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2009-05-14 Economy

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Posted by Steve White 2009-05-14 00:00|| E-Mail|| Front Page|| [11129 views ] Top

#1 Recent research conducted for the Peterson Foundation shows that 90 per cent of Americans want the federal government to put its own financial house in order.
That polled figure makes no sense. In the last election the usual 98% of incumbents won. If Americans want the federal financial house to be put in order, they wouldn't have voted all those idiots back in. And, they voted for Obama!

Posted by Anguper Hupomosing9418 2009-05-14 00:09|| 2009-05-14 00:09|| Front Page Top

#2 Lest we fergit, WORLD MIL FORUM [GOOGLE Chinglish transl.] > America's GDP may officially stand at approximately US$14.0Trilyuuhn [r.o.], but its GROSS/TOTE WORLD DEBT is approxi US$587.0Trilyuuhn [also r.o] as far as CHIN is concerned = calculated???

OTOH, TOPIX > RUSSIA WARNS OF WAR WITHIN A DECADE [2019-2020] OVER ARCTIC OIL AND GAS/WESTERN ALLIES DISPUTE [USA, Norway, Canucks] RUSSIA'S CLAIM TO LARGE SECTION OF ARCTIC CONTINENTAL SHELF [Russ sovereignty]. US, NATO EXPANSIONISM near Russ borders also deemed a threat to Russ national security.

ALso, CHINESE MIL FORUM > CHINA ASSERTS BORDER CLAIMS [UNCLOS - Continental Shelf]]. Essens, MAP > OKINAWA, PHILIPPINES, TAIWAN, and BULK OF SE ASIA = INDONES-MALAYSIA can now be ascribed as CHINA'S OFFSHORE "FLORIDA KEYS" = FUTURE CHIN "VACATION ISLANDS", aka CHIN's desired "FIRST ISLAND CHAIN" ["String of Pearls"].

** WORLD MIL FORUM > IIUC AS CHINA'S PLAN IMPROVES, US MIL BASES ON GUAM, HAWAII, AND US WEST COAST MAY SUDDENLY FIND AS JAPAN DID A PLAN SUBMARINE(S) HAD SUCCESSFULLY PENETRATED, SURFACED, AND DEPARTED DESPITE THE BEST US SECURITY SYSTEMS.

Posted by JosephMendiola 2009-05-14 01:35|| 2009-05-14 01:35|| Front Page Top

#3 Watch the yield on 10 or 20 year Treasuries for signs of the bond market rebelling against the massive expansion of debt. Last week there were signs of dissent as the yield jumped up a bit. The bond market is more powerful than Obama and is the only thing standing in his way.

Posted by Cynicism Inc 2009-05-14 07:39|| 2009-05-14 07:39|| Front Page Top

#4 That's ok. Obama will simply order them to make it AAA again. No problem.

/sarc?

Posted by CrazyFool 2009-05-14 08:24|| 2009-05-14 08:24|| Front Page Top

#5 To paraphrase The Donald:

"When you owe a guy $100,000 he has you by the balls but when you owe him $ 1 billion you have him by the balls." So, if we owe the world $587 Trillion - who and how are they going to collect and what do you think they'll get? Chicago, San Francisco and Boston? Hmmm, we may be able to work something out, know what I mean?

Posted by Jack is Back!">Jack is Back! 2009-05-14 09:19|| 2009-05-14 09:19|| Front Page Top

#6 AH, there is an underlying assumption in your comment that I think may be wrong.

You say,
"If Americans want the federal financial house to be put in order, they wouldn't have voted all those idiots back in. And, they voted for Obama! "

That is true ONLY if the voters understood the connection between their votes and the problem.

I'm not sure that the understanding is there.

Posted by AlanC 2009-05-14 10:01|| 2009-05-14 10:01|| Front Page Top

#7 But, but, but, "Obama will have to lead from the center." Yea right, the voters understood.

Posted by Besoeker 2009-05-14 10:34|| 2009-05-14 10:34|| Front Page Top

#8 I'm not sure that the understanding is there.

Optimist

Posted by Nimble Spemble 2009-05-14 10:40|| 2009-05-14 10:40|| Front Page Top

#9 And, they voted for Obama Obama ran as a blank slate that people could fill in with their own hopes (remember he criticized the Bush administration deficits). Enough people voted for hope to get him elected with a 6% margin.

"When you owe a guy $100,000 he has you by the balls but when you owe him $ 1 billion you have him by the balls." There are two problems here. First, the guy who is owed a billion will probably not lend you another billion (also known as "throwing good money after bad"). China is taking steps to grow its economy without relying on massive exports to the U.S. Second, its not necessarily the billion dollar lender that the problem. We owe everyone money. If Brazil, Korea, or some petro state decides not to hold any more dollars then there will be a domino effect on other holders. At the moment central banks are willing to buy short term treasuries because it's cash and there really isn't any other option. Nobody will buy long bonds except the fed. The world is communicating its concerns through the marketplace, but the U.S. does not appear to be listening.

Posted by DoDo 2009-05-14 11:28|| 2009-05-14 11:28|| Front Page Top

#10 The rubes bought the whole hope-a-dope thing because they thought only "the rich" would be taxed. With roughly half the country not paying any income tax and Oblahblah promising to relieve them of the "payroll tax" (Social Security contributions) we have an entitlement culture that intends to parasitically feed off the shrinking minority who believe in the quaint notions of self-reliance and personal responsibility.

Posted by regular joe 2009-05-14 12:26|| 2009-05-14 12:26|| Front Page Top

#11 NS, I'm not at all optimistic.

Unfortunately our choices seem to be:
1) abject stupidity; and
2) an entitlement greed, OR;
3) a combination of the two.

This is fertile ground for the corrupt and power mad that the political parties are sown with.

Short of a revolution, is there a way out?

Posted by AlanC 2009-05-14 13:22|| 2009-05-14 13:22|| Front Page Top

#12 Is there a way out, Ummm I'm not sure, has anybody pointed out that the "Inccome Tax" was to fund WW2 (Pay off WAR BONDS) and then end?

Surely they're lond paid for.

Posted by Redneck Jim">Redneck Jim 2009-05-14 14:42|| 2009-05-14 14:42|| Front Page Top

#13 FreeCreditReportDotCom tell your friends tell your dad tell your mom...

Posted by Seafarious 2009-05-14 15:39|| 2009-05-14 15:39|| Front Page Top

#14 I'm not sure that the understanding is there. I left that without saying. Of course the national deficit in understanding is about equal to the national debt. The poll that was quoted was merely referring to what people "want". Human wants are endless and often have little bearing on reality. That's just common sense.
The only realistic way out is increasing the electorate's understanding so they will start voting differently. I might as well be wishing for a miracle. So many people who have recently lost big in their 401K's never even bothered to inform themselves about the nuts-and-bolts of 401K operations, and they had a real, $-and-sense interest in the outcome. Congress has abdicated. The MSM is pursuing crazy agendas, rather than trying to inform the public. I did some background reading in old NY Times news articles about the big bank crisis of 1933 a few months back. I was amazed at the level of knowledge implied by the articles published and by those who were quoted by the reporters. We have gotten stupider.

Posted by Anguper Hupomosing9418 2009-05-14 17:23|| 2009-05-14 17:23|| Front Page Top

#15 DAMMIT Sea! Now I got that stupid earworm going!

Posted by Frank G">Frank G 2009-05-14 19:41|| 2009-05-14 19:41|| Front Page Top

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