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Charting America's Brief Trip In And Out Of Austerity... And Onward To Complete Disaster
One of the "positive" side-effects of the Treasury's plundering of retirement accounts is that total US debt in June actually declined for the first time since January 2010, dropping by $1.6 billion from the May 31 closing print of $14.344 trillion. No doubt this was predicated by the US Treasury officially breaching the debt ceiling on May 16. Yet due to this, or for some other reason (and it is not a surge in net income tax receipts as these appear to have reached an inflection point earlier in the year and are now trendlining lower on a Y/Y basis), something else happened: the slope on the cumulative deficit line since the start of the depression in December 2007 (see below), is now the shallowest it has ever been. In other words, the US over the past few months, faced with the threat and now reality of a debt ceiling breach was actively cutting spending, while benefitting from a transitory spike in income tax revenues, although unfortunately now that the unemployment rate is back on the trendline to double digits, this will be the only true transitory thing about the US economy. Whether this actual, factual fiscal prudence was conscious is unclear, however the result is clear: faced with the threat of being unable to finance every single dollar in perpetuity, the US government's involuntary self-imposed austerity actually... Worked! And yes, the direct side effect is that Q2 GDP is now likely to come at 1.6%: the worst quarterly increase since... Q2 of 2010 (recall that 2010 Q2 GDP was revised from 2.4% to 1.6$ on August 27 last year... hours before Bernanke announced QE2 ). And there once again is the glaring correlation between the slowing of the economy and the decline in debt issuance, and the actual deficit "improvement." Now take this slower deficit growth, and assume it actually is reversed, i.e., America has a budget surplus. While great for the country in the Long-Run, it would mean that GDP, which is now purely reliant on how much debt Geithner can issue, it would mean a collapse in the GDP, in the S&P, and in Wall Street executives' bank accounts. At least in the absence of QE3, 4 and so forth...
Another way of looking at this "austerity" data is the divergence between cumulative debt and cumulative deficit since December 2007. Since the Depression ver 2, the US generated $3.982 trillion in deficits, while adding $5.194 trillion in new debt (from $9.15 trillion to $14.343 trillion). However, what is notable is that June saw the lowest difference between cumulative deficit and debt, with "just" 30.4% more debt being issued than deficit had to be funded.
Unfortunately this "austerity" will be short-lived for two reasons. First, once the debt ceiling is raised, the nearly $260 billion in plundered retirement trust funds will have to be promptly reinvested. This means that over the next 3-4 months the Treasury will issue a whopper of short-term debt, as it scrambles to catch up to the historical Bill average as a percentage of total debt (which as we observed recently, has plunged). Second, it means that with deficit expenditures no longer having a medium-term bottleneck, deficit spending will literally explode in the next several months, which, due to the catch 22 nature of deficits and their debt-based funding, means that Treasury issuance will jump even more than just the Bill trendline "catch up" implies.
Bottom line, enjoy this slowdown in the speed of the US Titanic while you can. After August 2, we are fully convined the Treasury's bond issuance dial will be turned to the rather unfortunate "ludicrous speed."
The sad truth is that while an American's technical default will certainly not be as bad as all claim (yes, financial markets are rather adaptive ecosystems, and following a day or two of massive pain mostly for the Status QuoTM, things will stabilize) this last chance to fix the evils that came about with promoting moral hazard to the de facto only investment thesis 101, will be promptly gone. Alas, every single time something, anything, threatens the status quo's existence, the biggest threats start flying. What we can be sure is that while it took just under three years between Mutual Assured Destruction episode 1 when Paulson waved a three page blank check termsheet to Congress demanding supreme fascist rights, and the current MAD episode 2, MAD part 3, in keeping with the ever decreasing half life of government intervention and "bail outs", will come far, far sooner. Then MAD part 4 will arrive just after and so forth. At that point, threats about the end of the world will actually be true. However, they will be true no matter what choice is ultimately taken.
And speaking of end of the world scearions, here is Citi's somewhat sober and very detailed look at what will happen should the US default now (all with pretty charts). What is left unsaid is that this same analysis will be infinitely uglier the next time it has to be done, with the opportunity cost of doing the right thing being far greater than even now, as the global financial system shifts even further from equilibrium under the disastrous guidance of global central planning.
From Citi:
Gradually now the questions are coming in. “What will happen if the U.S. government defaults on its debt after August 2?” It’s still nearly unthinkable. The exact date may not be as precise as advertised. Predictably, more of these questions come from distant shores. But the longer Congress lingers, the more frequently the question will be asked.
Some part of this question is in the realm of “what will you do after you commit suicide?” While conflicting in substance, rumblings from Washington in the past week suggested action could be imminent. Of course something seems likely to get done. But to take the question seriously, if the U.S. could spend only its revenues, spending would need to be slashed by about 40%, or over $100 billion per month. That’s about 8% of current GDP non-annualized. If all checks from the Treasury were cut in size but not eliminated, legal obligations such as Social Security Payments would have to be cut by roughly $25 billion per month, or $300 billion at an annualized rate1. This is money that is spent in the U.S. economy, as are the payments for military personnel salaries, federal contractor payments and pension contributions that sum to larger amounts.
We doubt that even the most extremist of policymakers believes that private economic activity will immediately fill the void left by so large a drop in these deficit-financed “income” streams. Their many constituents would let them know the personal impact whatever the perceived benefits (see figure 1). If the U.S. Treasury was determined to make U.S. interest payments on the notion that if it does not, the U.S. might be required to spend only its revenues for far longer, than other outlays would need to be cut nearly 50% rather than 40%.
A near immediate income decline of 8%-9% of GDP, and the uncertainty around policy, would weaken expectations priced in asset markets, reducing economic activity by an even larger amount before long. Such would be the likely case even if Treasury debt payments were maintained and “prioritized.”
In the event of a Treasury debt default, we would note that U.S. Treasuries are a key risk-free asset on bank balance sheets across the world and the single-largest form of loan collateral. The U.S. Treasury is the ultimate guarantor of bank deposits. The financial implications of an actual Treasury default, even briefly, could represent the largest financial shock in history, potentially creating a domino of defaults. As such, creating quantitative economic projections on a default scenario seems like a foolish errand.
Scared yet? Good. That is precisely Citi's goal.
Unfortunately in the same note, Citi also shares some other charts, all of which indicate that no matter what happens this week, or at 11:59:59pm on August 2, the long-term fate of the world's premier entitlement state is one which ends in disaster, and if history is any indication: war... Only this time everyone has the same just as destructive toys.
To wit:
The astounding growth rates for healthcare outlays both past and present – not matched by revenue streams – will unravel most any other structural changes in the budget given enough time (see figures 3-5 and “U.S. Budget: Why is a 9% Growth Rate for Healthcare Necessary?” April 25, 2011). As such, any long-term changes that matter will affect the health care budget.
Even the words “healthcare budget” seem at odds with the way Americans consumers and policymakers view healthcare - essentially “priceless.” It seems clear that a nation that spends double the developed country average on healthcare for sub-standard aggregate outcomes misallocates healthcare resources and almost certainly overspends in the process (see figures 6-7). As a practical matter for investors, one might want to question whether the long-term secular rise in the healthcare sector’s share of U.S. corporate profits will be allowed to continue unchallenged (see figure 8).
For short- to intermediate-term budgets, the latest three months of rising unemployment provide a reminder that it’s poor timing for macro tightening steps if there is any choice.Having at least a “down payment” toward significant long-term structural budget underway could help with flexibility in running large budget deficits for the time being. In observable modern times, the U.S. has never improved its budget position during periods of rising unemployment or below-trend economic growth (see figure 9).
Reread the last sentence from Citi as it delightfully captures the Catch 22 nature of the problem. In its overarching attempt to take sole control of the US economy, funded with ever cheaper debt, the US government has now become a central planning behemoth the likes of which the USSR could only hope to emulate even in its heyday. And the lifeblood on which this behemoth lives is one: exponentially more debt. Which is why, more than anything, nobody in DC can possibly demonstrate the political will, which also equates to immediate career suicide, to do the right thing - in this case just say no to more debt - as it would mean one thing and one thing only: putting the fate of their country over and above their own career prospects, as this will expose the biggest lie: the welfare state that is the United Socialist States Of America is more naked than any emperor in history.
And as is well known, no career politician has ever cared enough about their country enough to actually see their own future as merely secondary to that of the United States.
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So let me get this straight...
All of that cash (aka DEBT NOTES), is going to go scampering ('flee'-ing, no less) in to buy more debt...
What could possibly go wrong?
LOL: faced with the threat of being unable to finance every single dollar in perpetuity, the US government's involuntary self-imposed austerity actually... Worked!
this thought sinks two balls on the break. then i think of poor G/sachs not understanding why the econom is slowing. partly this, maybe. but also, we've had mr toad's wild commodity ride, prices going straight up, straight down, back up, up higher, and so on.
listen. that can effect economic activity negatively!
let's say your business depends on the commodity "corn" ok? like cotton, or wool, or lumber, but corn for this example. now, in 8 weeks, what will the price of corn be? $5? $10? probably somewhere in there, but maybe $4. well when there is too much uncertainty, people tend to pull back. maybe somebody calls and wants to order something made out of "corn" for Oct. to sell in nov/dec. you tell him you're not sure what the price will be, and you might not get the order. you can't commit w/out risk, and he won't play.
markets haven't gone from "good" to "bad"; they have gone from "ok" to "crazy" over, say, the last year, with all the QE and liquidity. then, from "crazy", things go to "bad" and maybe to "worse".
prices = craZy does not seem to be bullish, psychologically. when uncertainty reigns, people pull back.
apparently, this info has never before been published. somebody tell goldmanSquid to send slewie a check.
tyvm. i'll be here till my unit moves out.
It's all just "transitory more sophisticated diets in 3rd world countries"...
Now... off to snort a line of coke in the bathroom with the Ukranian hooker at the party in East Egg...
Excellent, thanks Tyler for the info as usual.
U.S would be the "...Socialist States of America..." if the wealth was socialized. As it is, it goes to the upper class. It's more like the Fascist States of America. Needs a military coup by Smedley Butler's doppleganger. That would fix it!
Wake me up when the 5-yr. yield is over 2.5% and the 10-yr. yield is over 5%. That's over a 100bp move, yet those yields would still be lower than most periods between 1995 and 2001.
http://bigcharts.marketwatch.com/charts/big.chart?nosettings=1&symb=XX%3...
Have no fear... Operation "titty twister" has your back & will make you look like a real friggin genius...
Now tell us that the sun is going to rise in the east tomorrow so you can extend your winning streak...
You can sleep until Volker takes the Fed back. Fed can play this game for a loooong time.
By the way, the 10-yr. yield climbed steadily up to 7.00% into the January 2000 top in the S & P 500 and Nasdaq stocks were still going wild.
I remember Fleckenstein running his short fund and he was always positive that stocks would crash once Greenspan raised interest rates, but he did it time and time again and stocks just went up even faster!
Oh I see your strategy now...
Coyly & cleverly, you're going to tell all of us that the sun rose in the east 12 years ago...
Dammit! I missed that one...
I take it you're still holding on to your MCI Worldcom from that era...
robo, out of curiosity, just what would those kinda rates do to our annual deficit?
I believe that was the dot com bubble.
There is no high-tech bubble now to pump stocks up. Just zero-interest Fed money.
...which may be ending now.
Sometimes I wonder if I think about this shit too much.
True.
Lloyd Blankfein should be cornholed and shot at the break of dawn.
We should cornhole him first. After all, it's not like we're savages.
Might as well let him leave the world with a smile on his face.
But that's not going to happen.
He's not a fraudster. He's merely creating markets.
Or so says the U.S. government.
My point?
What's a boy to do?
Perhaps in a show of solidarity we could all piss on his mailbox.
Is it legal to piss on a fraudster's mailbox? I'm not even sure.
But choices certainly seem limited.
Anyway, so long for now.
And God bless all you Marxist cocksuckers.
http://geraldcelente.proboards.com
The last time the US had a "balanced budget" was when a Republican congress stuffed it down Clinton's throat. Just saying ...
Cordially,
TwoHoot
I am Glad, that you enjoyed the "Dog and Pony Show" that the Lobby Whores put on for you.. because if you are entertained then you are happy and the robbery continues un-abated! But here in Fight Club we are for hanging, neck stretching ALL the Treasonous Lobby Whores.. whether or not you people at the Huffington Post are entertained by the thought or not does not factor in.
So, wake up? or stay stupid.. the choice is always yours to make!
Clinton (& Clowngress!) used accrual accounting which amounted to wishful thinking on huge tax receipts to *show* a balanced budget ON THE BOOKS, but in the future, not in real life. We did not have *cash* on hand or even equity on hand that would have been tangible assets to "balance" our budget. However, starting with Reagan (mid 80's)and continuing with Clinton (even with the then largest tax increase in history) we were on a better path towards balanced budgets. The disclaimer there though.... we borrowed money to pay for pet projects, just as Bush II became addicted to doing, because we knew SS and both Mediscare programs were insolvent, so the budget was balanced "on the books" while the National Debt (what we owe everyone else) went through the roof!
I guess you didn't read the terrible consequences that befell the country's forefathers when they voted for independence from the Crown. Many of them lost their homes, businesses, families and their lives as England sought to crush the independence movement. Perhaps they weren't career politicians. But they were certainly brave men.....
What good is it, for a man to gain the World only to lose his Soul?
I have lived a FULL! Life! God has been GREAT!!!!!! to me.. the least I can do is try to be a decent human being and help my fellow man.. or woman, out of her panties.
Way too little, way too late.
There can't be 'austerity' for real, outside of talking about it in a bar, or on "reality TV", or on the campaign trail. It's a useful device for politicians to inflame passions, pretend to be pure of heart and get elected, then never deliver on. Because they profit.
Want proof? These discussions aren't new. We've been having them here in America for 40 years. And every preacher of "small government" laughs privately when the debt ceiling just goes higher and higher and higher, with more empty promises to never do it again. There never was any intention to kill the golden goose. As far back as the 1970s, former Treasury Secretary William Simon revealed that every time the economy had a hiccup, the corporatists came running to DC with their hands out. And they started to get whatever they demanded, to his astonishment. During the tenure of the biggest preacher of small government during the 1980s, the Federal deficit tripled, a record.
"Greed is good", remember? This is a gravy train that's so rich and so easy to steel from that the corporatists will keep it going at any cost to the country. There have been many that prospered so far during the depression. Life is real good for some. Better than ever. Those who are closest to the Fed's dollar spigot are the ones that benefit the most. By far. By the time it "trickles down" to you, there's only the dregs left if anything.
It's all just corporate welfare at this point. Without that motive there wouldn't be any political will to print money. But now with tens of millions of Americans living in some state of impending doom, one check away from starving on the street, there's another motive: keeping the masses quelled.
Elegant description, Kudos!
What's on store for today?
My wife and kids are going shopping.
Perhaps I'll check out porno while they run their errands.
My two favorite porno stars are vanessa blue and misty stone.
I get most of my filth from jizzhut.com.
Then I shall view Prison Break. I downloaded all four seasons.
I also need to take a shit.
Tonight, we're having shrimp for dinner. I like shrimp.
Life's not all economics.
Anyway, so long.
And God Bless all you Marxist cocksuckers.
http://geraldcelente.proboards.com
that you are unambiguous is appealing.
I'll poke you from behind with my credit card so you know it's me. You should be wearing a "poke my ass with your credit card" hat so I know it's you. Meet me @ the 18 E 14th taco bell. Our friend Pablo will work out the details in regards to the buy 1 get 1 burrito coupon.
Great bunch of comments from ZH. I guess people are getting a little giddy at the edge of the cliff.
one lemming to the another, running beside: man! this is great! the air just keeps gettting fresher and fresher! i feel like i could run all day!
Feckless yeggs all.
F.A. Hayek in his Road to Serfdom (p. 168) said:
That last statement is an outright bullshit. Perhaps no one remembers the Depression of 1946. But falling government expenditures led to the single biggest drop in GDP ever and the US emerged from 1946 a significantly stronger economy as a result of falling government spending. The country retooled and stopped producing bombs, guns, aircraft, and ships and was catapulted to era of great prosperity.
Oh, and the same scaremongering from the economics establishment was heard in 1944 and 1945 about the country cascading back into depression if the government didn't keep up wartime spend.
Bluff.
Ah, there was a slight difference then. All that war spending went to build productive manufacturing capacity right in the USA. And there was an entire world destroyed and needing to be rebuilt. And there were a few million young men coming back needing that work.
Now what do we have. Drowing in debt. Productive capacity moved to Chindia. Job openings only for low wage service crap. The future is a slow decline... if we're lucky.
_
Good Citizens of Metropolis!
A brief update...
I just took a shit, and I'm about to watch Prison Break.
So let it be written; so let it be done.
Feel free to carry on with your daily tasks.
Hugs and kisses,
Your Cruel Overlord
xxxxxxxxoooooooo
http://geraldcelente.proboards.com
You live in asia, you watch prison shows and your anal sphincter relaxes...
i know your type , and think its sick.
When you are circling the drain, if looks like you are going straight, but you are actually going down.
but, are the economies below the equator, circling the drain, in the opposite direction?
doesn't matter of the direction. Economy is in the toilet drain. Top 1000 world elites, just took a dump and flushed rest of us in it.
The Government must be a Kindergarden now learning the concept of Zero. As in no more spending. No more money for milk, cookies and naptime.
It is quite possible at this stage to band together a number of companies under one organization and buy out the entire United States of America. Sweep away everything and dynamite the DC area buildings and monuments.
Something to consider.
Apparently, having the biggest military by far in the world, with bases all over the world isn't any part of the problem. It appears that only social security and medicare are the problems since we are the world's premier entitlement state. Never mind that many other countries entitle their citizens to much more, somehow we are still the world's premier entitlement state.
Pointing a gun at someone to take their property to fund an Army is no different than pointing a gun at someone to take their property to "give" to another that thinks they "deserve" more. Check your premises, you've come to an illogical conclusion!
Stychokiller
Actually, it is your "logic" that is faulty.
It does make a difference how resources are used. There IS a difference between war and peace, between funding food stamps for the elderly, and bailouts for wall street.
Objecting to ALL taxation equally regardless of the purpose or how those taxed acquired their "property" lacks common sense.
The misleading soundbite that "taxation is theft" is based on a false premise and proves nothing.
"Property" ownership is not innate or god-given. Property, private land, private resources, contracts, liability, etc. are all legal constructs of the state, and do not exist apart from it.
The promotion of the generalized "property" concept as an absolute value is shallow.
It makes no allowance for how the property has been acquired, how lands, water etc. once "public" have become "private", nor how the state has constructed a legal edifice of "ownership".
Such a philosophy is also reactionary at its core, since it promotes retaining the acquired property and "rights" of the wealthy and powerful.
WTF
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RCD14IrOcIs
And if I screw up this captcha (-58 + __ = 0) please shoot me!
Have been avoiding ZH lately because I'm trying to stay positive .... but sometimes the inanity forces me to check in. In any case doing lots of Canadian summer things like biking and cottage and trying to avoid west nile mosquitoes and black flies - actually having fun! Tremblant was great and next week is Muskokas. And no TV or CNN!!!
I just can't watch the whole debt debacle anymore - it is scaring me and I know there is nothing I can do that will alter the outcome.
Hate to be a party spoiler here but how exactly does closing Your eyes and "staying positive" help You? This is exactly the one thing noone should do yet most do it. Keep watching Idol, I'm sure it'll be just fine...
Have been watching the meltdown for a number of years. And I am not closing my eyes - just blinking and trying to catch my breath. Have never watched Idol and fu*k off dickwad.
And the Pixies were doing interesting stuff way before fight club: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zHVKndMZIwI&feature=related
There is one simple and atrocious fallacy in the economic theorising that validated the accumulation of sovereign debt. That any incremental rise in national debt leading to an incremental rise in nominal GDP was "economic growth". It isn't, it wasn't and it never will be.
Economic growth is based on the private sector, people, productivity, investment, technology, enterprise and risk taking. Always. Debt unless used for productive, properly costed endeavours simply grabs from the future to consume scarce resources in the present. Failure and retardation is inevitable.
Thus, the "G" in the standard macro equation is either net of taxes or it is net of debt. In short it is nada -- unless, unless it can be shown to contribute a net positive contribution in services and goods in excess of its cost, and that must be pretty small in total GDP terms.
Meanwhile, the real cost of the debt is the interest obligation incurred over the life of the debt, and that should be deducted at the time of the debt creation in calculating the nominal GDP.
Real long-term economic growth cannot be achieved by accumulations of sovereign debt. The only time such debt created government spending serves a useful purpose is when the inevitable business cycle causes a fall in investment and then it serves as a short-term measure to bridge the gap while creative destruction works its beneficial effect and investment revives.
This is the fallacy that lies at the heart of the failed policies that have been pursued for the last 40 or so years. We now face their nemesis.
.
all is going to be fine now... We are taking down the MSM of the TBTF.. yes murdoch finito... then we go to work unimpeded on Blankfein, Dimon and the rest of them.. Remember if you can grow your own spuds you are ok.....
The health care numbers are interesting-
Switzerland (PPP-2010), spends $5,344 and achieves a life expectancy of 82.3 years
US (2009) spends $7,960 and achieves a life expectancy of only 78.2 years
So the US spends 49% more per person and gets 5% less in return. Those calculations are actually too generous to the US because US spending in 2010 was undoubtedly more than 2009, and PPP isn't a complete purchasing power conversion ($5,344 of PPP'd CHF probably equates to only $4000-$4500 USD at the grocery, retail store, or doctor's office).
The irony here being that the MYTH that was used to sell Obummercare to the electorate is EXACTLY the health care system in SWITZERLAND. The "myth" being that a federal government mandate that individuals pruchase insurance in the private market will leverage competition and increase and pool size to reduce costs. The pool size of the entire country of Switzerland is the same as that of NEW YORK CITY.
The "reality" is more analogous to the US Congress legalizing a proctological raping of US residents to benefit statist and moneyed interests, supported by the hopes of idiots that the US Congress was capable of such novel things as actual reform and increased efficiency (at something other than lining their and their benefactors' pockets).
Perhaps the BLS can redefine "year" in the US to something like 18 months along with their desired "inflation" changes and then everything should be fine (at least in the minds of the idiots who blindly believe in government).
A Facebook IPO will solve everything! Becky Quick and Joe K can get all ga ga over it and that will solve everything.
Tyler sez.
"The sad truth is that while an American's technical default will certainly not be as bad as all claim (yes, financial markets are rather adaptive ecosystems, and following a day or two of massive pain mostly for the Status QuoTM, things will stabilize)" etc. Nothing to see here, just move along. Animal spirits will perform the 24-48 hour miracle.
However, the gov't shutdown will affect much more than the bond market. Those that live by the multiplier will perish by the multiplier. The projected overall 10% immediate cut becomes a multiplied by month. At the moment, we are light about 40% of needed gov't income. This very quickly becomes a problem in borrowing more or slashing jobs. Carried to the extreme, back to the stone age.
But the most idiotic part, going belly up will not solve one problem, and multiply the ones we have. Its like holding your breath to punish the adults. Tax revenue may go down very quickly. Most likely. People can defer paying taxes.
Almost any time period will hurt the econ, but the possible terminal effects can be measured in months.
It is amazing that some think that pushing others off a cliff is the answer when the whole mountain is going to cave in.
What is really at stake here is the debate about the size of the govt. The debt ceiling is the tool to focus the conversation on the size of the expenditures by the fedgov. Don't be misled by the debt ceiling issue per se, it is about what kind and what size fedgov we should have.
Debt ceiling implementation does not focus on balancing the budget, which was balanced finally under Clinton after Reagan, Bush One. Repudiation of this government does not bring choice into the equation. There would be few alternatives. It is insane to blow off your head to cure a cold.
I'll have the I-Pod for dessert.
Faiz Shakir is on C-Span right now. He is spinning the progressive agenda
Burn your TV.
cut the cable............
DEFAULT! That’ll l’arn all those who enabled unlimited gubmint and who wagered that same gubmint could forcibly extract my labor and my posterity’s labor to pay ‘em back. Not being heartless, the Untied States can hand over as a consolation prize, the worst 100,000 @$$#0/e$ who robbed ‘em, to do with as they please (after speedy trials, of course). Start with central bank franchise owners, Wall Street gangsters, elephant & jackass sock puppets, their treasonous minion enforcers and the lamescream propaganda controllers. The fiat ponzi scheme will inevitably collapse anyway, so may as well git ‘er dun and hit the reset button.
I'm quite happy converting my weekly pay packet from fiat to silver rounds.
Dept Relieve is the only way out, tell the greedy global and central banks to relieve the dept of the developed World and stop with more, more, more, more, more, more greedy money mentality. They did it for the third world nations in Central and South America and then they can do it for us. The Fed, ECB, IMF & World bank will still be in business the day after. Get U2 front man on the case Help Bono. Help!
Just junk me if this sounds naive, but can someone explain why pension funds aren't placed in escrow by third parties to prevent companies or the government from looting them? Why do they think they have free access to OPM? It's sickening. The only people who should have access to their money are the pensioners! Did I miss something here? I guess as a non-pensioner, I'm happy they are first on the chopping block, but I know 401(k) and IRAs are next. While those are essentially in "lock boxes" now, simple legistlative or exective action could render citizen wealth confiscated by the teleprompter in chief.
Social Security was in a lockbox until Reagan used the surplus for tax cuts. Leader on this was Bob Dole of Kansas. He also failed to defeat cost of living adjustments. The idea was to increase the payroll tax, cut real benefits, starving the fund to nothing.
SS is not broke. The government owes the fund trillions. Now, the goal is to not pay the debt.
SS is not broke. The government owes the fund trillions.
Then yes, ss is broke, busted. Cash balance in the trust fund is big fat >>> 0 <<<.
A major point regarding healthcare is that up to 40% of the total is spent on 1% of the population. The majority of healthcare dollars are spent on the first year of life and the last year of life. I have not checked recently, many European countries do not treat premature infants born under 25 weeks gestational age. My twins, born at 29 weeks and not having any major problems generated a bill over $250,000 for their combined 7 weeks hospitalization. It is much higher amount for babies at 22, 23 weeks. Many babies survive at this age, treatment is as much a philosophical and ethical decision as it is financial.
There are thousands of people in nursing homes unable to live without 24/7 care. Feeding tubes, tracheostomies. They come to the hospital all the time with pneumonia, sepsis from UTIs or bedsores and are admitted to ICU for 2 weeks, hospitalized a month and then sent back to nursing home to repeat the cycle. Futile care.
Switzerland does not provide free medical care to millions of illegal immigrants who know they don't have to pay if they go to the ER and that there are medicaid programs that will pay for children's care, even pay for OB care during pregnancy. Federal law, EMTALA, states they must be seen and treated by providers/hospitals.
A study by Jackson and Associates a couple years ago pegged the amount of defensive medicine ordered in US because of fear of lawsuits at $300 billion/year. I see it every day. Someone falls and hits their head, do they really need a CT scan? 4800 Emergency departments in US, if half of them order one superfluos CT per day that is $24 million/day, $8.7 billion/year.
If we decided not to provide futile care and enacted tort reform the savings would easily be over $1 Trillion/year. No one would get hurt, except for some lawyers, and we would be providing health care this is more rational and compassionate than current system, which is providing the exact results it was designed to achieve.
The biggest cost of healthcare in America is the drug / pharma aspect.
Drugs are used far too often because (a) physicians are pretty clueless about causes and cures for most illnesses, prescibing drugs in a "let's see if this works" mode (which is pure incompetence), and (b) physicians are street-corner drug pushers for big pharma.
Healthcare in America is so expensive because healthcare in America is about money, not health.
I find it interesting that the chart of US population with direct income from the Fed doesn't include all those students who are living on federal grants and loans, or all of the people living on unemployment benefits. These are large numbers, and the problem is that none of that "income" is permanent. In the case of student loans, upon graduation that income becomes a liability.
Jewish grandmother in Israel tells the truth about fake bankster Jews in America.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yjqN4dtbSOA
Jew: "They say there are lots of anti-semites out there"
Grandma: "Where? Abroad? Then why don't they come here? If there are anti-semites, why don't they come here [Israel]? Are they waiting to get killed?"
Jew: "Why don't they come?"
Grandma: "Well, they love money.Jews love money. Jews are crooks. A Jew is a crook. They make money there. Why should they come here [Israel] and work for money if they can make money there without working?"
Jew: "Don't they work there?"
Grandma: "They don't work. That's what I'm saying. They have money without working. If they come here, they have to work"
Jew: "How do they have money without working?"
Grandma: "How do they make money? Interest. lending money at high rates...selling liquor....wine...Jews know this monkey business. Jews know all about monkey business"
Grandma: "I tell you, I am the real Jew. Money does not blind me."
Jew: "But you talk like anti-semites saying Jews don't work"
Grandme: "No I don't...if they want to stay abroad...Are they waiting for another Hitler to come and kill them before they run away?"
Even jews are ashamed. There are many decent jews. They know if they don't police themselves, then world will give rise to the second coming of Hitler.
Prosecute for Treason.. the Lobby / the Lobby Whores and the AAA Rated Corporations that own the Lobby and Lobby Whores.
Got Rope?
http://www.rachelcorrie.org/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=96kIhJgZBV4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e3e7SjoIHvk&NR=1
'Israel should not trust US, but themselves'
How does a Dead American Girl.. Killed in a Foreign Country.. by a Foreign Army.. who happens to receive immense amounts of aid (or free money) from America.. all the while that Foreign Country, whose army did Murder that little Girl does Lobby MY! Government More!! than ALL the AAA rated Banks in MY! Country!
Why do these Facts make me anything? those facts speak for themselves.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9aFNEog9CDI
Netanyahu Got 29 "Bipartisan" Standing Ovations From Congress
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There are just as many, if not more, documentaries exposing the gas chamber hoax.
You mention Auschwitz, Even the Auschwitz museum director speaks out against the lie
In a dramatic and unprecedented videotaped interview, Dr. Franciszek Piper, senior curator and director of archives of the Auschwitz State Museum admitted on camera that 'Krema 1,' the alleged 'homicidal gas chamber' shown off to hundreds of thousands of tourists every year at the Auschwitz main camp, was, in fact, fabricated after the war by the Soviet Union -apparently on the direct orders of Josef Stalin.
What Piper said - in effect and on camera - was that the explosive 1988 Leuchter Report was correct: no homicidal gassings took place in the buildings designated as 'homicidal gas chambers' at Auschwitz.
http://www.rense.com/general53/aauz.htm
Besides "eye witness" testimony, there is no evidence that gas chambers were ever used to execute prisoners.
Here is a Great Video of those Poor Israelis Suffering the Poor Palestinians!
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/189549.html
They were forced to cut down olive trees at a farm that a Palestinian has owned for generations.. because they wanted more free land.
I really am beginning to believe.. that since America changed its immigration laws (after non-stop lobbying by the Jews from the 1920's forward) that America has slid some what down hill.. it would be interesting to see an economic chart with influx of new people?? anyone got something like that handy? Please??
How about we confiscate Lloyd's Blankensteins money and send him back to the stolen / occupied land of Israel and any of his friends that dont like it too?