The U.S. Federal debt stands at approximately 6 trillion dollars give or take a few billion. It can be argued that as a percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), the current debt, while high, is manageable. Compared to the 120 percent carried at the peak of WWII, our current debt at 65% seems low. But even that level is more than double the ratio in 1980. A projected increase in the national debt of over a trillion dollars is considered a temporary investment for economic recovery. The government should recoup most of that money once recovery takes hold or so goes the rosy theory. But the amount of money borrowed by the Feds is only a small part of the story. Add state and local government, corporate and consumer debt and the number becomes a little scary. Reach for the panic button when unfunded liability for items like Social Security, Medicare/Medicaid, retiree health care and pensions is included. All together, it comes conservatively to around $145 trillion. Some of it is performing debt, that is, it is being paid off on schedule but the lion's share falls in the unfunded liability category and it is largely being ignored; just something for future politicians to worry about. Meanwhile, we keep piling on more debt year after year.
For background see Economic Recovery, Part III - The Debt Bubble
Posted by warrenpeterson at December 01, 2008 07:43 PM | Email This
One thing is for sure. The Wall Street Bankers bonuses will be paid as usual. All with your, and my children's money.
Smell something rotten anyone?
Posted by: All Facts Support My Positions on December 1, 2008 08:17 PMWe are at a tipping point where soon the world will realize our money is worthless. That is when the real consequences of the Bush/Clinton/Bush/Reagan/Carter/Ford/Nixon policies come to roost.
Too bad the GOP had to ridicule Paul instead of at a minimum listening to him (of course I would have prefered they nominate the man but would have been happy if they would have at least listened!!!)
Posted by: Lysander on December 1, 2008 08:30 PMAs previously and deviously distributed by the likes of Chris Dodd, Barney Frank, Chuck Shumer...
And they now want to bail out the auto UNIONS?
Yes, the UNIONS because they control and have destroyed the formerly big 3.
Take-home wages at the U.S. car makers average $28.42 an hour, according to the Center for Automotive Research. That's on par with $26 at Toyota, $24 at Honda and $21 at Hyundai. But include benefits, and the picture changes. Hourly labor costs are $44.20 on average for the non-Detroit producers, in line with most manufacturing jobs, but are $73.21 for Detroit.This $29 cost gap reflects the way Big Three management and unions have conspired to make themselves uncompetitive -- increasingly so as their market share has collapsed. Over the decades the United Auto Workers won pension and health-care benefits far more generous than in almost any other American industry. As a result, for every UAW member working at a U.S. car maker today, three retirees collect benefits; at GM, the ratio is 4.6 to one.
Screw em.
Let the auto industry declare bankruptcy and come back reorganized without the job killing millstone known as UNIONS.
AND... if I were one of the foreign car makers, I would not hire even ONE former union member.
It's time to let them sink under the weight of their own greed.
Posted by: Ragnar Danneskjold on December 1, 2008 09:03 PMI am sure it is the unions that decided to build gas hogs instead of modernizing, building 50 mpg hybrids, like all those cars on back order over at Toyota.
Blaming the Unions for Detroit's downfall is like blaming gays for Katrina.
Go ahead and print all those totally discredited numbers too. Quote that laughable article. Then ask yourself how hard you want to run in your race to the bottom.
If people like you were in charge we would all be scratching a living on Wal Mart wages, and a few people would be trillionaires, telling the "workers" where to stand, and when to sit.
Like you are blaming democrats. The ones who can't even get Bernacke to tell them who he gave how much money to, and what toxic assets he bought with all those trillions.
You are dishonest to the core aren't you Ragnut? If it wasn't for dishonesty, and lies, wingnuts wouldn't have anything to say. Ever.
Unions destroyed the big three. Only in a kool aid world. Man, you are one sick puppy Raggy.
Posted by: All Facts Support My Positions on December 1, 2008 09:28 PMYou can pretend the problems facing America ON EVERY FRONT were caused by Democrats. Just like the world is flat, up is down, and slavery is freedom.
Still have your house? Your health care? Your job? Your retirement?
If you said yes 4 times you're luckier than the millions of hard working Americans that just got the American Dream taken from them by the party of greed.
Posted by: All Facts Support My Positions on December 1, 2008 09:35 PMWhat books have you read that convinced to hate us Americans that work 60 to 70 hours a week just to put food on our families?
Posted by: All Facts Support My Positions on December 1, 2008 09:40 PMEven with debt its a little silly. My mortgage might be 4 times my income, but that doesn't mean I am financial trouble if my monthly payment is only 25%.
Posted by: Giffy on December 1, 2008 10:10 PMI agree... we need to let the auto industry fail if that is what it is going to do. I hope you are not supporting any politicians that disagree with this most fundamental tenant of free market capitalism!
Posted by: Lysander on December 1, 2008 10:14 PMEXCEPT instead of your parents you want to live off the teets of EVERYONE else.
Not only are you factless, I sincerely doubt you can be taught. DO THE MATH!
The UNIONS have gutted, quartered and served up that golden goose and no amount of CPR, heart paddles or magic injection is going to bring it back to life to lay more fancy expensive eggs.
Bury that sucker and hope for some kind of reincarnation.
The UAW has just under 600,000 members. Using the $29 MORE they get than non-union automakers:
$29 x 40 hrs/week x 52 weeks/year = $60,320 PER UNION WORKER PER YEAR x 600,000 = $36,192,000,000!
Furthermore, as per UnionFacts.com the UAW PAID OUT $119,744,856 for "Representational Activities" and another $9,621,882 for "Political Activities & Lobbying".
More from UnionFacts.com:
Job Banks: Paid Not to Work
Thousands of UAW members are being paid between $70,000 to $85,000 per year not to work. (By some accounts, the expense is even larger, costing the "Big Three" up to $130,000 for each job banker). For 4,200 of these union members, their 8 hour "work day" consists of "filling out crossword puzzles, watching World War II movies and even taking naps." These job bankers "have drawn nearly full pay and all benefits, often for years, no matter the companies' health." As shown by the $4.5 billion the "Big Three" earmarked to fund job banks, this practice is costing the companies billions of dollars at a time that they are losing billions.
Health Insurance: UAW's unsustainable spending
Negotiating for overly generous health benefits for union members has aided and abetted the decline of the auto industry. The "Big Three" collectively spent almost $10 billion on health insurance in 2002 and the UAW has heedlessly continued to waste money.
Some numbers for perspective:
$1,500 of the cost of each car pays for health insurance. For each car, more money is spent for health insurance than on steel for its construction. Toyota has far lower health care costs in comparison to the UAW. While healthcare costs contributed to a combined loss of $15 billion for the "Big Three," Toyota posted a profit of $14 billion.
We no longer live in the era of Norma Rae when a union was necessary to protect workers from an evil Boss Hog. Equality laws, labor laws and OSHA all serve to legally protect the workers. The unions are an obsolete, expensive and destructive force. It makes no sense to further demand MORE when it will result not in MORE for a job but in NO JOB at all.
UAW's Multimillion Dollar Resort
Union dues have subsidized the construction of an extraordinarily expensive resort and golf club retreat. The Black Lake Resort and Golf club is luxurious, to say the least. This lakeside resort has 241 guest rooms, 2 full-sized basketball courts, an Olympic size swimming pool, a full gym and exercise room with a sauna, and a golf course designed by Rees Jones, a pricey and well-known golf course architect.
While UAW union members are permitted to visit the resort their dues have paid for, they cannot do so at any significant discount--they only receive $18 off the regular price.
It's time for a reverse of the Norma Rae effect: it's time workers demand to be allowed to work without union thug interference.
Posted by: Ragnar Danneskjold on December 1, 2008 10:29 PMAre you channeling Joe Biden all whine & no facts?
Here's another bit of drivel by all whine & no facts: "You better pray your ass off the DEMOCRATS save our country from the damage the Bush Crime Family, and his GOP slimeball friends have inflicted"...
You mean like these stupid, dishonest, parasitic Democrats all whine & no facts?
"Blaming the Unions for Detroit's downfall is like blaming gays for Katrina"...
Funny you should mention Katrina and the resulting problems...
It was liberal DemTards who made New Orleans such a basket case to begin with...
"If people like you were in charge we would all be scratching a living on Wal Mart wages, and a few people would be trillionaires, telling the "workers" where to stand, and when to sit"...
Yeah, sort of reminds one of Al 'the Supreme Goron' Gore, doesn't it?
"Like you are blaming democrats. The ones who can't even get Bernacke to tell them who he gave how much money to, and what toxic assets he bought with all those trillions"...
You mean those toxic assets that the Democrat Paulson no longer wants purchased?
Yeah all whine & no facts you sure told Ragnar off with all your delusion based whining...LOL!
Posted by: juandos on December 2, 2008 02:55 AMSo factless, let's hear you whine this one away!
LOL. The joke is one you.
Since you love paying taxes so much, I'm certain you only use a 1040EZ for your taxes and don't even take the standard deduction, right? After all, it's patriotic to pay taxes, according to your VP Elect...
Posted by: Shanghai Dan on December 2, 2008 08:14 AMThe first case to consider is General Motors, which was created in 1908. GM's company profile states that the company has 266,000 employees in 35 countries, and in 2007 sold 9.37 million cars and trucks. Looking at the highlights from the 2007 Annual Report, I see that GM took in over 178 billion dollars in revenue (or around nineteen thousand dollars per car or truck sold) from sales and just under 3 billion dollars from finance and insurance services. Despite this, the company's adjusted net income is a reported loss of 23 million dollars for 2007. But that's not the part that worries me. The loss before a reported "change in accounting principle" for 2007 was 38.7 billion dollars, meaning these geniuses spent an average of over twenty-three thousand per car or truck manufactured, so that they lost four thousand dollars on each and every car or truck they made that year.
Yeah... maybe they could build a bigger truck for us to haul more of our money to them.
Posted by: Ragnar Danneskjold on December 2, 2008 10:55 AMUnions are the SLAVE MASTERS of the modern world.
Posted by: Ragnar Danneskjold on December 2, 2008 02:13 PMThe handwriting is on the wall (hope I am wrong, but doubt it) The Democrat controlled Congress wants to bail out the big three American automakers with our tax money totaling around $25 Billion even if they have a mediocre business plan - makes me want to puke !
That is why I support term limits for Congress. The electorate apparently cannot help themselves from reelecting the same old politicians over and over again. I would propose a limit of 12 years for US Senators and 10 years for US Representatives. I believe this would at least make Congress more fiscally responsible by eliminating the Pork barrel spenders who keep getting reelected.
Posted by: KS on December 2, 2008 08:46 PM