Is the US in denial over its $14tn debt?
-
-
- littlwarrior
- added this
This is a story of debt, delusion and - potentially - disaster. For America and, if you happen to think that American influence is broadly a good thing, for the world.
The debt and the delusion are both all-American: $14 trillion (£8.75tn) of debt has been amassed and there is no cogent plan to reduce it.
The figure is impossible to comprehend: easier to focus on the fact that it grows at $40,000 (£25,000) a second. Getting out of Afghanistan will help but actually only at the margins. The problem is much bigger than any one area of expenditure.
The economist Jeffrey Sachs, director of Columbia University's Earth Institute, is no rabid fiscal conservative but on the debt he is a hawk:
"I'm worried. The debt is large. It should be brought under control. The longer we wait, the longer we suffer this kind of paralysis; the more America boxes itself into a corner and the more America's constructive leadership in the world diminishes."
The author and economist Diane Coyle agrees. And she makes the rather alarming point that the acknowledged deficit is not the whole story.
The current $14tn debt is bad enough, she argues, but the future commitments to the baby boomers, commitments for health care and for pensions, suggest that the debt burden is part of the fabric of society:
"You have promises implicit in the structure of welfare states and aging populations that mean there is an unacknowledged debt that will have to be paid for by future taxpayers, and that could double the published figures."
Richard Haass of the Council on Foreign Relations acknowledges that this structural commitment to future debt is not unique to the United States. All advanced democracies have more or less the same problem, he says, "but in the case of the States the figures are absolutely enormous".
Mr Haass, a former senior US diplomat, is leading an academic push for America's debt to be taken seriously by Americans and noticed as well by the rest of the world.
He uses the analogy of Suez and the pressure that was put on the UK by the US to withdraw from that adventure. The pressure was not, of course, military. It was economic.
more at link
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-13906274
-
-
Milieu
-
CBO, says all we need do is go back to pre-Mad King George III tax levels and most of the problem is solved.
- 11 months ago
-
Milieu
-
-
tlbuffin [removed]
- This comment was removed as a violation of community guidelines.
-
tlbuffin [removed]
-
-
littlwarrior
-
tlbuffin:
Now thats a good idea.
- 11 months ago
-
littlwarrior
-
-
tlbuffin [removed]
-
littlwarrior: This comment was removed as a violation of community guidelines.
-
tlbuffin [removed]
-
-
littlwarrior
-
tlbuffin:
Hey 20 years ago marriage was just a dream, now its just a career change and a move away. Though killing the Koch brother could probably get complicated, although I'm sure they leave the country sometime hmmmm, Ill have to think about it.
- 11 months ago
-
littlwarrior
-
-
CaptSutter
-
tlbuffin:
I understand the desire and need for levity but it is bad taste and you just might encourage a Loughner if you aren't careful. I know I am a party-pooper but jokes about murder in the modern world are just not a good idea. Point to Beck and the half a glass of wine being seen as a threat to life and limb....
- 11 months ago
-
CaptSutter
-
-
meesh76
-
The US is not in denial over the massive debt of 14T. They are in denial about how bad people are hurting right now. Sparse jobs, foreclosure--so many in my area, I wonder where are these people going to go, high gas prices, higher food prices, that is what they need to focus on. If we didn't have such a huge wealth gap in this country we would be able to get this massive debt contained. Fact is, wealthy people don't keep the economy flowing. They hold their money. Poor and middle-class people keep money flowing freely into the system. If they had more money to flow, things could pick up.
- 11 months ago
-
meesh76
-
-
JamesS12
-
I'm so tired of our "economic specialists" putting the blame of the entire debt on our social nets. Does Social Security and Medicare play a part in it? I don't think it's a large part. We were balancing the budget during the later part of the Clinton administration with those programs intact. The problem is our tilted tax code, wars, government waste, and the wasteful policies our politicians advocate for.
- 11 months ago
-
JamesS12
-
-
littlwarrior
-
JamesS12:
I think it is a big part becuase the thing about social security is it was paid for, until they started taking those funds and using them for other things, now we dont have the money for it because we spent it. I'm not saying that means we need to do away with it, we just need to look at how we are handling it.
- 11 months ago
-
littlwarrior
-
-
JamesS12
-
littlwarrior:
You are spot on, Littlwarrior. Social Security and Medicare was paid for through payroll taxes but the politicians used the excess funds to engage in wars and increase tax cuts for the wealthy. It was stolen from the people who worked their whole life putting it into the system only to see politicians use it for other means.
- 11 months ago
-
JamesS12
-
-
artemis6
-
How about we stop the wars ? That would help a lot . Until they are talking like that , i do not believe they are serious about the debt problem .
- 11 months ago
-
artemis6
-
-
littlwarrior
-
artemis6:
Yes pulling out of Afghanistan and leaving Libya to deal with their own problems would save us a ton of money, but not really enough. There needs to be a bigger resolution than just cutting the military budget. Like I dont know raising taxes on the top 10%, you know the highest concentration of wealth in the nation, them folks.
- 11 months ago
-
littlwarrior
-
-
artemis6
-
littlwarrior:
THAT makes sense to me too . I do not get why it is so damn hard .
- 11 months ago
-
artemis6
-
-
MauriceLacunza
-
The other day I posted a story on Facebook, Changing the Planet, that detailed just how much 14T is. We have a serious problem. Today Obama came out mincing no words about the debt. We need to tax appropriately, cut budgets, and figure out how to reduce the costs of providing services. As well the middle class need to become an investment priority for industry. We shall see but the prognosis is dim if we postpone the solutions.
- 11 months ago
-
MauriceLacunza
-
-
littlwarrior
-
MauriceLacunza:
14 trillion is a big hunk of money, what drives me nuts is look over at the number ones on this site and look everywhere else, no one really wants to talk about the debt, they just want to bury their head in the sand and hope it will go away, but I think what Obama was trying to say this morning is if something doesn't happen soon, he wont have the money to keep the lights on.
- 11 months ago
-
littlwarrior
-
-
samthesixth
-
Yes we are in complete denial over the amount and the implications of carrying so much debt.
- 11 months ago
-
samthesixth
-
-
kennymotown
-
If we get rid of just the Bush Tax cuts, revenue would cut the debt by 50% in 5 short years. Having two wars off the books and then suddenly after Bush is gone they get added responsibly by the Obama administration we find that for years the unknown debt is now known. The upper 5% of wealth gained the most during the last 10 years, making the middle class and lower class pay by decreased social safety nets is only going to make the debt worse.
- 11 months ago
-
kennymotown
-
-
littlwarrior
-
kennymotown:
Yes you make a good point, taxes are the lowest they have been in over 50 years, and yet we want to talk about lowering them further while no steps are being taken to cut spending, other than a mad dash rush to cut social programs that can afford to be cut.
- 11 months ago
-
littlwarrior
-
-
littlwarrior
-
This is a painfully accurate description of our debt crisis by the BBC. Read it, and then ask yourself are you in denial about just how bad it really is, 14 trillion is a big chunk of change.
- 11 months ago
-
littlwarrior
