Who to Blame for the Debt Fiasco

[John Galt]

"Democracy is the theory that the common people know what They want, and deserve to get it good and hard." - H.L. Mencken

"When the people find they can vote themselves money, that will herald the end of the republic." - Benjamin Franklin

I believe that these two quotes encompass many of our problems today. Too many people have allowed themselves to be conditioned that they are entitled to too many things, at the expense of others, and that if their life isn't all roses, then it's someone elses fault. Politicians then convince these weak people that they can make policy to fix these "problems", which leads to another great quote, "You can evade reality, but you cannot evade the consequences of evading reality." - Ayn Rand. We are quickly coming to the end of the road and soon are going to be forced to deal with the consequences of the Great Keynesian Experiment.

 

[ruger17hmr]

"Democracy is the theory that the common people know what They want, and deserve to get it good and hard." - H.L. Mencken

"When the people find they can vote themselves money, that will herald the end of the republic." - Benjamin Franklin

I believe that these two quotes encompass many of our problems today. Too many people have allowed themselves to be conditioned that they are entitled to too many things, at the expense of others, and that if their life isn't all roses, then it's someone elses fault. Politicians then convince these weak people that they can make policy to fix these "problems", which leads to another great quote, "You can evade reality, but you cannot evade the consequences of evading reality." - Ayn Rand. We are quickly coming to the end of the road and soon are going to be forced to deal with the consequences of the Great Keynesian Experiment.

Very logical and precise.

However, we are human beings, therefore, there are inherent flaws in the system. Compassion, Caring, and Love on one hand balanced by Greed, Indifference, and Hatred on the other. The survival of our system depends on the good outweighing the bad.

It seems that Utopian system of Compassion, Caring, and Love is completely out of reach for us Human Beings.

 

[Leo]

When the socialists of the early 1960's became the most powerful lobbying force in the land, under the banner called the NEA, they slowly began to change the mind of society.

Here is the winning plan:
1) Get rid of GOD, so there is no moral compass.
2) Eliminate heros and righteous role models so there are no examples
3) Teach the young minds that they only have value if they rebel against authority,
even if the authority is right.
4) Teach that you need to have socialists make your decisions for you, after all, they know best.
5) Teach them to be selfish, self centered and uncompassionate to anyone but them selves, the government can take care of everyone else.

Combine these ingredients, and allow to marinade for a generation or two. Take the mixture and give them a right to vote without forcing them to accept or perform any responsiblity. Protected them with a corupt and perverted legal system. They will vote for an ear tickling message that will put people in charge just as morally and economically bankrupt as they are.

Sit back and watch the society break down.

It was a fun experiment, wasn't it?

 

[dross]

The problem with that article is that it assumes that tax rate cuts will create less revenue and that tax rate increases will create more revenue. This is simplistic, ignores history, and fails to understand that arithmetic is not the same as economics.

To say both parties have increased spending is like saying that shoplifting and bank robbery are the same thing because both are stealing.

 

[Robin Hood]

The job of a congressman or a senator is to get re-elected. Of course they're going to give things (including money) away. How else would they get any votes.

 

[96firephoenix]

The American People


They keep electing idiots on both sides of the parties. We have become selfish and want to know what can my country do for me and not the other way around.

Plain and simple

definitely. The american people that want something for nothing. we want to pay as little taxes as possible, but want stuff like paved roads, medicare, SS, medicaid, welfare, free education, etc... They have all that good stuff in Austria, but the average sales tax is ~60% and ~70% if you're on gov't health insurance. funny how they really don't mind paying taxes out the ass.

I'd say at least 95% of them anyway.

that sounds about right. only about 5% of the people in the nation vote for decent candidates, and they never get elected in enough numbers to do any good.

 

[LocustsOfSteel]

I would tie the core of many these problems to far earlier events.

...and the treasury for printing un backed cash.

Firstly:
Very close redneckmedic... It's the federal reserve bank that prints money out of thin air "at interest", and it's a private entity (not a regulated government entity) that is tied to corrupt old world banking carrells & was improperly authorized by a handful of bureaucrats on Christmas of 1913 when the majority of the senate and congress was home for the holidays.
Furthermore, there have been other private banking organizations that have tried to commandeer our nation... For instance, Andrew Jackson VS the Second Bank of the United States. (People forget these things with all the distractions that are thrown there way)

Second:
The "fair trade" organizations that began in the 60's have been some particularly slimy types...
Paying for the election campaigns of slanted politicians who in turn opened the doors to cheap foreign products, creating trade systems and embargo's that are not in our favor, and therefore did incredible amounts of damage to US industry, and ceased our ability to export many products that helped to pay for our oil dependency's.

Third:
Conglomerate media networks... A hoard of networks that are in reality, all one entity.
When the majority of people rely on just a handful of news sources that are all one, it's easy for those on top of the business pyramid to bias the propaganda streams, and in turn dumb down and control the majority of the distracted populous with uprising ease.

Fourth:
People who rely on the public school systems to endow there children with wisdom...
School's can efficiently train people in the basics of math, writing and the ability to quickly and efficiently take in information for job skills. But pressing so much programming on young people with such limited time constraints, while expecting children to fully appreciate our heritage, and to better understand how trade and economics work, will ultimately lead to nothing but apathy from them.

Fifth:
A limited amount of political parties is a really bad thing (Hell, I'd rather politicians be party-less like it was long ago). It's easier for outside entity's to corrupt larger numbers of politicians that way and we have less real choices during elections.


There are (of course lol), endless multitudes other problems eating away at our system, enticing the populous to make unwise financial and political decisions, as well as dulling & warping our children's minds to do the same for the next generation.

We might make it out of this situation. But with the way things are going, and the lack of time and intuitive the people have to do anything real about the problems, leads me to buy more canned food, ammo, and other random gear just in case.

Sorry to leave such a long post, but these issues just cannot be efficiently summed up in a couple of paragraphs

 

[Leo]

I do not know why people think we Americans pay a low percentage of taxes. People see the Fed, state, medicare and FICA on your check, mistakenly thinking the net pay is theirs. What do you do with that money? You pay property tax on your house, you pay taxes on your phone and utilities, you pay excise tax on your motor vehicles, tires, outdoor equipment, etc. You pay for government mandated insurace. and you pay the tax and fees on it. You pay excise on every gallon of fuel and state sales tax on that also. You pay sales tax on every item you purchase. You pay special taxes above and beyond sales tax when you get a hotel room, rent a car, etc. I actually spent a year keeping track of taxes about 10 years ago, with a little computer program I set up to help me keep totals. I paid between 62% ands 65% back then, and for sure the sales, property, and excise tax has gone up since then. And guess what, if you land a job with a great benefit package, you owe tax on that also. There are between 3 and 7 taxes due at death, depending on your assets and dependants. I am convinced, the average middle class wage slave is already paying better than 70% of his wage in taxes, and the laughing kenyan says we do not pay our share.

 

[ruger17hmr]

I do not know why people think we Americans pay a low percentage of taxes. People see the Fed, state, medicare and FICA on your check, mistakenly thinking the net pay is theirs. What do you do with that money? You pay property tax on your house, you pay taxes on your phone and utilities, you pay excise tax on your motor vehicles, tires, outdoor equipment, etc. You pay for government mandated insurace. and you pay the tax and fees on it. You pay excise on every gallon of fuel and state sales tax on that also. You pay sales tax on every item you purchase. You pay special taxes above and beyond sales tax when you get a hotel room, rent a car, etc. I actually spent a year keeping track of taxes about 10 years ago, with a little computer program I set up to help me keep totals. I paid between 62% ands 65% back then, and for sure the sales, property, and excise tax has gone up since then. And guess what, if you land a job with a great benefit package, you owe tax on that also. There are between 3 and 7 taxes due at death, depending on your assets and dependants. I am convinced, the average middle class wage slave is already paying better than 70% of his wage in taxes, and the laughing kenyan says we do not pay our share.

To make the matters worse, even with paying better than 70% of wages on taxes, the Federal Deficit is near 15 Trillion Dollars. Furthermore, a fierce debate is on going among our dear leaders to decide whether or not the deficit should continue to grow.

Prevailing consensus indicate we are looking at another 3-5 trillion dollars of increase in the form of QE3, which will push the Federal Deficit to 18-20 trillion dollars during the next 5 years.

 

[DragonGunner]

Who is to blame? Look in the mirror and you will find the answer.
Some posters here have hit on it, other posters here just like the article, the talking heads on radio, and the current block of politicians just want to point the finger at some one else, a group of people, a serious of programs, etc. At the end of the day, however, or inactions and own greed ("I'm okay with cuts to entitlements as long as it's not MY entitlement" and "It's not my problem, but it is my problem") have gotten us here.

I once heard a wise man say.."As the family goes, so goes the church, as the church goes, so goes the country. As the country goes, so goes the government, an G** gives us the president we deserve. He is merely the reflection of the people."

"I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labours of the people under the pretense of taking care of them." Thomas Jefferson.....looks like a "FAIL" there to me.