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I decided to make a thread about this - instead of derailing the Scottish referendum thread.

Quote:Forgive my ignorance, but can you please explain a possible solutions to actually make a dent in our insurmountable debt - which is growing by the second?

 

Ok, we stop printing money - but would that not leave the level of inflation stationary, instead of growing?

 

I understand we have to minimize the rate of "debt incurred-ness" - but the total US debt being at 61 trillion (and counting) seems to be quite hefty. Obviously it would take years and years to lessen it...

 

Again, I understand money and numbers but I honestly never took a hard look at this problem - even though I know it exists and is a REAL problem.

 

 

Quote:A good start would be to stop throwing aid around willy nilly. That should be reserved for humanitarian crisis as necessary but not just because like we currently do. Getting involved in literally every military conflict would be another. 

 

It's a complex problem requiring a complex solution but these are huge money sinks we can easily fix. 

 

 

Quote:At this point our best weapon against the debt is inflation. It's going to kill the average citizen but without inflation we won't be able to keep up with the interest much less debt.


I know we've begun to prepare for massive increase in food and consumables with smaller quantities it'll become more and more normal but it's necessary to just service the debt.


More importantly is the need to stabilize our spending which would require massive cuts domestically and foreignly.


So the short answer cut spending + suffer through inflation = maybe we come out of it in one piece

 

 

Quote:So we keep printing money to keep up with the accumulating debt - while shooting ourselves in the foot by devaluing the dollar. At what point will we break from bending too far?

 

It seems more like we have shot ourselves in the groin - to the point of irreparable damage.

Brought over from the other thread.

Good call

 

In my view there are numerous problems that need to addressed.

 

Foreign aid- especially for countries that despise us. We've got plenty of our own problems. The US remains the biggest spender with a total of $30.2bn, the largest aid disbursement ever recorded by a single donor. (2010) I'm sure the number is higher now.

 

Wheat and grains- why do we give it away? Why don't we trade it for oil. That will keep costs lower for everything in the US.

 

The constant wars with no real end game - this is going on and on. Either we are in it to win it, or we need to isolate ourselves from them. Let them do what what they want, and secure the border.

 

The complete and utter bloat of the Federal government- All things not covered in the Constitution, are to be handled by the states. There should be no federal department of education, FDA, DEA, NSA, etc etc etc. We could save sooo much money in getting rid of all the unnecessary, and unconstitutional "government".

 

I'm sure there are more, I'm just tired of typing...

 

The problem with debt is that eventually the debtors come calling. If you keep piling it up, eventually you're going to default. Then, you know what China is not going to want...our worthless dollar. They're going to want land, resources, and favors. 

One reason why I disregard most of the research tossed around here: inflation numbers. I read a conservative study today that showed inflation to be stable and one the decline. Then I went to the store and paid $4.53 for milk, $2.30 for a pack of cough drops, $3.26 for gasoline, and saw a sale price of $22,500 for a base model domestic compact car. Yeah, inflation is stable if you only measure certain prices. Otherwise you see that stuff costs more than it ever has, but our precious research tells us what the staff wants us to hear to keep the people nudged to the preferred narrative.

Inflation is a dirty word for government. If they could get away with it they'd deny it existed since they can't deny it they excuse it.


Reality is inflation is how we plan on servicing the debt, China's wise to this that's why they've started diversifying and buying gold at record pace.


It's Avery dangerous game we've forced ourselves into, how low can you devalue your currency and still maintain the illusion of control.

Quote:Good call

 

In my view there are numerous problems that need to addressed.

 

Foreign aid- especially for countries that despise us. We've got plenty of our own problems. The US remains the biggest spender with a total of $30.2bn, the largest aid disbursement ever recorded by a single donor. (2010) I'm sure the number is higher now.

 

Wheat and grains- why do we give it away? Why don't we trade it for oil. That will keep costs lower for everything in the US.

 

The constant wars with no real end game - this is going on and on. Either we are in it to win it, or we need to isolate ourselves from them. Let them do what what they want, and secure the border.

 

The complete and utter bloat of the Federal government- All things not covered in the Constitution, are to be handled by the states. There should be no federal department of education, FDA, DEA, NSA, etc etc etc. We could save sooo much money in getting rid of all the unnecessary, and unconstitutional "government".

 

I'm sure there are more, I'm just tired of typing...

 

The problem with debt is that eventually the debtors come calling. If you keep piling it up, eventually you're going to default. Then, you know what China is not going to want...our worthless dollar. They're going to want land, resources, and favors. 

 

Foreign aid as a percentage of the budget is miniscule. If you want to balance the budget do three things:

 

First you cut the military budget in half, get rid of boondoggles like the F35 and its ilk. Stop having federal contractors do work that soldiers can do for themselves.

 

Second you fix Medicare part D, allow it to negotiate bulk pricing for pharmaceuticals. Right now medicare part D, thanks to the way republicans wrote the bill, is corporate welfare for pharmaceutical companies who get paid retail prices for their drugs by medicare instead of a wholesale negotiated rate like every other health insurance company or program on the planet.

 

Third you raise taxes on the wealthy and get rid of the capital gains classification of income.

 

In a country with a 17 trillion dollar GDP there's no reason for historically low government spending to be running up a debt.

 

As for the debtors part, do you realize that the majority of federal debt is actually debt between government programs? There isn't some thug loan shark that will come calling for their money. China's share of the national debt (the country that constantly gets trotted out as our debt holder) is a small fraction of it.

A Small fraction of the 16 (or whatever low number they are using) is still debt owed, that cannot be repaid. When you factor in all the between programs debt it's over 60 TRILLION dollars. It's done dude. We're not going to make it as a country.

Quote:A Small fraction of the 16 (or whatever low number they are using) is still debt owed, that cannot be repaid. When you factor in all the between programs debt it's over 60 TRILLION dollars. It's done dude. We're not going to make it as a country.

 

So do you have your bunker stocked with canned goods and ammunition?

Quote:Foreign aid as a percentage of the budget is miniscule. If you want to balance the budget do three things:

 

First you cut the military budget in half, get rid of boondoggles like the F35 and its ilk. Stop having federal contractors do work that soldiers can do for themselves.

 

Second you fix Medicare part D, allow it to negotiate bulk pricing for pharmaceuticals. Right now medicare part D, thanks to the way republicans wrote the bill, is corporate welfare for pharmaceutical companies who get paid retail prices for their drugs by medicare instead of a wholesale negotiated rate like every other health insurance company or program on the planet.

 

Third you raise taxes on the wealthy and get rid of the capital gains classification of income.

 

In a country with a 17 trillion dollar GDP there's no reason for historically low government spending to be running up a debt.

 

As for the debtors part, do you realize that the majority of federal debt is actually debt between government programs? There isn't some thug loan shark that will come calling for their money. China's share of the national debt (the country that constantly gets trotted out as our debt holder) is a small fraction of it.

 

The 17 Trillion in debt is not between government programs, that's foreign debt and private debt we owe.

Quote:The 17 Trillion in debt is not between government programs, that's foreign debt and private debt we owe.

 

Quote: 

40% of the national debt is owed to the federal government.  Things like the federal reserve and social security.

 

Only 34% of the national debt is foreign debt (with China having the largest piece of the pie with 8% of the debt, with Japan not far behind with 7%)  

 

6% is owned through mutual funds.

 

3% is owned by state and local government

 

2% to banks

 

1% to people with bonds and securities

 

3% to private pension funds

 

1% to state and local pension funds

 

2% to insurance companies

 

and 9% to Government-sponsored enterprises, brokers and dealers, bank personal trusts and estates, corporate and non-corporate businesses, and other investors

 

To add to Oklahomie's ideas... we could take all the federally owned properties that are unused, and sell them off.  Write a rule stating that any unused property that is unclaimed for 90 days by other federal institutions can be sold.  Then we MAKE money off of the sales, as well as get rid of lands that we're adding debt with by paying to maintain.

Quote:To add to Oklahomie's ideas... we could take all the federally owned properties that are unused, and sell them off.  Write a rule stating that any unused property that is unclaimed for 90 days by other federal institutions can be sold.

 Then we MAKE money off of the sales, as well as get rid of lands that we're adding debt with by paying to maintain.

 

If that includes confiscated and federally sanctioned cultivated marijuana, I'm all in.

Quote:If that includes confiscated and federally sanctioned cultivated marijuana, I'm all in.

 

Oh, that reminds me of something I left out, end the war on drugs.

Quote:Oh, that reminds me of something I left out, end the war on drugs.

 

On this we agree 100%

Quote:Good call

 

In my view there are numerous problems that need to addressed.

 

Foreign aid- especially for countries that despise us. We've got plenty of our own problems. The US remains the biggest spender with a total of $30.2bn, the largest aid disbursement ever recorded by a single donor. (2010) I'm sure the number is higher now.

Let's start somewhere


 

Wheat and grains- why do we give it away? Why don't we trade it for oil. That will keep costs lower for everything in the US.

 

This is a fantastic idea. Do not think I have heard this mentioned before. 

 

The constant wars with no real end game - this is going on and on. Either we are in it to win it, or we need to isolate ourselves from them. Let them do what what they want, and secure the border.

Full agreement here, good luck getting the warhawks and fear mongers on board

 

The complete and utter bloat of the Federal government- All things not covered in the Constitution, are to be handled by the states. There should be no federal department of education, FDA, DEA, NSA, etc etc etc. We could save sooo much money in getting rid of all the unnecessary, and unconstitutional "government".

I don't think the solution here is a full house cleaning. It's going to be impossible to do for the most part. Aside from that, there are some good things. Alot of the organisations are bloated and some more corrupt than other but some of them do good in round about ways. I think the FDA is vital for consumer protections for example. I don't think it's something states should handle. 50 different standards seem like a poor solution when it comes to public health. 

 

The nation needs some form of security/intelligence on threats etc.. I don't see why NSA/DEA/ATF/CIA/FBI etc... can't just be rolled into one leaner Acronym. 

 

I'm sure there are more, I'm just tired of typing...

 

The problem with debt is that eventually the debtors come calling. If you keep piling it up, eventually you're going to default. Then, you know what China is not going to want...our worthless dollar. They're going to want land, resources, and favors. 

I also think Obama should throw one of his famous fundraisers to pay down the debt.  If the man is good at anything, it's raising money.  

Quote:So do you have your bunker stocked with canned goods and ammunition?

I've got enough to get by. I'm sure you're going to be looking for handouts.

 

Quote:I also think Obama should throw one of his famous fundraisers to pay down the debt.  If the man is good at anything, it's raising money.  

This is change I can believe in!

 

Quote:Oh, that reminds me of something I left out, end the war on drugs.

This, I think we all agree on.

http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/afgh...05249.html

Get rid of foreign aid except in cases of dire emergency.


Get rid of the 'war on drugs'.


Make every member of Congress, the VP and President pay taxes. Not sure if that would help but I would feel better. Also, no member of Congress should get retirement for life. Talk about wasted money. I don't care if they're in it for 2 years or 20. No retirement. It's not supposed to be a career anyway.

Also, some serious oversight and restructuring needs to happen with food stamps, disability and other benefit programs.

Quote:Also, some serious oversight and restructuring needs to happen with food stamps, disability and other benefit programs.

 

That's easy to fix, end the federal funding of welfare. Each state is responsible for their own welfare programs and to what extent they want to support the poor in their state. Some states with high social awareness like California want to give a living wage, go for it, but the residents of California pay for it.