Market crash: are we there yet ?

[sailingdog]

Exactly how is Social Security and Medicare bankrupting the US economy, when the US spend more on defense and the military than the next fifteen countries combined. In 2005, we spent $518,000,000,000 on defense, and it has only gone up since then. If we spent one percent of the money we spend on defense, it would give us $5,000,000,000 dollars to spend on medical research, universal health care coverage.



Of course, you can also look at it this way...

HOW THESE FIGURES WERE DETERMINED

Current military” includes Dept. of Defense ($585 billion), the military portion from other departments ($122 billion), and an unbudgetted estimate of supplemental appropriations ($20 billion). “Past military” represents veterans’ benefits plus 80% of the interest on the debt.*

[PBzeer]

Entitlements will bancrupt the budget, when the amount of people recieving (Baby Boomers) exceeds those paying in. There is NO social security trust fund, contrary to the way it was setup. Any and all social security deposits now made are included in the revenue that Congress approriates. This IS a known situation. One that EVERY politican knows has to be dealt with, yet, they keep pushing it off on the next Congress rather than do something to fix it, because it might lose them votes.

In your household budget, you have certain fixed costs, that you can't defer. If your income becomes less than those costs, you are in debt. To solve this, you have to cut discretionary spending, so that you can make your scheduled payments. No Congress since WWII has done that. Regardless of the budget situation, spending does not go down.

To claim the war in Iraq is bancrupting the country is an easy slogan, but flies in the face of Congressional spending habits over the last 60 yrs. If the money wasn't being spent in Iraq, they'd find another place to spend it. You can blame anyone you want for the National Debt, but in the end, it is the voters, who are ultimately responsible for electing and re-electing those who don't practice responsible spending habits with the taxpayers money.

[camaraderie]

Just a pile of crap from an anti-war organization. On the same link is the official OMB chart:


The aniti war group does not even include social security or medicare spending since that is funded "separately". A convenient twist of the facts.
The actual share of the budget fr defense is lower than at many times during the past few decades.

As far as the rest of the world chart goes...that is the price we pay for being the sole defender and policeman of the world while other developed countries take advantage of our umbrella and see no reason to contribute their fair share.

[Rickm505]

We can no longer afford to be anyone's policeman. It's time Europe stepped up to the plate.

If they don't, I'm sure the Chinese will.

[camaraderie]

It's time Europe stepped up to the plate.

Tell that to the Bosnians...or maybe Darfur...the Chinese seem to be interested there...although not, it seems, in the people! From the Brookings INstitute:
China is Sudan's largest trading partner and the main foreign investor in Sudan's oil industry. China National Petroleum Corp. has a 40 percent share in the international consortium extracting oil in Sudan, and it is building refineries and pipelines, enabling Sudan to benefit from oil export revenue since 1999. Although most Western oil companies have withdrawn from Sudan under pressure from human rights organizations, Chinese companies have turned a blind eye to the brutal way in which Sudan forced 200,000 to 300,000 of its citizens from oil-rich lands without compensation. Nor have these companies shown concern that Sudan uses oil revenue to purchase arms for its wars against its black African population.


Gee...sounds like even a better oil deal than we are getting in Iraq but no one on the left is complaining!! Can you imagine the headlines if Exxon were the developer?

[PBzeer]

The whole point is, it's your elected representatives you should be griping at, not some forum of faceless people that can't do anything about the mess. Regardless of party label, they are either free spenders, or they aren't. Anyone advocating, and then doing something to rein in spending gets my vote, and always has.

[wind_magic]

Originally Posted by PBzeer

The whole point is, it's your elected representatives you should be griping at, not some forum of faceless people that can't do anything about the mess. Regardless of party label, they are either free spenders, or they aren't. Anyone advocating, and then doing something to rein in spending gets my vote, and always has.

Right on.

Wish everybody voted to cut spending.

[sharkbait]

Alexis de Toqueville opined in "Democracy In America" that a democratic state
will crumble when the majority of the electorate discover that they can vote themselves largess from the public coffers.

This can be roughly translated as; Democracy is two wolves and a sheep voting on what to have for dinner.

[wind_magic]

Originally Posted by sharkbait

Alexis de Toqueville

de Toqueville should be required reading in U.S. high schools.

[maxcontax]

wild magic, we are not there yet. the market is not so US driven any more, get outside the box. Look a tthe Hong Kong ETF and what's going on in India.

If you are only in US stuff you may be in for it. get global