists, who report upon events, become de facto experts about the subjects they're reporting?
but wait, he went to Harvard, and he is Indian, so he must know everything...right?
If it ain't Obama, someone's got to save the world!
This Fareed Zakaria fellow is a globalist without the important self-interest of the United States @ heart. It's time to wake-up and smell the coffee and remember our constitution. Time has not changed the underlying theme of our founding fathers and political correctness should be powerless to try. Remember what made the USA great and lets bring it HOME.
will the USA go the way of greece? I SURE HOPE SO! as masochistic as it sounds, it seems the only way to utterly destroy the way this poor-excuse-of-a-government we have right now is for a MAJOR event to occur. greek people realize their system is broken. they realize the politicians are a failure. they realize that wall street runs the government...not the other way around. which is why they are taking to the streets. the only way americans will protest anything en mass is if 'american idol' was taken off the air or if the 'big mac's' price rose two dollars.
im so sick and tired of people blaming obama or bush or mickey mouse for the ills that we face...people cant see that the WHOLE system is broken. politicians dont give two f#cks about what is best for the country...all they care about is getting reelected and getting more lobbyist dollars in their pockets.
wake up America, the system has failed you. come august 2nd, you'll either face reality, or you'll be given a 'compromise' that further dooms our country.
The plan worked out perfect...To put a black man to be the savior of the middle class when the farther couldn`t be the truth. He was and always has been in the pockets of the mighty! Has the war budget increased or decreased under him ?
Actually, in bush's 2nd term, the economy was starting to come around in 2006 when the dems then won congress and the senate...they then did their very best to stymie the recovery and strategically decided to crash the economy to forestall another republican in office. The bleeding started with fanny and freddy, whose 2 biggest recipients happened to be none other than barack obama and barney frank....GO FIGURE...add in soros and his democratic buddies and the imploded economy worked wonders for the dems....
to blame bush is juvenile...the FACTS are there for all to see...under bush the economy was coming around....under the dems control of both houses, the rebound was obliterated. Remember, soros has done this before ....like he did to great britain and the pound....while he made billions. Its no coincidence that he is best buds with obama.
the democrats constant talking points of "millionaires and billionaires" is absolutely ridiculous...why? because people making over 250 k are first of all, not millionaires and billionaires and its these people that are going to be taxed as if they were, and all to make the progressives happy... but taxing THESE people is to tax the small business owner...I agree that REAL BILLIONAIRES CAN pay more and should, but people making 250 k should NOT BE TAXED in this economy. Why the dems want to screw their own recovery by including these "folks" in the class of millionaires and billionaires is just silly and moreover, its cheap political posturing by this admin and its gang of academic do gooders who in the real world know very little. Obama is clearly putting his own political survival ahead of the economy of the nation and in particular, ahead of the "folks"(as obama likes to call them) on main street.
The great crash was set in motion through a terrible set of decisions, based on good intensions. Clinton and Bush both promoted sub-prime mortages as a way of getting non-traditional buyers into houses. Unlike conventional loans, in order to sell them to the secondary market, they had to be valued and bundled in novel ways. Then something happened on the way to the American Dream: greed.
The greed inherient in the system perverted valuations, and qualified the unqualified. This left enormous amounts of fictitous money on the books that had no real assets backing them up.
So who failed? Bush and his neutered SEC? Clinton for starting the failed policies or the Democratic Congress at the time of Bush for pushing for the changes in banking rules in the first place?
Or maybe, just maybe, it is in our nature, regardless of party to have our greed out pace our common sense.
bllllllllllah blah who cares...dumb people arguing on the internet.
I pay way too much in taxes and refuse to pay any more. Greece is like a small boat in trouble with plenty of supertankers ready to lend a hand. The US is the Titanic.
The best capital markets in the world? After Lehman and Madoff? Fareed needs his head examined!
Not a very good analogy!
Remember the Titanic?
Like the Titanic the US is going down...
I don't think the USA situation could end up in a massive economic turmoil. First of all, because the American economy is a fair bit different from the Greece economy and neither is long mired in a huge debt.
Fareed does not have any formal training in economics. Just because one country's economy is in the toilet does not mean it is like another country whose economy is in the toilet.
He supported Barack Obama during the 2008 Democratic primary campaign and also for president. In January 2009 Forbes referred to Zakaria as one of the 25 most influential liberals in the American media.[9] Zakaria has stated that he tries not to be devoted to any type of ideology, saying "I feel that's part of my job... which is not to pick sides but to explain what I think is happening on the ground. I can't say, 'This is my team and I'm going to root for them no matter what they do.'"[8] But that is exactly what he did and announced on his programs his support for Obama.....this man is a Muslim and was born in India......not worthy of any real discussion.
Another stupid article about what if and an author looking for glorifying stupidness.
Have you looked at our future debt to GDP ?? we make greece look like iceland.....
Seems simple if Obama has the courage to stand his ground and not give into the republicans AGAIN. Get rid of the Bush era giveaways that reward the rich on the backs of the poor and middle class. That takes care of the immediate problem. THEN, reform medicare. There are way too many extravagant give aways in it. I just read last week where medicare had approved a new cancer drug that cost $93,000 and gives cancer patients another 2-3 months of pain filled life. Now Im not against people extending their lifes if thats what they want and IF THEY CAN AFFORD IT. But, I shouldnt have to pay nearly $100,000 to give them another couple of agony filled months. And thats all it is, agony. My mother died a painful cancer death where she refused treatment after her 2nd chemo because it made her so sick and now 3 years later, my dads dying of it too. I have to wonder just how many extravagant treatments like that our public insurance programs pay for. Its unsustainable and rediculous. Long term, its got to be reformed. Theres no need to kill the program like the republicans want, just get it under control. Just think about it. $93,000. Thats more than most average citizens will PAY INTO THE TAX SYSTEM DURING THEIR ENTIRE LIFETIME. How long can a tax funded insurance program stay afloat with such spending? Reform it and move on.
i think the US should go back in the past and see how the people back then lived so they can see how this great nation was and how it can be once again if we all come together. and for once can someone please have some hope and faith in this country to see that we can pull ourselves out of this rabbit hole we have dug ourselves into.
Greece handcuffed in European union becoz of OCA , its like comparing Apples to rotten oranges
could america go the way of greece? yes, and any country could go the way of greece too.
why do the rich have everything. The poor steal from the poor. My apartment was ransacked for the total value of 300$ iin goods. The police are worthless. If a rich guy gets his stuff stolen its national news. The rich folks live on capial gains and stocks from old money, they forget that alot of us are getting tired of this. Thank you Greece, riot on. I have been watching you and the South Koreans and the French you are all great rioters. Its a matter of time... I do read and do remember Bastille Day and the Russian Revoulution 1917.
The article has raised a good question but it has sugar-coded the answer. Unfortunately the likelihood of the US becoming the next Greece is more real than we are willing to admit. Here are the fundamental problems of the US economy; our politicians don’t have the foresight to raise taxes and/or to cut spending, we may be productive but we are not producing much in the US and, finally, we have become the landfill for the rest or the world where every piece of trash is allowed into the American market without any protection for American-made products. The current conditions of our economy are not sustainable and I don’t see anything changing soon enough. And that qualifies us to be the next Greece!
You are right on.We are "productive" health care billage,legal fees,public sector employment,license fees for EVERYTHING! Productive is a conditional word.The condition of ours is NOT GOOD
Just let the Bush tax cuts expire and most of the deficit problems go away. Stop trying to wage war in 5 countries at once (Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen, Libya) and the rest of the problems go away.
The country could go bankrupt, but Americans would never have the guts to demonstrate or start a revolution. They have been too much brainwashed into believing that it is OK that 1% of people own 70% of the goods.
unemployment & Inflation are the major issues, tackling these tradeoffs Deficit & debt, most of the developing countries experience Deficit & debt in the devalopment.
The Greek gov owns well did own most of all the industry's along with that high paying state jobs and pensions which the country could no afford nor any country could afford to do that over a period of time. Now the EU is demanding them to move away from a welfare state in order to get bailed out again which is only pro longing whats going to happen. So the people are going crazy because they no longer get paid 30,000 euro's for driving a bus. To break it down it's like trying to brake a baby from the bottle.
All of the vets in WW2 and other wars who fought for this country and freedom, the men and women who fought in the revolutionary war and all of the people who made this country what it was ten years ago. I bet all of them are turning in their grave because what this bunch of idiots(Republicans and Dems) have done to ruin this great nation all for political gain. Lets hope the debt ceiling is raised or your house payment and car payment will go up and up and up and at the same time your take home pay will go down and down.
If I pay ~33% in taxes on my tiny $50K salary, the rich should be forced to pay the same percentage on theirs...with no way out...and since a corporation is considered a legal person, they should also pay their part too. It's amazing GE was able to find loopholes and basically not pay anything in taxes. If we all paid our dues as members of this great country, we wouldn't have a problem.
So get on the phone and DO something about it. Whining on this forum won't get anything done about it.
Kick my dog, levy my house, take everything I have. Then I am coming after you...
Oh yeah? So when was the last time you got on the phone, called a legislator and PROTESTED about ANYTHING?
As in NEVER?
This is nonsense. The US government is the monopoly issuer of its own currency. By definition, it can never run out of money or become insolvent. It does risk inflation if it spends too much or taxes too little, but it does not rely on the markets for financing. Rather, it is the other way around–the markets (and businesses) rely on the federal government's reliable, secure debt issuance. Greece, on the other hand, uses someone else's currency (the European Central Bank's) and thus must go through the markets to finance itself. In other words, Greece must acquire its money while the US may create its own money.
The difference between a currency issuer and a currency user is very stark–the former can never be insolvent in its own currency, while the latter can become insolvent since it must acquire someone else's currency. There is no solvency crisis in America. There is no (federal) debt problem, though there is a huge state/local government and private sector debt problem.
The real problem with the US economy is a lack of imagination, a lack of a systemic and reasoned understanding of debt and money, and a solid set of ideological blinders on virtually everyone across the political spectrum.
Could U.S. go the way of Greece? .......
NO – because Americans don't have the guts to protest about anything. They'd rather sit here on a web forum and bittch about everything instead.
What an amazing article. Well thought out and ripe with multiple sources to back up the argument that Greece is completely different than the U.S. Informative, but I'm looking for the source that explains to me how a large household that makes less and less each year through a decline in production can sustain an ever growing credit limit that it utilizes, but lacks the ability to repay with each passing year. I don't care what sources you cite. When you have to borrow every year to cover your bills there are two results: you eventually go bankrupt or you eventually go bankrupt. I don't see where high intellect, emotionally based arguments can solve that. Please edubufact me.
Another tax cut for the Millionaires and Billionaires which only increases the debt. Paid for by the American people.......
This is GOP 101 trickle down economics. How is the economy and job situation coming along. Had enough of this Voodoo economics.......
No one should have there taxes raised. I promise you this people a corporation will make it's bottom line ragardless of how much you tax them, they will just fire enough people to make up for the new taxes or move operations to a more corp tax frienndly country and I promise you there is a list a mile long, then you would lose another 1,500 to 3,000 jobs. We need to cut spending , bring our troops home and close these stupid bases in Germany and Japan thats eating billions a year.
Go back to slep dumbazz. Come back when you yank your head out of your buttt
Listen, if the Corps don't like America anymore...then please leave, I will take local business over their baloney anyday
Unnecessesary for America to be like Greece. WE KNEW THIS WAS GOING TO HAPPEN BEFORE HE WAS ELECTED.
SO I HOPE TO GOD YOU LIBS ARE SUFFERING TOO.
GOP created this. A 2 Trillion dollar tax cuts to Millionaires and Billionaires skyrocketed the debt. It was not paid for. American people picked up the tab......How do you like tricle down economics....
NO, NO NO – - it's all Obama's fault. just as one of these moron republican. They'll tell ya!!!!
And that Kennedy guy – boy, HE started Viet Nam and all this economic mess too!!!
When a Republican hears the word "Memory" they think they hear "Memorex" and run to get their cassette case!!!
Yeah – let's put your pal Bush back in office. he was such an inspiration to your kid's future – wasn't he?
SHUT UP STUPID.
The U.S. will never see its people object to anything because none of you know what it's like to not have anything. Plus you don't have the balls to protest bout anything either.
How many Greeks do you see posting whiny messages on this web forum? NO – they DI something about it instead!!!! Like that will ever happen here.
Your all a bunch of slaves!!! Too lazy to get out and really protest. People need to march on Washington with guns and take back our country.... I think...greece produces great olives!!!! I like feta cheese. WAKE UP!!!!!
I;ve been saying that here for the past SIX MONTHS and YOU are the only one who's agreed with me..........OR said anything about this.
How ironic is that?
SET A DATE AND I;LL BE THERE. ANYONE ELSE WANNA SIGN UP?
I'm ready for a good march.
Maybe if we cut spending/spend wisely and responsibly, get people to start rolling off the government's breast and limit "social programs", put people back to work so they have money to spend on taxes and goods, increase taxes moderately/gradually across the board as the economy revives, and close gaping tax loopholes, maybe that would be a good start. Maybe.
Oh wait, that is too easy and makes some sense and would have to have elected officials actually work together. Can't have THAT now in American politics, now can we? No, we can't apparently
What Bolo said is true. But let's just say one day that nations of the world say the US dollar will no longer be the worlds reserve currency?? That means we can no longer print monery and have to borrow it from the market like who??? Greece.
Yea, that's our problem. Americans arent TAXED ENOUGH!
lol
when you tax the rich... take for example OIL COMPANIES... you increase the cost of gas!
taxing anyone is a drain on the economy, because government just WASTES it on bureaucratic nonsense and bombs
its stupid. enough already.
A rock has more common sense than you do!! If we put a windfall profits tax on the oil companies, as Obama SAID he was going to do, they would have NO reason to continue raking huge profits from us........AND the price of their stock and commodities prices would go down – thereby lowering the price of oil.
Stop talking stupid.
That's as ignorant as saying that if people sold off all their oil stock, that oil stocks would go up!!!
Surrrre they would. When donkeys fly!!
Why is this Op-ed piece the front page story on CNN.com? Sure, run a story about our debt or Greece's debt, but don't advocate solutions like the politically contentious deficit reduction proposal from the Obama administration or suggest that we should let the Bush tax cuts expire. This is not how a respectable news organization should operate.
Problem is that they let to many illegal immigrants and have given them to much money for free like food stamps and cash and medicaid. We need to stop allowing them to come in. They need to be sent back to there country. Enough is enough. Pretty soon we need to put the borders up in California and Texas and call it Mexico. Then they complain that the US is bad go back to your own country and complain to your government. .
Send Fareed to Greece, so they can employ the simplistic solutions he proposes. FZ is basically full of hot air with 95% of his "political" analysis. He is tiring.
By now we all know that Fareed Zakaria is in the tank for Obama and is a moron.
Well we certainly know you're a moron.
"CNN's Fareed Zakaria said on Thursday that he has been having regular discussions with President Obama about national security and foreign policy.
Asked by Eliot Spitzer on Thursday's "In The Arena" if Obama has been calling him up lately, Zakaria said, "mostly it's been face-to-face meetings...usually organized by Tom Donilon, the national security adviser."
With the way our government is being run the US could absolutely go the way of Greece.
yes, it is possible. we can't spenmd it if we don't have it. taking away corporate jets wont do it. what is that 2 billion. a drop in the bucket. what about the 50%of people who pay nothing in taxes. they contribute nothing to this country. They are parasites. Greedy seniors, lazy bastards, illegals. Stop spending NOWNOW NOW
Once again CNN is in the tank for the O'man. . . .Pathetic!
That's what we need more, give the gov't more of our money so they can waste it.
Raise your hand if you think gving more of our money to the gov't will solve our deficit problem.
Raise your hand if you think the gov't will all of a sudden learn to be prudent with our money.
Your solution give more money the corporations so the debt can increase and the Average American like you gets stuck with the bill. Wake up...You have been coned
Unless you're a Fat Cat no one said anything about YOUR money. LISTEN DAMMIT. What's with you republicans?
You believe in trickle down economics. It does not work. The Millionaires and Billionaires do not pay their fair share of taxes even though they control most of the wealth. The Average American worker gets stuck not only with his taxes but also picking up shortfall of the Millionaires and Billionaires taxes also. If trickle down economics works so well why under Bush the economy collapsed. You have bought into the Millionaires and Billionaires lies and they play the same game with you over and over again.......They increase the gas to make more money and give you the execuse it is because my taxes went up. It is nothing but a lie......
Fall of America wouldn't be a good word, but it may not stand united due to Government Policies, Cutting down on State budgets and increase in Federal Government budget deficit (14.5 Trillion Currently). It may not going to happen over night, as most of the Major world wide economies are directly or indirectly dependant on US economy. In phase one they have to remove that dependency and in second phase the alliance of major states will emerge. If we go back 10 years, most of us are crying about 911, but I witnessed Sep 14, 2008 and days after that and trust me the ripples are catastrophic.
Policy makers are not faithful or lobyists are too strong, this is what American Nation has to decide.
"Would Congress simply allow the Bush tax cuts to expire – returning rates to where they were under Bill Clinton's presidency when America created almost 25 million jobs – that one action would provide the federal government with $3.9 trillion in revenues over the next decade and basically solve the deficit problem."
This comment alone shows how much this author knows about economics. Raising taxes does not guarantee a raise in revenues. It's Econ 101. The author can't just assume raising taxes would net a certain amount of money. In fact, lower taxes, over history, have brought in greater revenues. Typical left wing commentator who doesn't understand simple economics.
Fareed Zakaria?
Really?
Comment on the Middle East.
Go away.
Goodbye.
He's not from the middle east but I agree, I hope he goes back to Neverland.
As "Scary" as the right-wing fear mongers try to make this, they ignore several key points:
The US is a product and resource rich nation that is only faling to make use of its available commodities in a new and progressive manner.
Additonally, the right0-wing and corporate providors of said right wing have all to gain by repressing the economy and labor for a stronger stranglehold on the middle class as well as controlling the wealth of the nation by keeping it from the economy.
We need to stop supporting political parties that have an entrenched motive to repress the economy and create a revolution that redirects our country towards self reliance, green technologies and ecological stewardship that assures that the next generation enjoys cleaner water, greener landscapes and healthier air.
Anything short of this is self destructive both economically and ecologically.
The longer we allow the right wing to make pollution and resource depletion the norm for profut, the harder it will be to recover without sacrificing something fundementally basic... Our rights and freedoms.
The longer we allow the plutucratic right wing to decieve and distract us, the harder it will be to save the middle class.
As resources dwindle, people fight harder for them. Greece has few.Just a preview of the USA. The rich sit atop those resources until they are taken down. "Let them eat cake". "Mission Accomplished", "at Reich for a thousand years". Fact is they only lived a short life and pass thier greed onto more rich folks while our families died for thiers. Riot on!
Hopefully American't will fail. I'd love to watch you idiots scrambling for scraps of food and shelter while the country crumbles all around you. I'll be watching the news from a socialist country laughing at all you AmeRoman idiots.
Why is America so envied? If we go down so does everyone else the only diffirence we will be eating dirt while you will be eating your own crap and pee.....
In the big DUHHHH" department........What's amazing about you republicans is that you can't absorb ONE thing:
If the economy was GOOD when Bill Clinton was President – and it WAS..............what practices would you put BACK into effect NOW to change the country BACK to where it WAS then?
A. Clinton's?
B. Or George Bush's?
SEE – There's your answer!!!! All of you Limbaugh-ites can go back to sleep now!!!!
Could marginal media pose absurd questions like this without any basis?
What middle class ????? Obama got rid of those folks.. You still don't get it I mean don't get me wrong I do not like the idea of Millionaires and Billionaries not paying there fair share of taxes. But Ive been around enough of them to know, they will always get around it thats how they got rich in the first place. But the middle class rely's on the rich just like the rich rely's on the middle class , The rich normally creates well paying jobs which middle class people work. If you rob Peter to pay Paul your solving nothing just creating class warfare. We need to be a more corp friendly country to allow these companys to come back to the US and hire more Americans which will grow the middle class and create more revenue to pay down the debt.
How much more friendly can we be to the mega corporations? Many of them don't even pay income taxes. The US taxpayers have bailed out how many industries now? The banks, the auto manufacturers, the airlines, and the insurance companies when disasters strike. And let's not forget all these wars that keep the defense contractors in business.
Please wake up from your dream.
America can only support our economy. It just ain't working trying to support ours and Mexico's. Twenty million leeches robbing it from us and sending it to them. Every payday through WalMart or Western Union. The raping of America has got to stop in order for it to survive. And one more time. They're illegal aliens and not immigrants. It's a slap in the face to a legal immigrant to be put in the same category.
why cant we just have everyone pay a 40 fee a month so that we are able to lower the national debt. lets just say the US population is 225,000,000 as an example. we would be able to lower our debt by $9 billion dollars a month. I know it would only be a small impact on the debt that we are in, but if we are able to put in a little more without the government raising any taxes we just might be able to get our kids out of the mess that our government has put us in. The solutions that the government has set up seem to be in the short term and something must be done so that we do not end up looking like Greece's economy.
GET REAL. I'm not paying an extra $40 a month to pay for all the bailouts and wars. Actually I think all Americans should stop paying taxes until the Federal Reserve opens their books and the troops come home. The mega corporations and elite really run this country via their puppet politicians. Until these elitists are either taxed or killed, the gap between the rich and poor will continue to widen. And you can kiss middle class america goodbye in the long run. These people have been treading on us since the early 1900's, and no one can get off their ass to do anything about it. Everyones too busy. That's what we've been programmed to think. If you aren't busy, then youre an outcast of society and not a productive citizen. For 90% of the population, all a productive citizen is, is someone who makes the rich even richer. This country isn't even a capitalistic democracy. It's simply a selective socialist police state. I certainly wouldn't want to be an elitist if the general public revolts, because it will make Greece look like a picnic in the park.
Your exactly right. The coming apocalypse will be when civil war erupts in America for the 2nd time. And it will.
Too many rich corporations control Congress and we the people has perished from this earth.
What good is freedom from tyranny if your a slave to big business?
If you want to see a Middle class again then call your Reps. and tell them to pass E-Verify. Also tell them to strip the citizenship of anyone born to two illegals. Putting employers in jail for hiring illegals should be mandatory. It's time to put the blame where it belongs. Either you're with Americans or against them. No amnesty, no compromise. I served this country and shouldn't have to support the enemy with my taxes. I'd rather spend money deporting them than supporting them.
The US cannot go the way of Greece but ill-informed politicians (and the journalists that propagate the lies) threaten to send America the way of Japan.
It's no lie that Corporate America has bought our Congress and we lost control of our nation (We the people has perished from this earth).
Corporate taxes have fallen from 39% in 1955 to 19% today despite a 35% corporate tax rate. The difference, 16%, represents all the tax breaks and loopholes enjoyed by businesses who keep blackmailing congress to get their way or they will move operations overseas.
What's patriotic about that to celebrate on the 4th?
What good is freedom from tyranny if your a slave to business?
America has 2 problems 1. Democrates 2. Republicans, People like Fareed are part of the problem. Mouth piece of Wall street and Washington thugs.
The Illuminati want to take down America. Its been almost 4 years and there is no fricken recovery taking place CNN so quit downplaying everything. In my eyes only the politicians should be on the hook for all this damn debt, not the American people. Politicians are the ones fucking this country over, not the average American. Governement needs to get the hell out of the way and let Americans live their lives!
A rich man and a poor man get equal treatment in the USA? "Alll men created equal?" What a fcuking joke.
That's sad but true.
Big business has bought our Congress and were slaves to the corporate smucks who get richer and richer at our expense. The middle class will disappear in 10 more years at this rate and America with it.
So what's so f.cking good to celebrate on the 4th?
People, people, people. Where were you all when Mr. Bush had started the wars and gaining profit in HIS OWN OIL COMPANIES with his partner Dick Cheney. You brainless morons, Obama is trying to solve a problem that is created by BUSH.
Yes, America will soon change its name to Cuba. The government will control everything. They are doing it already. Pretty soon you'll be driving your bike to work, lol OBAMA SUCKS
Careful now, saying anything negative about bush is unpatriotic and could even lead people to believe your a terrorist. However, crapping on Obama is ok. Ahh, gotta love republican double standards.
it's the 4th of July.... you can stop being a Debbie Downer for at least today
HMM... your facts seem a little out of date. Actually the USA will see slower population growth than Canada in the next 25 years. best check the rest of your facts
If i had a gun and i had a choice to rob a convience store or rob a rich persons house, ill start with bankers
Good choice.
And to the people calling GOP'ers right wing nut jobs and brainwashed , take a look at yourself. I am a republican that believes gays have the right to marry and every single American has the right to pursue happiness. But this is what our parties wants us to do divide and conquer. We are a lot more a like than CNN and FOX would have us to believe I mean we all want our kids to have a great future don't we???
Divide and conquer has been completed and your a slave to big business.
That plus the illegals are dividing us as we speak even more.
Another BS headline...the short answer is NO..and explained pretty much in the first paragraph...Yet another political media generated crisis.
Keep thinking that way. Big business loves you.
The system is corrupted and 'By the people' is meaningless when rich corporations control our Congress.
The USA will soon change its name to Cuba, The government will soon control everything even your bank account. Keep thinking that Obama is good. It's the exact same picture of Cuba. It's so sad.
No it's the exact same situation as Nazi Germany before world war II.
The United States is NOT Greece, is NOT like Greece.
The end result will be the same–national bankruptcy.
CNN actually picked July 4 to air this article, just unbelievable, some timing for this wake up call. Having said that, I do agree w/ the absurd spending of US defense, w/ 50K troops in Germany, ??K troops in Japan, Italy, etc., when is this giant welfare program going to end?
Who are these "many people"? Again, it looks like Zakaria is refuting an argument that doesn't exist.
We here in the USA will see these same scenes of protest against the financial terrorism orchestrated by the same banisters like the IMF, Goldman Sacks, and the European Central Bank, and Wall Street.
All of these financial institutions are operating in a schizophrenic and desperate mode that has made them sink down to a status of gangsterism no different than that of a drug cartel.
As more and more risk is is loaded to the financial system more and more desperate measure are imposed onto the state governments, the federal government, and unto the citizens of this country.
The financial crisis unfolding in Greece is only the beginnings of what is to come to this country and others that have been already been attacked by these banksters, like Ireland, Spain, Italy, Portugal, and Iceland.
As the financial meltdown unfolds and hits every persons pockets, retirement plans disappearing into thin air, 401k gone, property values melting down another 50% of their values, food and gas prices sky rocketing unto unsustainable heights, as well as the privatization of all government institutions, and the dissaperance of a stable educated Middle Class gone, unrest and anger, will set in as a awaken citizen will see beyond the smoke and mirrors that have been clouding the view of their reality and their unsafe future.
These thief’s have misused there privileged positions and have gamble with the future of the citizens of this country.
This manipulation of paper money by the Federal Reserve, and by very well known government financial advisers, Wall street insiders and the government have joined into an unholy alliance that have
demolished the very foundations of this Democracy and western European democracy's, case in question Greece, that has lead to an attack unto the people and their way of life.
An air of discontent and unhappiness has settled into the American Working Class and the working Middle Class in this country.
A tipping point for sure will come that will send thousands into the streets demanding a end to the financial abuses by the banksters, and the imprisonment of all these financial terrorist’s, and the cleansing out of our crippled and sold out federal and state governments that no longer represent the citizens of this country and their needs, and the restitution of a constitutional government For the people by the people.
The truth is the bulk of all jobs created over the past 40 years have been in countries like China, Taiwan, Indonesia, India and Mexico, NOT America. American businesses are greedy and couldn’t care less about America or the American worker. To avoid paying a decent wage here at home, these so called good American business owners abandoned their fellow countrymen long ago to exploit poorer third world nations simply to increase their own already abundant wealth. As you look to Glenn Beck and Michele Bachman for answers we slide into a two class society and many of you continue to support conservative policies that led to our own demise. You people had better get a clue. This isn’t about unions, Obama or liberal policies. This is about 40 years of corporate America and the GOP selling us out one job at a time. We have been forced into nothing more than a service industry economy so that corporate and government fat cats can enjoy enormous wealth and lavish retirements. After 40 years of off shoring and outsourcing our good paying jobs and all that is left for Joe the Plumber is minimum wage work with no retirement. Now we have our own state and local governments attacking the last few good jobs left in America that pay a decent salary and again conservatives support it? So while many of you complain about a lack of good paying jobs conservatives astonishingly continue to support GOP policies that make it all possible.
Your right–partially. The problem is that both Republicans and Democrats have sold out to corrupted businesses whining and complaining of taxes that are too high yet American businesses enjoy an average taxes of only 19% despite the 35% corporate rate. The difference–16%–is the affect of all those tax breaks and loopholes enjoyed by rich corporations feeding off the generosity–I say corruption–of our Congress at the people's expense. Jobs will continue to be farmed out overseas and unions to be disrupted and dissolved as the rich get richer and the poor get poorer and 'For the people, By the people, and Of the people' has perished from this earth so why should we celebrate the 4th at all–it's not our country anymore it totally belongs to the rich corporations who are almost universally corrupt and unpatriotic.
Read what you have written Mr. Zakaria.
You have used the words "would" (Would Congress simply allow the Bush tax cuts to expire) and "were" (Were it to implement the Simpson-Bowles Deficit Reduction Plan, for example), which are situational and dependent on the leaders running the country.
If you have not observed it intelligently, the current serious problem of America other than the obvious problems of debt and deficit, is leadership!
Nobody wants to act decisively.
So having said that, the scenario you have painted "would not" not happen because the leaders and are not bold enough to implement anything positive that would address the problem.
America will go down the drain very soon. It would be worse than what happened to Greece!
No it's not. It's corrupted businesses blackmailing Congress to do their bidding and keep lowering their taxes in the form of tax breaks and loopholes such that the average corporate rate paid is 19% today when it was 39% in 1955. We the people has perished from this earth because we let Congress become corrupted right along with big business.
I know that the U.S will become like Greece or even worse. The route we take currently isn't working. I put my ideas and thoughts on what we should do but no one listens. This country will fall just like the great empires like the one's before us. In order to keep us from becoming a nation of failure, we must create a plan that I know will work. But, I will not give that plan just for creditability reasons.
America it is stop thinking of politics and think about your future with this economic problem and fix it.
It will fail because we lost control of our country to the rich corporations who keep blackmailing congress to do their bidding by lowering taxes in the form of tax breaks and tax loopholes. Businesses pay 19% taxes despite a 35% corporate rate and since 1955 have fallen from 39% to 19% as a percentage of revenues.
Businesses are all corrupt–they have bought Congress–and 'For the people, By the people, Of the people' has perished from this earth.
The monetary system is ruining America.
Time to take a look at what the forefathers wanted compared to what we have now.
we need a regular citizen to run the country. Someone who is middle class and works like a hog to support there family and watching little by little there money not be enough to put food in there kids mouth.
I believe a middle class person like myself should run for president of the US because they have seen and go through the problems everyone else goes through. Only thing is they must be intelligent, know what they are doing, and can they handle decisions that will change the country and the lives of millions of Americans. Hmm... Sounds like I can do that job with out all the stress and without that grey hair look.
What do democrats call 4th of July, in America?
Fire Cracker day
Meanwhile Republicans try to count to four.
B-but Fareed, if we tax rich people, they won't give us any JOBS! Don't you know rich people fired all those who work for a living because of HIGH TAXES!?
Oh, wait...Rich people aren't paying taxes...we still lost jobs....jobs, taxes...tea party,....malfunction, malfunction.
Since 1955 the share of taxes felt by business has dropped by half: it was 39% in 1955 and it's 19% today (despite a corporate rate of 35%). That just goes to show you how many tax breaks there really are and loopholes predominate for every business almost. Individuals don't get such luck. Theirs has risen from 61% in 1955 to 81% today.
Time for a Boston Tea Party. A real one.
The mistake conservatives make is assuming they speak for the entire country because they don’t. Not everybody hates the government, not everybody believes our government is evil. Not everybody thinks our constitution is undermined by our President and not everybody thinks the constitution is a piece of property owned solely by the right wing. What is absurd to me is while conservatives worry about socialism infecting our government they embrace fascism with open arms. The truth is conservatives have given up on democracy and long for a fascist police state. You hate our government, you hate our President and you even hate your own party. You favor racism, bigotry and a single party system that opposes any liberal ideas and a government that favors business and the rich at the expense of everyone else. The sad truth is conservatives are always Republican first and American second.
it will be hard to fix our problems cuz the people in charge are wealthy people that don't feel the pain of the normal people they don't really understand what a struggle people are going through when they start putting the people first instead of there own wallets we will be better off and how much is the war costing us i am currently in the army now thanks to the economy don't get me wrong im proud of my choice and i don't regret making it i love serving my country and i know the war is important but we have already done so much maybe we should let the country's try and do it for themselves we can't afford it anymore
The rich get richer - excessively richer - and then then wars begin.
Businesses have corrupted our Congress by blackmailing it. Those businesses begin with "We'll move operations overseas if we don't get what we want". The same thing happening on a state-by-state basis when businesses don't get what they want–they move to another state or locality.
Businesses share of taxes paid has dropped from 39% in 1955 to 19% today, which is far below the actual corporate rate of 35% because of tax breaks, tax loopholes, and as I said above–blackmailing.
So much for wanting to celebrate the 4th.
I myself don't feel like celebrating being a slave to big business.
WTH CNN? This isn't news! This is fear mongering! Stick to the news and quit making hypothesis news.
Sorry Eric this is real news we may not want to face it but it is sorry bro
Unfortunately Eric CNN is not independent news, they are a reflection of Ted Turner.
Unfortunately I think our great countries best days are behind us, I know no one is going to like what I am going to say but it is the truth when we kick God out of everything he will no longer look put for us we are continually doing everything that is contrary to what God expects, I cannot not wait for the naysayers to start in on me about this one. How do you think this country became so great so fast not by coincidence, of course for you unbelievers there must be another way. First of all we have an ungodly president everything he stands for is contrary to what God would want abortion and gay rights are just two, go ahead and laugh but if you live long enough you will realize I am right. God bless america and God bless God our creator and Christ Jesus our savior
God has nothing to do with this you sick religious booster.
I truly feel sorry for you and knew it was a matter of time before someone like you would jump in and say something like that but it is also people like you who are blinded and cannot see the real truth that are part of the problem let me ask you brother when the end comes for you and if it is a slow death who will you cry out for then I will pray for you like it or not you might even have to cry out for Gods help tonight and if you do I hope he hears you
Our country is in the crapper because we have Thieves and Scoundrels running things in Washington. God didn't forget us our politicians did.
God doesnt pay the bills....
Jesus didn't bring my check by last week. You idiot, doing something is all that will change things. Praying is just an excuse for doing nothing.
What does this indian curry slurper know about anything haha
Curtail US Federal Government power and spending. Repeal the 17th Amendment to the Constitution. Read Federalist Papers 62 and 63.
Greece and America are only fundamentally different in that the rich are richer and the poor are poorer thanks to excessive tax breaks mostly to the corrupt corporations blackmailing our Congressional members and to the super rich.
I am rich by no means I grossed about 30,000 last year but what about those people who receive 10,000 tax returns two years ago I know personally of two families that received this amount.
what the author is implying is the same thing displayed by everybodys comments... The economy is not the problem, it is divide between the people.. Actin like kids serving self intrests instead of the country as a whole... USA greatest resource has never been its natural resources, but its people, its ideas and its attitude... We are not Europe, Asia, South America... WE are the United States of America and WE and only WE will be our downfall... WE must NEVER let that happen...
No – we have a MUCH broader economic base than Greece. That said, we need to work towards reducing our debt and preparing for the future to ensure economic stability in the years ahead. To do this, we need to:
- raise the top tax rate from the current 36% to 39%;
- close tax loopholes that allow companies and individuals to skip out on paying their fair share (they use our nation's infrastructure, they should help maintain and add to it);
and cut spending, such as:
- oil industry subsidies (they're making record profits; they don't need our help);
- wasteful military spending (the pentagon has a list of programs they've said they can cut);
- redundant programs
We need to maintain a social safety net to those most vulnerable among us (children, the elderly, the disabled, etc.) and invest in our future and infrastructure.
We also need to develop green and renewable sources of energy. Our planet will always need energy; we have a chance to take the lead on innovating in this area – now's the time to do it!
Think of what America could have done with all those over spent funds by the Bush and Bama administrations. Bush over spent 4.9 Trillion during his administration and Obama an estimated 6.5 Trillion. That's $11.4 trillion (most of the national debt).
If those funds had been spent wisely and not given to the rich banks and corporations enjoying record profits–we could have:
1) Rebuilt our ENTIRE infrastructure (cost: $3.1 trillion source–National Geographic)
2) Paid for solar panels for every home in the nation (75,000,000) as a freeby so that most homes were standalone energy efficient (producing as much electricity as they consumed). Cost: $3.4 Trillion; source–Solar Energy industry). Breakdown is 75,000,000 * $60,000 (for each home) = $3,400,000,000,000.00.
3) Built an entirely new Hydrogen economy for operating hydrogen fuel cells for all our cars, trucks, buses, etc. Cost: $4.9 Trillion. Source–Popular Science
Thus, if we had spent that $11.4 TRILLION that Bush and Obama wasted on war mongering, enriching rich corporations (especially banks), etc we could have attained energy independence from OPEC, rebuilt our infrastructure for our children to use, and reduced the carbon footprint enormously for the USA.
Thanks all of you stupid politicians. Your all idiots.
Thank You!!!
Why spend money that we don't have. Everyone can say money could have been spent on better things if there was money but there wasnt any money to spend on anything and it was squandered on many useless things.
Of course we are going to go the way of Greece and it is our own fault. We would never elect any politician who told use the truth. We want to have 1T wars in Iraq at the same time we have tax cuts rather than increases and still give Grandpa the medicine he needs to live. The fault lies on the American people, not any politician.
Yes, in my opinion, America can go the way Greece is going at the present time. If the Republicans/Teabags keep refusing to solve American problems...Greece will look like a fire cracker when the explosion finnaly comes to America. Just a matter of time...The middle class/poor in America cannot take too much more. I am expecting the upheavel, but, also dreading it...it will be nasty.
America has an unsustainable debt. Ben Bernake has also done endless damage by printing trillions of dollars devaluing the US dollar. America should bite the bullet and defualt on payments. Wipe the slate clean. Yes the current recession will be get more severe but do not doubt the speed at which the US economy will bounce back.
Continuing the US on it current path will only see eventuate in more endless debt.
$17,000,000,000,000 (Trillion) current debt. And congress fights over a couple of billion dollars in cuts?!!?! What hope does the US have on its current path?
Your getting a bit ahead of yourself Steve. The current debt is 14.3 Trillion but it will be 17 Trillion when Obama leaves office (give or take a $100 billion or so). But continuing the same path and by 2025 we will catch up with Japan and have a debt of closer to 200% than the 100% it will be by the end of 2012.
Just as each state must balance their budget, and just like many states have created state balanced budget laws, the nation must do the same or it will cease to exist just as Greece will by the end of this year and Japan within 5 years. Their debt is not sustainable in the long run and it's only by tricks and suffering that they have been able to escape bankruptcy for the last 10 years with a 200% debt of their GDP.
I give America at best 8 more years to 2020 and if nothing is done to balance the budget were doomed.
That's not much of thing worth celebrating on the 4th when corporations own our congress and we lost control.
thanks to corrupt politicians and a system which allows donations to BUY congress.
The system needs to be changed. Only the people can do this by being UNITED.
The problem is that so much spin city is out there that few one can see the forest for the trees.
For sure Obama can't. His administration is more out of touch with reality than and US President in history.
We can't afford 4 more year of either Republicans or Democrats. They both are wrong. They both are stubbornly set in their ways like concrete–permanently set and all mixed up.
The most interesting thing is that none of you see that the problem we have is presented right here. What we have is a country that is so busy insulting the other side that they aren't fixing the problem. Honestly, do you really think you understand the complexities of our nation and how it operates? Obviously its more difficult than it seems, otherwise we would not need CNN and fox news to interpret the data for us. And since these two news outlets can say completely different things about the same topic, its clear that even they aren't entirely clear. Obama, Bush, Clinton, Regan, all of them are doing there level best to do what they THINK is right... The problem is that we are adding so much junk in there that we wouldn't be able to tell if they tied their shoes right. Really what we all need to do is read the minutes from Congress, understand how our government works, and stop listening to the hype. It isn't helping us at all.
Just because a POTUS starts military action does not mean he's "right wing." Also, FZ saying that "budge cuts" lead to a worsening economy is about the most short sighted thing I've heard. This country's boom came during a time when there was much less government interference in individuals and businesses lives. The less government spends and the less government taxes the better the economy. We cannot "tax the rich" out of this, the "rich" simply do not have enough wealth to do this. Instead of getting people dependent on a system teach them how to feed themselves through community gardens, oh wait, that would infringe on Obama's dealings with Monsanto and ADM (huge supporters of PBS by the way). The best thing to increase revenue and make the system fair, because taxing the top 10% and allowing 48% to not pay income tax is not a fair system, period. Flat tax everything at a certain percent this way everything that someone buys, except food, is taxed. There are solutions and many of those solutions lie in the lap of individual responsibility, not government working on behalf of people. Our government was never intended to feed people, or to giver them healthcare, or to confiscate land, or to tax people into oblivion. Our government is there to protect us from invasion and make international trade deals, THAT'S IT. Everything else is either the responsibility of the States or the people themselves. Anything else is unAmerican, just like this left wing propaganda machine who wrote this worthless piece of drivel. ZF is a hack and a shill. Yo ZF, how about you write an article about the fall of the Roman Empire and how it's causes were mainly a corrupt senate that did whatever the Caesar wanted (kinda like our congress), and a porous border where people from poorer areas flooded in and eroded the resources of the state. You could even write a story on how States Rights were usurped all in the name of Democracy in this country. This country is NOT a democracy, nor was it ever intended to be. ZF, and people like him, are easily spotted shills and none of his opinions should ever be considered worthwhile. All he wants is for the Federal Government to make things good, because he doesn't believe individuals have the capacity to do so. And CNN giving this obvious constitution hating revisionist both air time and page slots show me more than ever they are part of the agenda, or at least complicit in demonizing one side of the political spectrum and cheering for the other. And as America sits firmly in the middle you wonder why G4 has better viewership. So congratulations on supporting this nut job FZ as he would like the constitution abolished and rewritten so government has more authority over the people. What a jerk.
I would love a flat tax so long as it applied to everyone equally. That means all religious group, all charitable groups, all businesses (no tax breaks , not a single one), all people, and the super rich who hide their income overseas in Swiss banks. I would make it illegal to export any income at all and all income is subject to taxation first, answer questions later so that money can't be transferred overseas without taxes being withheld by law.
America was strongest and most wealthy when Taxes onte wealthy were 90% . I might add tat there was still government ad aboutthe same amount of it. Why is it some people go back to some mythical time that never existed to be nostalgc about?
Wait till next years hyperinflation here in the US. I can't wait to get my first million dollar bill, and next month my first billion dollar bill, and next month my first trillion dollar bill, and next month my first etc.....
You already got your first Trillion plus IOU–the national debt of $14.3 trillion.
"Could America go the way of Greece?"
A strange question to be asking on the Fourth of July.
America already has. Isaac Asimov wrote, "...Solon had shown that there was an alternative to oligarchy other than tyranny. Athens offered democracy as an alternative and for that alone she deserves the eternal gratitude of the modern world."
- "The Greeks: A Great Adventure", by Isaac Asimov, published in 1965.
It's not a strange question at any time or place. America is on the verge of a complete collapse due to corruption within our own Congress granting big businesses excessive tax breaks and loopholes such that the average tax rate paid is only 19% (one of the world's lowest) when the corporate rate by law is 35%. Those tax breaks represent over $1 trillion a year in lost revenues and most of our deficits. We the people has perished from this earth so why are we celebrating at all??
I think America's debt problem can gradually dissolve by reducing financial commitments to other countries. Another significant drain on America's financial resources is war expenditures. If the meaningless wars in Iraq and Afghanistan can be stopped, especially now that Bin Laden is dead, lots of monies will be saved. It is time that policy makers prioritize their policies in order to avoid unemployment of the workforce.
America is a sick sick country. Highest crimes rates, highest government corruption (Rich Corporations own Congress), highest number of idiots in government (all of them, every single one), one of the largest debts as a percentage of revenues, stupidest TSA that has a license to be sexual predators, dumbest border laws that allows an average of 3 million illegals across the border every year, dumbest President in the world, etc, etc.
The U.S. government is just one big joke with how they want to spend the tax dollars. I am on Medicare and in need of hearing aides to help me hear better and I would be happy to have a pair that cost around $2,000.00. However Medicare will only cover the implant kind of hearing aides that cost up to $125,000.00 which is insane. So I sit here and decide if I want them to cut my head open to do this and waste $125,000.00 of tax payers money when a $2,000.00 pair of regular hearing aides work for me which they don't cover for anyone over the age of 21.
I also had a toothache for 3+ yrs since I couldn't afford to have it fixed and Medicare don't cover dental over the age of 21. So the government wasted $4,032.00 keeping me on pain meds for it when a simple $100.00 for the dentist could of ended it.
I too have been considering that. I wear BTE's and get by (barely) but it's ridiculous you can get a $125,000 operation but can't get them to buy hearing aids which would work in 90% of the cases. Stupid country. Stupid is as stupid does.
Well-written but tragically off one key point: higher taxes do not create jobs. The reference to higher employment during the Clinton era ignores the rise in tech jobs during the dot-com bubble.
If you want to increase employment, lower taxes both personal and corporate. That frees up funds for consumers to buy more (or pay down debt) and allows companies to expand and hire workers.
Neither do lower taxes. Right now, corporate America has almost the lowest net taxes paid as a percentage of revenues of every major country. Only Iceland (17%) and Ireland (15%) are lower than American's net taxes of 19%. That's because of tax breaks to wealthy corporations (2 trillion in profits in just 20 months) because of their purchase of our Congress (by corruption and blackmailing). Corporate America is UNPATRIOTIC and why celebrate the 4th when were just slaves to rich corporations that get richer at our expense? Deport all these corporations! More than 1000 corporations paid no taxes at all. We should be taxing charities and religions organizations as well. No more free rides!
Lower taxes do not create jobs unless you are a gardener or a nanny, those are the only people rich people hire.
Liberals cry that the wealthy (paradoxycally defined as making more than $250M) don't pay a fair percentage of taxes. And conservatives cry that the 47% on the bottom who don't pay income tax don't pick up their fair share.
Solution: a very fair flat tax around 17-19% with no deductions and no exemptions. Everyone pays, and that includes income from government programs.
Sorry, fair taxes are only fair for the elite.
The common folks don't pay income taxes because they are FREAKING POOR and can't afford healthcare, food, and a roof over their head let alone taxes.
Thanks to a borked economic system that is unregulated and just as corrupt as the USSR was under communism. Unregulated capitalistic free markets are a shame. Call the system what it is. A wealth redistribution to the top.
Yes, America will not go the way of Greece in that we don't have ridiculous retirement practices such as giving 80% pay to retirees, but I feel like you are using Greece as a way to promote Clinton-esque partisan economic policy. the economy is never as simple as making one or two changes and seeing overnight results. Were that the case the decision as to what to do with regards to America's financial future would be clear and simple. Don't try to sway the American people's opinion on the economy with anecdotes about the Clinton era.
This article ignores the fact that Greece has hit bottom whereas the US is on a slippery slope towards the bottom.
No amount of taxes, no amount of military cut, no amount of selling off all the good schools, cities in America can slow down, let alone, pay down the interest on the debt. The American dollar will become so worthless that when we hit bottom the world will dump it completely.
Wrong. Their won't be an America after the big fall. It will break up during a civil war into more countries than the USSR broke up into. Probably along political and state territorial border lines. I'm sure you know Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California will certainly secede the nation and join Mexico since illegals out number citizens in those states.
While I generally agree with your posts, I still request that you criticize Europe and downplay its economic and educational infrastructure in a more cautious way. Mainland Europe has great education too – eduction that is accessible to everyone, no tuition fess. Also, GDP per capita is higher among several Euro area states than in the US and income inequality is less problematic.
us should cut welfare to people that haven't paid taxes for at least 5 years, give citizenship only to people that already paid taxes, including newborns... unemployment is not good too.. a lot of people here in us play with the system.. make people pay the price first... don't just be open, its our taxes that the government keeps on spending.. i m affraid that China comunist ideas soon will take over the world...Us is a such a nice country, i'm an immigrant but, nothing compare to most people that only came and take advantage of the us system.. its a bad program...
us should cut welfare to people that haven't paid taxes for at least 5 years
Ah yes, it's only the poor people who play with the system. We all know poor people are greedy free loaders causing taking everything causing the country to fail. **ends sarcasm** I mean seriously, the poor people have complete control over health care costs, housing costs, rent costs, wage costs, oil costs, food costs, and whatever else is part of the basic necessities of life.
Those elite investment banksters are simply the hardest working americans around and we all know how honest they are when it comes to dealing with politicians LOL....
You sir need a clue.
Maybe if we got a living wage tied to inflation things would change. No more subsidies would be needed.
USA will not go the way of Greece, but the way of USSR: Greece have not yet started 4 useless unseccessfull wars in a raw.
Stupid politicians! We need to clean house & start afresh!!!
Makes you almost wish Al Queda would get their hands on a nuke.
If you 'got' a living wage ???
Well, then, go out and persuade an employer to pay you what he thinks you are work. And if that is high enough, you will take it. If not, someone else will and you should 'get' nothing. No one is interested in guaranteeing you what you will 'get' just because you demand it.. That is EXACTLY why Greece is broke.
I have a feeling if Eisenhower were alive today, he would be asking why the rich are getting off so cheaply while the middle class and working poor are forced to fund the Military Industrial Complex with money they don't have, and can't possibly earn because the super rich continue to hoard profits while sending jobs overseas.
Put a fat tariff on all Chinese imports with all revenue going to reduce the deficit . . .
An optimal import tariff is an idea, but are you prepared for the layoffs at Boeing, GE, and farmers of cotton and grain? Jets, electrical equipment, and agricultural products are some of our most important exports to China. There would certainly be countervailing tariffs. Think it through.
Sorry Fareed...I agree with lots of what you say about the U.S. economy. However, the U.S.A. is not the ONLY rich country that will see its population grow over the next 50 years. Canada, Australia, and New Zealand all have dynamic immigrant populations that are expected to show significant population growth during this century.
Just our debt alone will cause this country to fail. (Do the math.) It's not a question of "if"; it's a question of "when".
Probably sooner because the current administration is leading us down a hell hole.
We all bytch and complain. We all have our opinions. We all have out recommendations to resolve the problems of America. We all complain about leaders in Washington. But none of us stick together as " WE THE PEOPLE " who can change these issues and resolve these problems........ Just Sayin
Get rid of the Bush tax cuts, period. Every single year since they have been in place the US has been in the RED. The math and facts are there, this shouldn't even be a second thought. We as a people need to stop letting political affiliation jade every single issue and decision. A government's purpose is to govern, make big boy decisions and lead by example. Instead we as a people are now pitted against each other over issues that simply are distractions. We ALL need to grow up, meet in the middle and fix our country.
Get rid of the business tax breaks and loopholes. Two trillion in record profits in just 20 months all the while the corporate average taxes paid is just 19% when the Corporate rate is 35%. That's all because of Congress corrupted by business donations into giving in to their whining and complaining they need more tax breaks to compete. Bull F.cking sh.t.
I CAN'T WAIT UNTIL THIS COUNTRY FALLS HARDER THAN THE ROMAN EMPIRE! IT'S COMING NON-BELIEVERS. AMERICA IS A 235 YEAR OLD FAILED EXPERIMENT. THE 21st CENTURY WHITE MANS GREED WILL BE THE GRUESOME FINALE ON AN OTHERWISE PROSPEROUS PAST PROJECT! SOON WHITE MEN WILL BE TRYING TO BRING THEIR FAILED AND FLAWED SYSTEM OF CRAPITALISM, AND MULTI-PARTY POLITICS TO AFRICA, INDIA, CHINA, JAPAN, ETC. AND THWART THEIR EMERGING ECONOMIES, AND ALL THE OTHER COUNTRIES WILL SAY "NO THANKS, FAILURE (LIKE THE FORMER USA) IS NOT AN OPTION!" GET READY FOR A COLLAPSE OF EPIC PROPORTIONS THANKS TO THE WHITE MANS GREED!
Leftists aren't just weak critical thinkers and historical revisionists, they're racists, too. Oh, I know, ask any nutcase Leftist academian, and they'll tell you that racism directed toward white people isn't really racism, but thinking people know better.
lol. True
Oh look! A Leftist thinks he can solve everyone's problems by taking more of everyone's money! There's a stunner. I wonder what Hugo Chavez thinks America should do?
American can and will go the way of Greece. The housing market that Obama ignored is going to be the reason it pulls us down into a Great Depression because this administration is insane.
Skimming the comments here I can only agree even more fervently with you Fareed. The juvenile blogger hostility here is sadly no more elevated than anywhere else. Cliche namecalling and glib shortcuts to conclusions in shrift degrade even your very simple call to attention of this sad reality. On top of this, one can presume all of them have a vote too.
Its always fun to read what Americans write. I swear many of you (seemingly from the states in the south and middle) would rather watch a child starve on the streets than part with a shred of your paychecks. Its not enough that you weren't born in a warzone or on the streets, you have to act even higher denying those less fotunate of simple things such as medicine, food and shelter. Things you take for granted everyday.
As for your crying "Obama is a socialist, just like Lenon" it just makes the rest of the world (us Canadians and i'm sure many other countries) think even less of you. Its arguable your country hates Obama as much as they did Bush jr...i mean seriously? Again maybe it is just from a Canadian standpoint, but your "Republicans" seem to be the opposite of what any real democracy would want, but the minute they say "Obama is bad" over half of you follow along as if you have no minds of your own. Until your south and mid states value knowledge and compassion over false gods and fears of terrorism, your country will fall deeper and deeper into the hole you dug yourselves.
I won't even bother talking about your wars and the waste of human life your country has given.
And I do agree your Democrats need work too. I just see them as the lesser of two evils
Dave of Canada, what it boils down to is the majority of Americans are, for the most part bi-polar (haven't you seen all the pill commercials on our TV???) and, that 2nd bi-polar personality is a greedy self-absorbed/self-interest concerned little demon. Center and Far-Right Republicans play a fiddle that entices each American's bi-polar, greedy little demon personality out to dance to their music. " You're over-taxing me. / You're over-pricing gasoline. / You're over-regulating business and they will lay me off for that. / You're over-regulating my freedom to drive, to eat, to make money and to do exactly what I want regardless of who else I cause problems for." (add a Nashville-style tune to this and it's a number-one hit all over the USA).
The second stanza goes, "I want cheap land and an inexpensive, but 5000sqft house to call my own; I'm an American and the government owes me that! / I want the larges vehicle that I can have and want a direct route to my job, my Wal-mart, my Home depot and my Ruby Tuesdays; I'm an American and the government owes me that! / I want the finest clothes, shoes, home-furnishings and life baubles and I want them cheaply; I'm an American and the government owes me that! / I want a luxury life and I don't want to have to go to college, start from the bottom of the ladder and work my way to the top to do it; I'm an American and the government owes me that! "
Greece and the USA aren't comparable entities. Greece relinquished full sovereignty when it joined the EU; its currency is the Euro. Greece is a small country. Greece is somewhat like a state in the USA. Seven states in the USA are each larger than Greece. Greece is ranked by the IMF as 38th amongst world nations in GDP. Fourteen states in the USA each have a higher GDP (GSP). The hazard that Greece offers is its role as the canary in the Eurozone "coal mine". Ireland, Portugal, and Spain are tottering and will probably rebound if the Eurozone isn't further weakened by a collapse of Greece.
You're ignoring the much larger debt that represents the US's coming crisis. I don't care how big you are, if your enemy is bigger you need to focus. The problem with your statistics is they are a snapshot of now. Meanwhile the debt will cause the failure of the US economic engine that currently keeps it afloat in your statistics. The US economy is shrinking, the debt is growing by leeps and bounds, and our dollar is currently being reviewed by other nations. Don't candy coat the problem by comparing statistical differences.
If all Americans kept eating 62 hot dogs every 10 minutes. Its theoretically possible.
( Joey Chestnut wins Nathans Hot Dog Eating Contest at Coney Island )
It seems like there's more Obama-bashing going on here and finger pointing at him regarding the USA's economic situation than anything else. How about each of you taking on the little part of the blame that is justifiable yours?!!? Enough with the Obama-is-to-blame deflection game.
You're all bitter and PO'ed....you over-paid for the 5000sqft vinyl-sided house with the lick-n-stick stone front out in Woodbridge or Naperville or Patterson or Scottsdale or Orlando; now you owe more to the bank than it's actually worth..We get it!!
You're doing okay but your income has taken a hit due to your mortgage....we get it!!
You had to give up the Ford Explorer and downsize to something more fuel-efficient and your all sour about that....we get it!!
You can't run to Wal-Mart & Home Depot as often as you used to and you're cutting coupons. You HATE this! We get it!!!
You make too much money to get any government bail-outs or mortgage help, so you had to cut back on spending and down-size your over-expectations. You're not happy about that....WE GET IT!!!
I hate to tell all of you "ME/MY TAX MONEY/MY FREEDOM/MY PIECE" people, but, all of these hard lessons and down-sizings didn't happen over night. They ALSO did not evolve within the last three years. The storm that brought on all this has been slowly building and brewing since about 1998. The actual fury and power of it reached it full potential within a 5 year period between 2002 and 2007. Guess who was in power then??!!?? Guess who controlled both houses of Congress between 1998 and 2008? It wasn't the Democrats!!! It wasn't the Independents!! It wasn't even moderate Republicans!!! It was solid CONSERVATIVES!!!! And how did they get all that power??? By enticing and seducing the greedy little demon in every one of us with the promise of "a level playing field", "equal access to the good life", "luxury this and up-scale that".....well now we have that and guess what?? It's padded and appointed the Expressway to Hell with down-filled pillows, Berber carpeting, cherry-wood millwork, I-Pods, TIVO-recorders and Lexus SUVs....none of which are made in this country/all of which have siphoned the wealth and REAL affluence of the USA right out of it's average citizens' pockets, sending them blinded-eyed to the bank for credit to buy all these things that are really value-less.
Now it's time to pay the credit card companies, bankers and foreign investors, so all of you are pointing fingers everywhere but in the mirror. Well SURPRISE!!! The proof that all of this is each and every American's fault is plopped in the middle of that suburban plot of land that you owe way to much to a mortgage broker for......it's parked in your driveway, way too expensive to drive as often as you used to....its in your closets, made cheaply by scared teenagers in Nepal/Hunan/Sikkim....it's on your feet as you walk down the street, desperate that others notice that you have the same over-priced but cheaply made tennis shoes that some basketball player that you idolize has.
This is NOT Obama's fault....it's NOT Nancy's fault....it's not even Newt's fault....IT'S YOURS!!!!!
*AMEN*
We want the truth, but we can’t handle the truth!!!
Guilty or not, Baez is done taking criminal cases. He'll have to start chasing ambulances.
If the US goes the way of Greece, the fires will be bigger, that's for sure.
Most of the comments here mirror the polarized ineffectual "my way or the highway" Congress. As Fareed wrote, it sure is depressing to contemplate on the 4th of July. Even the citizens don't seem to want to find a solution. Just more anger with a dose of magical thinking thrown in.
i really wanted to put "this comment" under a different heading..... but .... i want 2 get the "idea out there".... i'm not sure i got "it" exactly right .... but i think i am on the "right track" with this idea.... and want 2 throw it "out there".... and see what other people "think".....
first....
i'd let people 15 and older VOTE!!! ..... i'd only give them "one vote ... or perhaps half a "vote"....
second....
everyone from say (again this is negotiable.... 25-55.... gets 2 "votes"....
everyone who has "retired" or is over the age (again negotiable)..... say 65..... goes back to ONE vote....
reasons for this are as follows (AND AGAIN I'M JUST THROWING THIS "OUT THERE" FOR DEBEAT).....
why include "underage teens".... in the voting process..... so they feel they have a voice .... and become involved......
why only give them a "partial voice"...... their ideas are not fully developed and rely heavily on what their "parents"...or" "school teachers" think.......
why give people of "middle age" more than ONE VOTE...... because they are of "age".... and have some experience!!!!
Why give "senior citizens".... a lesser vote.... frankly they will "die soon"..... and they will not have 2 live with the
"decisions" they make!!!!
any comments welcome...... please be intelligent in your response.....
i.s.
P.S.
i want people to analyze the idea i've proposed.....
NOT 2 "NIT PICK".... ME OR MY "GRAMMAR"....
if you must know ... I AM a U.S. Army veteran..... and have a college degree in CHEMISTRY.....
i.s.
(so as a chemist i've agreed to follow the rules of IUPAC (INTERNATIONAL UNION OF PURE AND APPLIED CHEMISTRY).... LOL.... SO....
WHAT A LESSER EDUCATED PERSON MAY THINK IS A "GRAMMATICAL" ERROR.... IS ACTUALLY APPROVED BY IUPAC....
and again i'm not trying to argue about trivial "crap"..... i invite educated people to respond...... if you are not educated.... or you want to argue about trivial things.... please DO NOT RESPOND!!!!!
To answer the headline question: No. We will not go the way of Greece. The U.S. is by FAR the richest nation on earth. We are not broke, not even near being broke. Don't believe the lies. They are meant to distract and divide us.
14 trillion in debt, 1.6 trillion annual deficit. No, the truth is we are very much in debt, and we will ultimately have to default, or simply devalue our currency, one or the other. No amount of tax increases nor spending cuts will make any difference at this point. Entitlement reform might be a good first start, but the die is cast – bankrupt we are and will continue to be until we crash.
I hope many people realize the reason Greece is in their current predicament. Wall Street corporate criminals caused a global financial meltdown. Why is no one in prison? Why is the Fabulous Fab free? Google "Goldman Sachs and Greece". You'll be amazed! Amazed that no one is in prison.
Sorry, but the math does not add up. If the Bush tax cuts were eliminated, $4 trillion over 10 years will do nothing to solve our debt and deficit crisis. Our current deficit this year alone is $1.6 trillion, a far cry from the 400 billion we would save annually. We are headed on a path of total insolvency from which no tax increases will suffice. Entitlement reform is the only good first step to resolving the long term debt crisis.
Of course you do know that if we cut our Military budget by 75% we would still have the largest military in the world. That should be enough to protect us and would go a long way toward balancing the budget and paying off some debt. The rich can pay their fair share and the corporations should pay a little more than Zero on their taxes. But I figure you had these plans in mind too.
Wow - way to go, Fareed! A political commentator, an expert economist. What's next? An automobile repair talk show expert?
i.s. a far better way to handle the rather large population of people in this country who want to democratically vote on what to do with taxes they do not themselves pay is to simply permit taxpayers to electronically apportion their income tax payment between major budget areas, collectively establishing the first cut in the appropriations process. (Or, of course, they could always elect to leave that up to their congresspeople as to their share.)
Once this basic constraint is built into the budget, both Congress and the Executive would have clearer marching orders and fewer ways to weasel out of them.
It basically distributes the 'power of the purse' according to who bears the burden, rather than the one-man-one-vote, which is reserved to more binary choices, such as particular rights, laws, and acts of government.
Who made this guy an economics expert? CNN, that's who! No one else. He is making that stuff up as he goes along. Then, threw in a pro Illegal Immigration sentence in there for good measure.
America WILL go the way of Greece. Because we are now a nation of freebies. Politicians cowtow to minorities and other lazy types, giving them free stuff in return for a vote. At some point, the money pot will be empty and then it is game time.
You are an ignorant man.
The U.S. will not go down. We are edging closer and closer to a world economy and the world cannot
afford to let us collapse. We define the economic, political, cultural and legal standards for most of
the civilized world. If we go down, we will take the planet with us. And before that would happen,
we would repudiate our debt and seal the borders. But I don't think this will happen. In another 3 to 6
months, this recession will be history.
We lost our prominence in the world 20 or 25 years ago. We are just now observing the collapse. There is no stopping the implosion we may be able to make it less painful but the end is coming.
It seems that even the educated people do not understand that American cannot recover and will go down worst Greece. They need to understand the concept of US Dollar as the Base Currency and the Petro Dollar game.Its high time that we understood that the World doesnot want the Petro Dollar nor US as the Base Reserve Currency. There is no way on Earth that US can do anything to save itself, except agreeing to let go of the free money and request World Bank and IMF to intervene and restructure its debt. Along with that US will have to re write most of its environmental and labor laws to be competitive with the rest of the world. We do not seem to understand that the Land of the Enterpreneur is not longer the same. We donot have any industry to boast of except the so called Defence ( or should we start calling it the Attack Industry ) and the Airspace.We import everything from our toilet tissues, clothes,appliances,electronics,computers,toys,furnitures,electricals and what not. We do not even produce engineers to work in the US, because there is no manufacturing worth its name.We even call students who proceed thro High School students ( 12th grade ) GRADUATES ! because most of them do not even know when they will earn a bachelors or masters degree !!! In fact schools cannot even fail a student, first time in history of mankind
Lets wake up before things become worst. Is it not surprising that neither Republicans nor democrats have not been able to turn around this country ? and the worst thing we have happened is Alan Greenspan for allowing the ZERO down and 1 % APR financing, which he now admits was the worst mistake of his life. AND now we have Ben Bernanke who things flooding borrowed money to pay the unemployed is the best thing he can do to turn around the economy. Consider this ,in place of sending checks to the unemployed ( we do feel for them and have to find a way to help them, don't get me wrong ), they need to send checks to businesses to force them to employ the unemployed. This way businesses will make a profit and the unemployed will get jobs. Govt will get more taxes etc . and will be morally good to those people needing a job.We think that China has to keep financing us to keep their economy going, why ? Why will china not fund other countries like say India,who has 5 times more people then the US and make them buy from China ? Both their economies will out grow within 2 yrs. If A has to fund B to get business, A may as well as Fund C,D E F also to get more business and avoid B, who is in default. Makes any senses ?
I'm impressed! You've done your work I see. Including mentioning things that parallel what was said in the book "Willful Blindness". Best comments on this board yet.
Right on target.
hahaha...I like how people keep blaming our economic woes on Obama and Bush. Like they run the country or something. haaaaaaa. Maybe. People. Should be accountable for themselves. Maybe they should actually do things to affect the world around them in a positive way. Your reliance on figureheads is endearing however.
I don't think you understand. It's a trillion dollar deficit. There is nothing any of us can do alone to help that. Crap, there's nothing the gov't can even do about it. wouldn't matter if we all got together and sold our houses. It would still be a sprialling deficit.
But I admire your youthful courage as you sink along with us.
The question isn't could we, it's can we stop ourselves in time from doing so?
It will become inevitable very shortly, if we haven't crossed the threshold already.
No. Americans are wondering why Jordanians call themselves palestinians and what Turkiye is doing in Cyprus. Americans know that islam is vile and must be opposed wherever it festers.
You are just an idiot. Why don't you comment on the article?
"America is demographically vibrant, thanks to immigration. It will be the only rich country that will see its population grow over the next 25 years."
He's still selling immigration like 38 million immigrants in 2010 did something to help this country. Slow down immigration and toss out the illegals, NOW. And the only way to have a vibrant economy is population growth. None of this has any factual basis. China allows few immigrants, and yet we are told they are the "NEXT" world leader. Japan has a very homogeneous population and they are a world leader. Japan's population is DECREASING and they are a world leader. I am tired of the lies designed to convince U.S. citizens that we are losers unless we allow constant masses of people to immigrate.
Just because you say something does not make it true. Japan has been a period of deflation and recession for 15 years. Their entitlement programs are so big that it is about to topple the government. If they don't change their immigration policies soon they will collapse under the weight of their older population. They do not have enough workers to rebuild after the Tsunami. My business partner is Japanese and we go to Japan once a year, I do know what I am talking about.
Usa has been heading down this road for a very long time, started with sending our jobs overseas,Usa is not a producer nation we are consumers .Its our fault for letting the goverment do this , but lets be real what can we do ? We try to vote for the right person ,but they all lie, dosent matter if dem. or rep. they all lie. I try to buy stuff that say made in amercia its hard to find.
Just a quick question to anyone that can answer. OK liberals, here is your chance to calmly and rationally explain yourself and win people over to your sides. How, exactly, will giving more entitlements to people who don't work and taxing the people that would hire them if they would work going to fix our economy? I think you will find that over taxing the "rich" will just make them hide more of their assets and income. Also, if you guys hate the rich so much, why do you keep voting Nancy in? Do you really think she is not going to make sure she has loopholes, thereby granting loopholes to all the rich? Please spell it out for everyone.
These are possibly the 5 best sentences you'll ever read:
1. You cannot legislate the poor into prosperity by legislating the wealthy out of prosperity.
2. What one person receives without working for, another person must work for without receiving.
3. The government cannot give to anybody anything that the government does not first take from somebody else.
4. You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it!
5. When half of the people get the idea that they do not have to work because the other half is going to take care of them, and when the other half gets the idea that it does no good to work because somebody else is going to get what they work for, that is the beginning of the end of any nation.
That is just a bunch of Republican BS. The Congress has stolen the middle class out from under us and sold our birthright to the highest bidders. All that is left is the rich and the working poor, if you aren't one of the working poor you better do something to preserve your good fortune because they will get you too.
"The American economy remains one of the world's most competitive, with many of the fastest-growing companies in most of the advanced industries." True enough, if those companies continue to remain in America. However, corporations are profit oriented entities. As such, they'll go wherever there are profits to be had. If they feel that the offshore market is more lucrative than the American market, they'll move there. Once enough of our corporate base has moved their operations and market offshore, where is our economy? Our employment? Our competitiveness?
There is no way that spending cuts alone will dig us out of this mess, and the US citizens and businesses don't want/can't handle excessive taxing to clear this up either. So, Left's and Right's will both have to swallow something that includes both. Everyone I know has had to pull back on their spending and increase income somehow. That is exactly what we (and by we I mean everyone) have to do. I am tired of both sides getting nothing done though.Obama is just the president, we all share the blame for our situation.
No, I don't share any of the blame for our situation. I have always done my part. The ones that have not done their part, the Congress are to blame. I expected them to do their job not sell out to every lobbyist that was willing to write a check.
Fareed- you just got pwned:
http://pragcap.com/america-cannot-go-the-way-of-greece
why is it anytime something happens to another country cnn automatically tries to grab attention with the "could it happen here" story
Why? Because in this case, the US is making Greece look like a simple bad bank loan. The US has a 14 Trillion Dollar debt, Greece's debt is only (?!?!) in the billions. If China decides to call in its loans, the States is SUNK. THAT's why the question is asked whether it can happen here.
Entitlements?!?! You're darned right they're entitlements.
Americans were forced to pay into this loser retirement system all their lives & now Congress wants to shaft everyone out of their entitlements?
Go ahead, try.
So... you all blame President Obama for spending money, but a substantial amount has been for unemployment insurance. If unemployment insurance payments stopped you would then criticize him for that.
You complain gas prices are too high, but you don't want to promote alternative energy.
You complain that schools aren't doing enough to further education, yet you don't want educational reform.
You all blame Wall Street for causing the economic meltdown, but you don't want stricter regulations in place.
Am I missing something? Complain complain complain, but not participate in the solution.
Cut tax, deregulate, drill oil wells, make kids accountable in school, use part of government license fees to research clean energy and problems solved.
To summarize these message boards... everything is Obama's and illegal immigrants' fault. It's apparently because of them that you are unqualified for jobs, obese and uneducated.
9 million illegal immigrants are apparently bankrupting a country of 320 million people. Illegal immigrants are apparently taking all those "high paying American jobs" like fruit and vegetable picking.
I like your reasoning, I have often thought the same thing. If an illegal immigrant got your job, my question is"How bad was your interview?"
America could go the way of Rome.
"America is demographically vibrant, thanks to immigration. It will be the only rich country that will see its population grow over the next 25 years."
The white-genociding craving jews have enlisted every last non-white, as Fareed Zakaria most certainly is – to bang that drum for more, more, more non-white immigrants to be flooded into America in order to bury and destroy White European people. They work every conceivable angle. You could have a story about planting tomatoes in the garden section of some newspaper, and somewhere in that article will be a plug that the White man needs more non-whites jammed up his butt or else those tomatoes won't grow. I say BALONEY. I've had enough of this white genocide promotion.
We do NOT need more third worlders imported into America. We need LESS. Here are the facts: Ever since the white genocide legislation passed (Emanuel Celler, Jacob Javits, both jews) in 1965, America has been on a steady decline in every conceivable area of measurement. Prior to 1965, when America was 90% white – we had a stronger middle class, a more productive and more prosperous nation, far less ethnic tension, far less ethnic conflict, and we were a socially and culturally cohesive, stable and stronger nation. Today, we are a cesspool of simmering ethnic tensions and those tensions, will, as they ALWAYS do throughout documented world history, eventually explode into open violence.
Not convinced? We have brazen Mexicans flooding illegally across our Southern Border and these arrogant, lawbreaking aliens have the GALL to tell White European people – the direct descendants and posterity of our 100 percent White European Founding Fathers who founded and created this nation – to carry their white fannies back to Europe, because Mexicans are taking over North America? In the mind of what sort of imbecile are such arrogant proclamations not a declaration of war?
'Demographically vibrant' ? That is a not-so-clever codespeak by a non-white that indicates that he supports the dispossession and ethnic theft of America away from the rightful owners, who happen to be the direct ethnic descendants of our European Founding Fathers.
The posterity of our 100 percent White European Founders means the European descendants of those founders. It doesn't mean that every third world failed nation on the planet are entitled to invade, colonize and STEAL America away from the people who's ancestors created it, Zak baby. Take your ethnic intimidation tactics and race hustling and deck of race cards and toss them in the garbage, because they aren't working anymore.
Have you been a racist long?
Whether we are next or not we are not far behind and we should not wait for the axe to fall. We need to introduce austerity measures now and aim at slashing the deficit by 4-5 trillion dollars by massive spending cuts of non essential government functions and tax hikes on the millionaires and billionaires and by taking away all subsidies. We should not raise the debt ceiling and you will America soar like an eagle again. Where there is a will there is a way. There will be some cries due to the drastic measures but they will be a lot fewer than if good men and women do nothing to dramatically reduce the debt.
That is exactly what the government tried to do during the last Depression and it made the collapse worse. Read a history book,
Which last depression you are talking about. The one that former Texas governor, Bush caused by increasing spending on useless wars and the bailouts and tax cuts to the millionaires and billionaires. You go read history before trying to teach others
I totally missed Fareed Zakaria logic, I think we are exactly where Greece was a couple years ago and who's going to bail us out. And for this vibrant economy, what planet is he on.
Greece? Screw Greece. Greece has been around many thousands of years and we're talking apples and oranges...financial ruin versus a complete disappearance of a nation. The question should be, "Will the US suffer the same fate as Rome?" Worst case, we need to consider that a US default would lead to war. What happens if the Chinese demand payment and we tell them to go pound sand? Two possible scenarios are that our elected "leaders" allow China to run the US by proxy. On the surface, everything looks normal...we elect a President every 4 years, Congress continues to spend, the economy goes through it's death throes, yet the actual masters would be the Chinese. The other scenario is that China feels it owns more of the US than we do and decides to come a collect. From there either two things happen...we either let them...NOT gonna happen!...or we start shooting missiles at each other, big city busters. We've dug ourselves into a 14 Trillion dollar hole and I see NO WAY to ever pay that debt off and survive as a nation. And Obama wants to spend even more...A default is in our future, there's no doubt about that. Question is, is it this year or is it 10 years from now if Congress allows for a huge boost in the debt ceiling. If they do that, one day, we're going to meet THAT ceiling and go through this again, only with much more debt and much higher payments. Obama could tax us until it hurts and it STILL would not solve the problem. Erase every tax exemption out there and we'll still spend more than we take in, meaning the debt keeps piling up.
I say...let's get it over with. IF a default is a foregone conclusion, be it today or 10 (actually probably 30 years since new bonds would be issued) years from now, then it's really up to us to take care of the mess. Those of us in our 50's-80's make up the majority of the population. Beginning in WWII, it was WE that racked up this debt. We should not leave it to our grandchildren to deal with...threats of invasions, nukes, proxy governments...we can deal with it, settle it for better or worse, by the end of the year. When the dust settles, hopefully the remains of America will still be here.
We may have to put it off until 2012 I guess...I'm not sure that the surrender monkey is up to the task.
Fareed, whatever you're smoking, please pass it around!! The US has NOT remained one of the worlds' most competitive economies. It has begun to fall off the map. Your economy has stagnated for several years and will continue to do so. If the US is doing so well, then why is it that China has more US money than all of the Federal Reserve?? Why is it that the US dollar has never been weaker? Why is it that the US has to raise its Cap Rate? Why?? Because the country has so much debt that it is swimming in it. It's trying to spend its way out of the red. Sound familiar? Look at Greece. The interest rates that the US gets for borrowing money is going UP not down. You think the States isn't in trouble?? Look again. If the government isn't careful, the States will be a third world country in less than TEN years!! Stop spending TODAY! Start paying down your debts TODAY!! If you don't, Canada and Mexico will have to bail you out. Good luck with that.
We're already on our way to being in the same position as Greece. We just keep spending and not paying down out debts.
Let's bring the troops home and put up a DMZ on the border with Mexico. Keep the guns out of Mexico and the drugs/illegals out of the US. Then send home all illegals. If they have an anchor baby then the kid has to go with the parents if under 18. Once the kid is 18 they can apply to be a US citizen (and will be granted that if they can prove they were born here). Stop sending money to other countries that are not giving us something in return. Change the tax system to be a flat tax of 20% on everyone – and make it due monthly instread of yearly. If you are self employed you have to manage the tax payments – otherwise your company will do it. Not tax returns on April 15th... Your taxes are due every month on the 30th just like any other bill (most of us would never file taxes again since our company would do the paperwork). US gets more money, we pay less and all the tax accountants can switch to private sector since companies will need more of them now. I know many of you disagree about a DMZ on the border with Mexico – but – in 25 years people will be flowing over the border from everywhere – so we need to lock it down now.
"""The problem we're facing is not a revenue problem but a spending addiction problem.""""
The problem is one party and its followers think we have a spending problem and the other and its followers think we have a revenue problem. Both unwilling to accept we do have both problems.
You have it exactly right!!
The US is not comparable to Greece as Greece is not a monetary sovereignty like the USA. Greece is a user of the Euro currency over which they have no control and the US is an issuer of and controls it's own currency. Therefore the US cannot go bankrupt (not have sufficient cash flow to pay it's debts), as currency can be issued (electronically via computer) as needed.
Is it a good idea to continue deficit spending? No in general, as traditional credit rating agencies will continue to use their standard metrics for sovereign debt as will creditors of the United States and the USD could become severely depreciated relative to other major currencies in the world at some point down the road as a result of excessive deficit spending (whatever the markets would deem that to be). But then again that's relative to the perceptions in the currency markets which is a so-called "floating exchange rate system" or in other words a free market system I suppose.
So, I think monitoring the value of the USD in the currency markets via the currency pairs and the dollar index is very important as is watching interest rates on US debt (particularly the 10 yr) and foreign buyers of US debt (indirect bids). When such interest rates start to rise dramatically and indirect bids fall substantially then watch out. Of course if the equity markets rise dramatically in general, then money could flow from the bond markets (more selling than buying) over to the equity markets and interest rates on U.S. Debt could rise also.
Comparing one of the states here in the US to Greece is more appropriate, as no state has control over the US Dollar, only the US Gov't and/or along with the Federal Reserve. The US could voluntarily default by not paying it's debts via refusing to raise the debt ceiling or through budget constraints, or the USD could become so devalued or depreciated at some point that US creditors could possibly refuse payment in US Dollars (a low probability event IMHO).
Should the US continue on it's deficit spending binge? Well, it could probably get away with it for a while longer (who knows?), but the risks of doing this are rising as some pressure is already being felt by some credit rating agencies (including the Chinese gov't and probably others), and within the US here as well.
Better safe than sorry.....we should implement some expenditure reductions and let the Bush tax cuts lapse save for the estate tax exemptions, and focus on creating jobs here in the U.S and providing incentives to get our labor force re-educated, or more educated. More working Americans means more tax revenues which can contribute to reducing the deficit too. And there could be other temporary avenues (a few years or so) for increasing tax revenues, but then they may not be pragmatic (whatever that is these days).
The U.S. Economy will probably muddle along until U.S. Households can reduce their debts, which will probably take many years as Americans have been on a spending binge via borrowing for decades.
See this by the Pragmatic Capitalist and his related links:
http://pragcap.com/america-cannot-go-the-way-of-greece
I love the analysis thrown out by you guys on how we will collapse and all the bad stuff that is going to happen to our economy but you guys are discounting the biggest factor that will keep us as a world leader and super power no matter how badly our economy does...Advance Military and the minereal/resources/oil from Iraq and Afganistan more then enought to pay off all our debt, what do you think we been doing there since 2003 making using there oil to fund war and pay off debts its all part of a bigger game so chill we will be just fine.
As I read all of the comments here, one thing is very apparent, both groups (Dem. & Rep.) blame the other for our problems. But guess what, they ARE ALL TO BLAME!!! Both groups are worthless and are the reason for our problems.
The fact of the matter is that both are correct, we need to rain in the budget and cut speading BUT ALSO increase revenue. One or the other will not do it, only by doing both will we succeed. Extending the Bush era tax cuts was one of the worst things the President could have done. Not cutting defense and farm subsidies, along with significant entitlement reforms is also a major problem.
We need to get past the left vs. right, social vs. liberal BS and understand that it will take both sides coming together to fix this problem. I do not believe that this will happen but that things will and are going to get worse....much worse. Until this middle class is hit so hard that they become sooo pissed and rise up, I do not see any change happening.
Back in the 60's the tax rate for the rich was in the area of 45%, not it's something like 17%. However, that is for the very rich, which I am not, along like most of you. However, entitlements have grown unchecked and with little oversight, blowing up the budget more ever year.
We have failed ourselves by failing to hold our politicians accountable. And dont get me started on camp. fin. reform. At this point, big business and the banks run our country, we have given up our right and have allowed them to take over our country.
Our country is a house of cards and it is only a matter of months-years before it all comes crashing down.
I have no faith that we can or will fix this. We are all now slaves to the banks and most of you don't even know it.
"Could" American go the way of Greece???? It already is......
We can only hope...
Yes, we are in a very serious financial crisis. We the people are also responsible for the crisis. We all need to pitch in and help and unfortunately that means higher taxes, at least in the short term. We sure do love our Country until it come time to help it. Personally, I think it's better to pay a little money now versus participating in the fall of Rome.
I am part of "we the people" but I am not responsible for the difficulties we are experiencing now. Our Congress is solely responsible. No president is responsible only the Congress can make the laws that led to this financial disaster and the loss of jobs. The recession lasting as long as it has is the direct responsibility of our Congress.
I am not a Thief and a Scoundrel; I work hard and pay my taxes. I expect the Congress to spend my money wisely but they have not. I expect them to take responsibility for their mistakes but they have not. I expect them to make laws and rules that support the working men and women of America but every time they have an opportunity to protect us or help us they vote for the corporate overlords. They vote however they are directed to by the lobbyist in Washington. If you don't believe that, tell me where the 3.8 billion dollars per year goes that the lobbyist spends. You know where it goes in the pockets of the thieves in Washington.
Go ahead and blame yourself if you like but leave me out of your blaming. I will give things up and do my part just as soon as I see my Congressman or Senator giving up some of their perks.
Yes. The US could go tne way of Greece, except worse. There's not a country in the world that can bail out the US; and won't even if they could.
'Would Congress simply allow the Bush tax cuts to expire – returning rates to where they were under Bill Clinton's presidency when America created almost 25 million jobs – that one action would provide the federal government with $3.9 trillion in revenues over the next decade and basically solve the deficit problem. We would still face the long-term problem of entitlements, especially health care costs, like every other rich country, but the short and medium-term crisis would be over.' I agree. It should not be so difficult to understand that people are 'entitled' to health care and social security after paying towards these 'entitlements' for many, many years. With 3 wars and a half ( the half is Pakistan) taking place at the same time, it is no wonder there is a deficit. Do not blame the 'entitlements', blame the wars and the way they are run. As you pointed out, we are spending billions, not millions in air conditioning in Afghanistan. Grotesque.
The U.S. is nothing like Greece.
In Greece the national sport is Tax Evasion.
Greece needs to get its revenue collection house in order.
.
We are the same in one important aspect that we owe a lot of money without anyway to pay it back.
outawork,
Don't believe all the BS.
The US has a 800 Trillion economy. We just need to get some of the scrooges to loosen up a bit.
.
No, but we're liable to go the way of the Roman Empire if things don't change quickly.
YES it will happen to us soon, we keep giving the store away to other countreys and internal... open check book
From my perspective, we should start looking for new politics because the same people for decades it is ironic. Looking the background achivement of the persons running for a politicla position it will be good. For last stop voting for people inside Dems or Reps just look for independents candidates you will see the difference.
I think the better question is how long till it happens.
"If we do end up losing the trust of markets, and it can happen, it will not be because they lost faith in America, in our economy and our society, but because they despaired at the country's selfish and self-defeating politicians."
LOL !! The so-called "markets' are the source of GREED, CORRUPTION, and To hell w/ the middle class, all under the banner of CAPITALISM.
Those who live in the delusion of Capitalism, good luck !! Capitalism is destroying and will destroy this country.
The best thing we can hope for is for the whole system to collapse. That was we can shake out some of the equity in Manhattan and Connecticut. Until the super rich feel some pain there is no chance that the working folks will get any kind of fair deal. Congress doesn't give a rats A$S about us working folks so we can't get their attention until we can hurt their pocket book. Since they make their money with graft and corruption then we have to hurt the people that pay them before we will get any action. A big crash would be good for working people.
class war alive and well, we outnumber the corporate terrorists ninety nine to one, so will soon win, violent or not, Michael Moore got the ball rolling, now organize twenty persons in guerilla units, begin the revolution, far right wingers first targets
Why if we can spend money on war and help fund other people's wars and all the money IRS takes from the hard working person we still in these same talks? Its pathetic and sad that we as a so called U.S.A the Government in charge of these issues can not figure the problem out and main thing solving it and not putting it aside. Our country produces the currency and if we had more companies manufacturing here we can make a come back but it seems that the Government does not want to help the hard working people in order for us to get back on our feet. Greed is the main factor in this serious matter and if more corporations would play fair treat its workers right with good pay and benefits we would all benefit. The Euro is worth more than the dollar and if all money was even in all countries that would solve many problems but it goes back to the greedy that do not want to change its ways and get a pass from Government people who let this continue Greece can make it but the G.O.V has to help its people!!!!
Golly Fareed Zakaria, the more articles I read by ya, the more confusing you are getting. Isn't the U.S. national debt over $14 trillion dollars? By returning the tax rates that only gets us $3.9 trillion dollars theoretically. Where is over $10 trillion dollars going to come from? If you increased tax rates on everyone, including small businesses and the self employed, how much of a economic boost are we looking at? I'm not arguing policy, just asking about straight forward facts and consequences. Let's set aside all of Fareed's theoretical what if's and conspiracy accusations. Let's hit the list one by one and see if his idealistic outline really has any merit with real sustance behind it, instead of just an unresearched, ill-formed biased opinion by some scribbler for Newsweek looking to write his next book. If Congress can't pass a budget then maybe we can go to one of Fareed's other observations and redo the U.S. Constitution from scratch like Iceland did. He's got such great ideas and so much experience in leading and formulating economic policy in the major economies in the world, just like his role in leading national parties in so many industrialized nations! One more note, I did noticed his book wasn't filed properly in the fiction section.
Very important point about America having bunch of fast growing and respected companies which keep the economy going
we need to cash in on our cash crop , look at cali.,was having alot of money troubles .
" downward spiral of budget cuts that then further depress the economy"
Ah, the great liberal logic: if too much spending created the mess, then MORE spending will fix it.
Ask yourself this... WHY, in the first place did U.S. companies choose to leave the U.S. and go to countries like Mexico? You guessed it, cheap labor, and TAX breaks. Companies were getting taxed so hard back in the 80's, that it was basically illegal. They stripped the middle man down to nothing, and he got pissed. Well, guess what.. he got so pissed that he took his company and got the heck out of here because it was like the mafia stealing from local convenient stores. That's what happened, and if you don't believe me, just ask the company CEO's that left and see what they say. It was fair game to leave the U.S. but if we were doing things the right way, and letting everyone profit as they should, then this wouldn't of happened. I blame the politicians at that time for the mess they made, and now they are not in the game anymore and they don't care. Bottom line is... the people have to make it right, not the politicians... they aren't doing their job well enough. So.. time to get innovative and smart. Don't buy things on credit, start your own companies, and don't let anyone reach deep in your pockets like they used to. WE LET THEM DO IT... ... remember that.
"you guessed it, cheap labor, and TAX breaks."–you mean slave labor. You also forgot to mention that our "captains of industry" CEO et al. have NO PROBLEM doing business with communist China. Selling our secrets etc. as long as they get their slaves.
Fareed, the danger is more glating to America than you perceive. See how belligerent the US has become: bombing rich but weak states in order to own rheir wealth. Look at what happened to Ivory Coast and is currently taking place in Libya.
And you shamelessly failed to acknowledge the income from the loot in Libya and Côte d'Ivoire (Gold and oil too)
From the article: "America is demographically vibrant, thanks to immigration. It will be the only rich country that will see its population grow over the next 25 years."
Umm...actually population growth is expected in several other rich nations like Canada and Australia, both of which are rich nations.
We increase taxes on those that are paying 70% already, raise $3.9T, and it solves our debt problem? We owe over $14T!!! And we increase that by over a trillion a year!!!
Here's a compromise: we allow taxes to be increased on the wealthy for 10 years in exchange for a balanced budget amendment to the constitution! I'm not wealthy, but I would pay 10% more in tax if I knew the letter of the law says that we can no longer spend more than we bring in (for a limited amount of time, it must be hard and fast law that says we stop outrageous taxes in 10 years).
We have sinned because we have chosen to forsake the Lord and have served our own lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life. We have put television, movies, computers, phones, cars, houses, hobbies and other vain things before our living God. These things cannot profit nor deliver us for they are vain. Our wickedness is great, but Jesus Christ is ready to pardon and will forgive us for our sins if we ask and we can make peace with God. We only need to repent and turn our hearts and our will over to Jesus Christ.
Greece has one problem that the USA does not: a homogeneous population. Thus, the Greek government goodies go to regular Greeks, arousing little resentment from taxpayers. In the USA, our minorities will swamp social programs before the middle class taxpayers see much benefit from them. Thus, the taxpayers' resentment is alive and well. However, the USA is expected to police the world and support Israel, efforts to which Greece does not even contribute a single drachma, let alone a Euro. Policing the world will ultimately prove much more destructive to the US than taking care of our minorities.
The Dem congress (now Rep) wouldn't/couldn't come up with a budget for 3 years now! Finally the Rep. are solving the problems caused by the 'entitled dumbacrats'
Even lefty CNN is getting comments trying to explain to their base that we have no money and we are taxed enough. I actually believe that they do not understand this concept. They think there is a warehouse of money someplace. Tax and spend liberals need to put down the joint they are smoking , step out of the bath house and sober up. WE ARE BROKE< cut the pig in half you won't even miss the parts we cut from govt, this is their biggest fear no more free ride. What if they spent 10% more than they made, provided they have a job. do they stop spending or geta raise...what if no raise is there?a
"How stupid does one have to be to not understand that WE ARE OUT OF MONEY!! I'll tyoe it slowly so maybe you'll understand it easier. "–Teapublicans who can't type or formulate proper grammar will never convince anyone. Maybe, name calling will work?
"Even lefty CNN is getting comments trying to explain to their base that we have no money and we are taxed enough."–ASSassin.
Don't you all remember when teachers, public employees, Planned Parenthood, NPR, and PBS crashed the stock market, wiped out half of our 401Ks, took trillions of dollars in tax payer funded bailouts, sent us into an unjustified war in Iraq, gave themselves billions in bonuses and paid no taxes? Oh yea, neither do I.
You know what this current crowd of GOP liars want is to turn the United Sates into China, where only a few giant corporations run things, they own the factories, the apartments, the grocery stores, the gas stations, the newspaper and magazine publications, the radio stations, the television stations and you pay them and they get all the benefits, and if you do not like it go jump off cliff. Well some Chinese workers seeing that as individuals that they cannot progress have done just that by committing suicide.
The current crowd of GOP liars want to steal Medicare from the elderly, they want to abolish a woman’s right to choose and have control over her own body, they want to abolish collective bargaining rights for our Unions, and on top of it all they want to blame the poor, the middle class and the public sector workers for a recession that the GOP created (Thanks to the Dullard "W"), while their beloved “Fat cats” continue to pay themselves exorbitant salaries, bonuses, fringe benefits.
The GOP is like the "Chicken Littles” always saying that the “Sky is Falling”, like the same ones that were the “Chicken Hawks” ("W" Wars), big talk no courage.
The United States, favors creativity wherever it can be found. We're apostles of prosperity and defenders of the free exchange of ideas and when more people in more countries are free to rise, to invent, to communicate, to dissent, it's not the doom of United States leadership, its the triumph of the American way.
Generations have worked hard and sacrificed much for the country to reach this point (individuals and our Unions!), and with further hard work and sacrifice (along with our relentless self-doubt) the United States will rise again, we do not tire and we are coming back, no matter what Faux News and their GOP “Chicken Littles” lackies keep saying about our nation. Never Bet Against the United States, watch out GOP, we are coming for you! The win in New York was the beginning but the next will be Indiana, Kansas, Iowa, Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin and later the other states of our nation.
Americans should worry about whether they are going the way of "Babylon" in Revelation. The Greek crisis is nothing in comparison. America seems loving a lot the Babylonian witches lately.
Keep it up with the Tax obsession – see what happens
Firstly let me say that I'm not a U.S. citizen, nor am I a U.S. Resident, I am however a visitor to USA here on business.
I've just had the pleasure of watching Fareed ZAKARIA on CNN and can't help but agree with his comments. As I've travelled throughout the U.S. I'm genuinely amazed at the lack of investment the U.S. has made in infrastructure; Roads, communication systems, electricity supply, gas supply, water supply, sewerage and so on. I'm well aware of the argument that there is only so much money to go around, that's just basic maths. However once infrastructure breaks down the very companies and individuals who generate public funds dissappear. From there comes the next great depression.
There's no "quick fix" but there is a solution. The solution starts with bringing infrastucture up to a standard befitting that of a "super power" rather than a third world country. This in-turn will create jobs and spending and eventually the economy will recover. It might also be time for some of the large corporations to bring their manufacturing back to the U.S. before their main consumers are unable to afford their products!
I know some will be angered by my comments and tell me to "go home". That's fine. I do however hope that the tide of change comes to the U.S. before it is too late. My wishes are only that the U.S. avoids the situation which has swept across Greece and that the next "Foreclosure" sign isn't plastered across the White House!
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