Great Speech

[dan k.]

Marco Rubio is a star. He speaks in simple terms straight to the people regarding our rising debt. No BS. I feel most People are not understanding the real crisis, the rising debt number not the debt ceiling.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_68GjR6V ... r_embedded

[sytile]

[ronald hannah]

Why is it those speaking on the Senate floor always seem to be speaking to an empty room?

[Burkie]

Agree about the size of the debt but it appears that the attention should have started 10 years ago when it was doubled by $5 Trillion in 8 years. Bit difficult to put the horse back in the barn once it is out.

Source Wikipedia:

During the presidency of George W. Bush, the gross public debt increased from $5.7 trillion in January 2001 to $10.7 trillion by December 2008.[5] Under President Barack Obama, the debt increased from $10.7 trillion to $14.2 trillion by February 2011.[11]

Regards

[wesjh]

I agree with you Burkie, but this egghead we have now has never even run a lemonade stand and just wants to spend,spend,spend. Look at the #s you presented. Bush doubled in 8 years (remember dems took over congress in 2006) and Obama added nearly $4Trillion in less than half that time! Yeah, and they call the ones wanting to control spending the terrorists! We are fast becomig Greece. Now, not to remain all doom and gloom, when we elect a new president, who has actually run a business and cut spending, not just the rate of spending, we are going to see an american resurgence the likes of which no one will expect. And we will be forced to cut gov't spending, by choice or by necessity. China cannot even manufacture their own turbine engines for their new aircraft carrier (purchased from ukraine 10 years ago) or for their new stealth aircraft. The reports of America's demise are premature. Politics matter. Now more than ever. The G D tree huggin', bunny lovin', pot smokin', sandle wearin' (no offense nick), tofu eatin', runnin' naked in the forest hippies who are in control right now need to be beaten back once and for all.
Forget "give peace a chance", "Give FREEDOM A CHANCE!!!".

[DavidL]

The G D tree huggin', bunny lovin', pot smokin', sandle wearin' (no offense nick), tofu eatin', runnin' naked in the forest hippies who are in control right now need to be beaten back once and for all.

I generally stay off the political threads but, trust me, not too many of the folks in Washington fit the description above, they may pander to those folks but are more than likely Lawyers or Professional Politicians. Where have all the statesman gone?

[Dan R.]

This charade will keep perpetuating itself until these buffoons are voted out of office. Democrat or Republican makes no difference, they are just about the next election. I for one will vote them all out, until they get the hint.

This $2.4 trillion reduction is not a cut in spending it is cut in projected spending over the next 10 years which Obama has already said will cost $10 trillion in extra spending (over and above the current deficit). There has been so much b/s about default it makes me want to puke. Of course Germany has a good workable socialized medical program, they pay little in national defense, as the US has provided that for them (& all of Europe) since the end of WW II. Maybe we should let others fend for themselves a little more and see how their disposable income works out for them. Through the TARP, the creation of ObamaCare and other bullshite programs the deficit is SCHEDULED to balloon by another $10 trillion in the next 10 years.

There is a theory (plan) that states that if there is a 1 % cut in actual spending for 8 consecutive years, there will be a surplus again. How difficult can it be to cut 1%? I bet most (if not all) have already cut that out of their personal budgets. All these departments and agencies spending 100%+ of their allotted budgets in order to get an increase the following year has to end.


By estimates (from both Dem & Rep), the US is slated to take in $180B in the month of August. The cost of the Military, Debt service, Social Security payments totaled less than $90B. Where was the huge emergency? There was none for the basics, yet every party got up and warned of dire consequences of default, not paying the military, not paying debt service, not paying social security checks and fear mongering in general. All these people are interested in is the next election.

They are all LIARS and use smokescreen issues like prolife/pro choice and other social causes to disguise taking away our liberties. We lost some more with this last vote.

[politefab]

why does that vid have a little over 200,000 views but a cute kitten video has 3million in a day or so?

thats part of the problem Americans are not watching there is a small group of us by the looks of it a little over 200k that seam to care. I have already posted this on my face book

[Burkie]

Dan,

For once I agree with you.

The issue is that nothing will happen whether right or wrong between now and the election. The items that need to be done like jobs, the economy etc will go nowwhere. For e.g 74,000 FAA workers laid off until house back. My understanding is bill to continue the airport expansion which was already alloted has been tied to closing rural airport subsidies by the Republicans. These Rural airports are in DEMs territory. So instead of voting 2 separate bills 74,000 more out of work while Politics play out. The questions is the real reason to close them because they are in DEMs territories or the real reason for them being open in the first place was that they were in DEMs territory. Does the asnwer really matter for one of the 74,000 people having to wait on a vote in 5 weeks to find out is they have a job? In the meantime they suffer the financial consequences of the horrible game of politics.

Unfortunately US politics is a world concern and a healthy US economy stabilises the world economy. Thus I can only hope that the American people follow Dans advice and vote all of them out based on what played out over the last few days. In reality the fun has only just begun and the markets reflect this.

My concern is that Republican or Democrat we are heading deeper and they are both to blame. Not defending Obama here but the debt was already spiralling when he came in. Once you start going downhill without brakes you pick up speed. The issue is the unravelling and containment of the spiral has to stop. I dont understand the US system of Govt as to who to cast blame. Our systems works with a straight democratic vote in one group, no house and senate.

Nothing any of us can do but sit and wait while politics become the winner and the losers are the American people and the rest of the world. I truly hope that I am wrong.

Regards

[Brian Briggs]

Burkie

There is definitely one thing you can do in a downward spiral, let off the gas (ie. do not INCREASE spending).

[wesjh]

The G D tree huggin', bunny lovin', pot smokin', sandle wearin' (no offense nick), tofu eatin', runnin' naked in the forest hippies who are in control right now need to be beaten back once and for all.

I generally stay off the political threads but, trust me, not too many of the folks in Washington fit the description above, they may pander to those folks but are more than likely Lawyers or Professional Politicians. Where have all the statesman gone?

Not to argue, but my description fits that of the university activists who then decided to put a suit on and get into the institutions and control and change it from the inside. If anyone would bother to look into the backgrounds of Obama's numerous czars, you will be shocked at the philosophical make up - from hard core socialist/marxists (Carol Browner at EPA until a bit ago) to Cass Sunstein and that other lady who said Mao was one of her favorite philosophers. The 5th estate(the old media) really did a number covering and promoting this inexperienced hack. Every time "acadamics" get in charge of anything, they ruin it - because the theories they force on us have never been proven or, in the case of this bunch, the other attempts at wealth redistribution were attempted by people not as smart as them. I just took a job with an oil company on a drilling rig in ND, and let me tell you, the things said about that industry are pure lies. These guys are pros. Remember that our stone businesses are the final end of mining operations and it is only a matter of time before they come after our industry. Take note that the technologies that they are constantly pushing since Jimmy Carter are windmills, solar panels and electric cars - two of which are hundred year old technologies that were eclipsed by gas and oil for cost, reliability and convenience. The other, solar, is still waiting for that big breakthrough that is " ten years away". There is so much oil in just ND alone, that the price per barrel should be much lower. It is where it is because of the weak dollar policy and the stupid spending habits of washington. We need someone who added $7 billion to her state's fund in just 18 months as governor while she cut spending in the good times. Cuts will eventually be made, either by choice or by force.

[Joshua Hopkins]

Good posting Dan and Wes.

[Burkie]

5% Drop today. 10% over the last 2 weeks. The markets have spoken on the economy and the Washington nonsense. $806 Billion lost today. Dan started to allude to it about shuffling payments that would not have put the US in default as the politicians and media sensationalised.

Based on what I saw last week with the finger pointing posturing on the debt issue and now the FAA issue, I believe that the USA economy and the world by default are in for a bumpy ride while Washington plays politics until 2012.

Here is the funny part Swiss Francs are at record highs. Now if Dan and I had only listened to our friend Chago many years ago and put everything in Swiss Francs many moons ago we would have cashed in today.

Time to stay close to your cash and watch your receivables, inventory etc again. Hoping that this is not the other shoe that I was waiting on to drop.

Regards

[Dan Dauchess]

Based on what I saw last week with the finger pointing posturing on the debt issue and now the FAA issue, I believe that the USA economy and the world by default are in for a bumpy ride while Washington plays politics until 2012.

Probably 2013....

[dan k.]

Regarding the FAA thing, I think the government should keep the tax and not use it as subsidies for these FAA and Construction Jobs. The tax should go to the National Debt. Airlines raised their prices to match the amount of tax not collected and did not pass the savings onto the Consumer. It shows that the market sets the price. It also shows that this is a reasonable way for the government to raise revenue that could go the the National Debt. The Government needs to get out of the way with job creation and subsidies!

I think most hard working Americans would agree to these types of taxes if they knew it went directly to reducing our debt.

[Burkie]

Apparently the FAA has been resolved. It appears that $16M in subsidies per year was at the heart of the matter. While Politics played out, $390M in taxes were lost into the coffers of the Airlines who still charged the passengers the tax. So the mathematics of $390M or $30M per day vs $16M per year does not equate.

The problem is while politics are at play the stock market is looking less at Corporate Balance Sheets and more at Washington Politics. Tomorrow will be a critical day. If the rate is higher than 9.2% it will be like riding the Kingda Ka at Six Flags in NJ tomorrow. My reason for commenting is to recommend to pay closer attention to your costs, receivables and inventory.

Regards