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http://www.24hgold.com/english/news...4063694G10020&redirect=false&contributor=Mish

Current U.S. federal yearly spending: $3.2 trillion

How to make the rich pay their fair share to cover that expense...
"1. Would fair share tax hikes be enough to fund US government spending?
2. What if we took 100% of the profits of Walmart and Exxon Mobile?
3. What if the corporate tax rate was 100% for every corporation?
4. What if we confiscated 100% of the wealth of the super-wealthy including Warren Buffet and Bill Gates?
5. What if we did ALL of the above? Would that balance the budget?"

"To meet total spending requirements of $3.2 trillion, but not counting $117 trillion in unfunded liabilities, not only would we have to do everything in the five point list above, but we would have to take the combined salaries of all players in the NFL, Major League Baseball, the NBA, and the NHL, cut military spending by $254 billion, and tax everything people make above $250,000 at a 100% tax rate."



Now look at the projected future U.S. federal yearly spending:
"Please consider projected budgets for the next decade, straight from the White House Office of Management and Budget....
The projected cumulative budget for the next 10 years is an unbelievable $46.956 trillion dollars. Government spending is projected to escalate to a whopping $5.8 trillion a year in 10 years."

IT IS NOT A REVENUE ISSUE!
 
Slave labor is big business in the U.S.
http://money.cnn.com/2012/08/14/smallbusiness/federal-prison-business/index.html?iid=HP_LN

"Unicor is a government-run enterprise that employs over 13,000 inmates -- at wages as low as 23 cents an hour -- to make goods for the Pentagon and other federal agencies."

"Unicor made over $900 million in revenue last year and faces more heat from businesses and lawmakers as the economy takes a toll on small manufacturers."

 
this is a little tin-foilish, but read an interesting essay about how when the PTB lost slave labor, in the 60's they introduced a new form of music called rap in order to glorify crime and violence and fill the prisons. Well, it worked....
 
Continuing my idea from post #41, I went and looked up the actual U.S. revenue and expenses for 2012.

Here is what I found:
Revenue: $2.469 trillion
$2.243 trillion is from individual and corporate income taxes

Expenses:
Mandatory: $2.252 trillion
Discretionary: $1.338 trillion
Total: $3.59 trillion

I wanted to see how much of a tax hike on individual and corporate income taxes (currently $2.243 trillion) it would take to have balanced this budget.

After a little math, you figure out it would have taken a 50% hike in ALL individual and corporate taxes to balance this budget!!
:flail:


References:
http://www.hivegroup.com/gallery/2012budget/
http://budget.house.gov/fy2012budget/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012_United_States_federal_budget

As an aside, we could just go back to a 2005 spending budget (2.4 trillion USD).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_federal_budget
 
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http://thenewamerican.com/usnews/fo...3-29-killed-by-us-drones-in-yemen-in-one-week

Logic loops are fun! I spot two in the above article.

1) The war/not war loop
(a) We do not need Congress to declare war, because what we are doing isn't war. Therefore go to (b)
(b) It is okay that we are bombing civilians in other countries because they are "terrorists". Therefore go to (c)
(c) We can kill "terrorists" and the surrounding civilians because we are at war with "terror". Go to (d)
(d) The Constitution says we need to go to Congress if we want to go to war. Go to (a)

2) Bombing/Blowback loop
(a) You need a war czar because terrorists want to kills us. Go to (b)
(b) War czar bombs other countries killing terrorists and civilians alike. Go to (c)
(c) People that would not normally care about the U.S.A one bit are now really mad at that country because drones bombed their civilian families/friends. Go to (d)
(d) The mad people become terrorists that want to kill us. Go to (a)

 
So what if we are running massively in the red, lets relax the rules on handing out free money and spend more money to advertise it domestically and abroad.

http://thenewamerican.com/usnews/po...-doubled-number-of-able-bodied-on-food-stamps

"As The New American reported in early August, Obama also eased the income limits that affect eligibility for food stamps. The GAO revealed that some three percent of those receiving food stamps wouldn’t be getting them but for the changes the president made to the eligibility rules. That cost the taxpayers an extra $460 million in fiscal 2010, with GAO estimating that “2.6 percent (473,000) of households that received Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits would not have been eligible for the program without broad-based categorical eligibility (BBCE) because their incomes were over the federal SNAP eligibility limits.”

Additionally,administration officials began running advertisements urging Americans to sign up for food stamps, and the government even enlisted the aid of Mexican officials to publicize food stamps among Mexicans living in the United States. “Mexico will help disseminate this information through its embassy and network of approximately 50 consular offices,” the program website says. That program came from President George W. Bush."
 
Obama thought Romney's 47% comment sounded too low.
 
I am so sick and tired with all the money redistribution, that goes in the governments today, I am ready to puke at anyone who starts babbling how "socially responsible & fair" it is. It is NOT, not fair, nor smart - remember the whole "give the poor a fishing rod, NOT a fish" thing? Why we have a generational poverty & welfare problems now - when kids risen in welfare families, sometimes a third generation now in European countries, simply don't know other ways of living - is it because capitalism has failed them, or is it because of the welfare itself? The answer is pretty clear to me. Why we have such a high divorce ratios in western societies - is it why we "need" to provide tax money to the "single parents", or is it the other way around- people are making irresponsible life choices, just because they do not have to care for the consequences? And for feck's sake, if the parent is "single", does it mean, that her children were all cases of immaculate inception - or is there a father somewhere, who SHOULD be paying for them (bar genuine tragedies, like widowed mum - in which case, I would make exceptions).

Heres the deal: are we ready to accept, that our society reached such a high productivity level, that people do not have to work anymore, to get food? Fine. I am fine with that - that's probably true, with all the food waste, productivity increase through decades, etc. So, here's the thing: if we are ALL EQUAL, than please, pretty please: make these minimal FOOD (& food only) stamps, available in equal amounts (say, average daily intake calories requirements + 10% spare), free to EVERY MEMBER OF THE SOCIETY. Are we fecking equal in law, equal in "state"-provided benefits, or are working people being discriminated, TWICE, for feck's sake - once, when paying for those in need, in their taxes, and secondly, when not getting the same goods delivered by the "state", that they have paid for others to receive?

This kind of system, I could stomach, eventually (but it is already a stretch -why don't just leave soup kitchens to the charity)? Surely, if left alone with money paid in my taxes, or given the option to divert part of my tax money to local charities, local hospitals, and other non-profits - I would do that IN A HEARTBEAT. And I can bet my money on it, that money would be 10 times better spent, than how it is done by the government(s)

...is it Saturday, by chance?
 
http://www.24hgold.com/english/news...6G10020&redirect=false&contributor=James+Turk

"The US federal government spent $369 billion in August, but only received $179 billion in revenue. The resulting $190 billion deficit was a record for any August and the third highest monthly deficit in the current fiscal year, which ends on September 30th.

Looking at this deficit another way, the federal government borrowed 51.6% of the dollars it spent in August."

:flail::flail:
 
Let the bubble deflate or keep inflating until it pops catastrophically. Pain in the short term or death in the long term. Yeah choices.
 
http://www.321gold.com/editorials/schiff/schiff101612.html

"...Bernanke thinks inflation is so low that he is actually worried about deflation, which he believes is a more dangerous issue. As a result, he is recommending policies that look to raise the inflation rate, not just to combat the phantom menace of deflation but to boost the housing market and reduce unemployment."

"According to the results of a Fox News poll released last week (a random telephone sample of more than 1,200 registered voters), 41% identified "inflation" as "the biggest economic problem they faced." This is nearly double the 24% that named "unemployment" as their chief concern. For further comparison, 19% identified "taxes" and 7% "the housing market" as their primary concern. A full 44% of women, who often do more of the household shopping and would therefore be more sensitive to price changes, identified rising prices as their primary concern."

 
Deflation isn't a "phantom menace". It's just an issue for banks as the deflation is in the credit markets. Inflation in everything else will be the collateral damage cost of keeping the banks in zombie mode.
 
I really notice inflation, since 90%+ of what I buy is energy and food, which are no way in a low inflation state - why do you think the necessities are left out of CPI anyway? Hell, I remember when a big, really full shopping cart got to $100 and how shocked I was then - only a couple years ago. Now I get half a cart and it's $150 or more.

And hint - don't smoke, you'll get broke long before you get cancer. Over 50 bucks a carton here.

Once they can no longer use the dropping real estate prices to cancel the other stuff, we're even going to see the official CPI shoot way up - or get a new method of cooking those books.

And gas? Thank god for that Volt and solar panels, I'd be dead. I only make so much trading without hitting my "seed corn", and SS is a few years out for me, and isn't enough to live on in my case - and I live cheap as it gets, so I don't dare spend any of my trading stake, just profits. Good thing I almost never get sick!
 
benjamen said:
http://www.321gold.com/editorials/schiff/schiff101612.html

"...Bernanke thinks inflation is so low that he is actually worried about deflation, which he believes is a more dangerous issue.(...)"
Click to expand...
...and rightly he thinks so, as deflation is what will shot the current "borrow money into existence" paradigm DEAD, in one quick hurry.

DCFusor said:
Once they can no longer use the dropping real estate prices to cancel the other stuff, we're even going to see the official CPI shoot way up - or get a new method of cooking those books.
Click to expand...
...yep, that is my feeling, too - as if people were buying houses every other week. That must be the loudest screaming idiocy of including house prices in the CPI, but not including crucial everyday items. Good thing, that house prices have still a long way to go down
 
Deflation?!?!?

Yeah, there may be deflation......if you don't eat food, put gas in your tank, take medicine, use electricity,............never mind. : - (
 
Deflation?!?!?

Yeah, there may be deflation......if you don't eat food, put gas in your tank, take medicine, use electricity,............never mind. : - (
Click to expand...

Well, I'm getting close....PV solar power, grow some food, hunters and other gardeners bring more, don't get sick (so far)...and it still sucks. Taxes on everything you own that are hard to cheat on, car insurance etc. Have to paint the house now and then (now in this case). And ex-wife support....hopefully going away real soon.
(In VA you gotta pay them for the first year to just stay away, then you can maybe get a fair divorce and not have to pay anymore - I'm hoping.)

And with my CV, virtually unemployable. Try getting a job at the hardware store if you've been the CEO of a couple companies and don't lie about it. They either think you'll move along if things get better (likely true) or take the job of the guy who hires you pretty quick (more likely). Or anything else "normal", same set of issues.

Having done a couple startups does NOT qualify you to be a little cube slave very well, you just don't have the right attitude anymore. And I'm tired and it's not a great time to do another startup.
 
Fairly epic rant on the issues of the U.S.A
http://market-ticker.org/akcs-www?post=212833

Wow, check out this debt graph
http://market-ticker.org/akcs-www?get_gallerynr=3576

Fun quote:
"during the alleged "debates" everyone talked about making sure people could borrow more and more money, but neither of the "big two" candidates and none of the third-party ones have said word #1 about reversing the policies that make student loan debt "special", elevating it to a status beyond that of child support and turning it into effective enslavement.

This change has turned college into a bad joke, where "free money" chases goods and services, driving up prices on a radical and continuing basis.

We then act like good little sheep and goad our young adults into signing themselves into bondage, an act which our kids should respond to by eating those who made that recommendation, starting with the most well-marbled."
 
...banks live by the numbers, and also they will die by the numbers. It is not surprising to me at all, as I said many times, the whole monetary system is designed the way, so there's really no choice for CBs to do anything, at that stage, but close the shop - or try to continue the way we are doing right now. Tough choice, if you are making your living from it, huh? NOT!

As they say, it is impossible to explain something to a person, whose paycheck depends on him not understanding what you say. We have both politicians, and moneymasters in that category right now
 
http://thenewamerican.com/economy/i...more-inflation-even-if-it-doesnt-help-economy

"Federal Reserve Bank of Boston President and CEO Eric S. Rosengren told a Babson College audience November 1 he favored the Federal Reserve continuing QE3 policies at least until unemployment falls below the 7.25 percent marker, even if the policies fail to stop another recessionary spike in unemployment."

"Interestingly, Rosengren said he would seek to continue and possibly accelerate the inflationary policy even if it doesn't work."

"Rosengren said that the Federal Reserve will follow the model of Japan, a nation that has pursued for two decades almost identical policies those which the Fed embarked upon in September."

 
benjamen said:
"Rosengren said that the Federal Reserve will follow the model of Japan, a nation that has pursued for two decades almost identical policies those which the Fed embarked upon in September."

Click to expand...

...really, Fed will follow Japan? But how? What kinda, sorta "worked" (ie, postponed the inevitable for two + decades) for one of the biggest CREDITOR, EXPORTER nations (ie, eating away their savings, exporting their way out of the immediate pickle), is somehow, magically expected to work for the world largest DEBTOR, IMPORTER nation???

The only thing that US manufactures in surplus now and exports, is US dollars.

Seriously, are they that dumb, or are they not, but think that other people are that dumb to believe in thEse enchants?

Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk 2
 
They are committed to a certain path because viable alternatives don't benefit the right people.
 
Everyone ready for next year's tax hikes?
http://thenewamerican.com/economy/c...e-come-the-taxes-in-every-aspect-of-our-lives

"An Ernst & Young study for the Alliance for Savings and Investment found the new rates will put the integrated tax rate (taking into account state and local taxes) for capital gains at 56.7 percent, and at 68.6 percent for dividends..."
Everyone wave good bye to my remaining stock holdings! :wave:

"The Tax Policy Center forecasts a $536 billion shower of new revenue for the federal government next year if the tax cuts aren’t extended, a windfall that would cut the more than $1 trillion-a-year deficit in half."
So, even after raising my taxes considerably, we will still be running a 500 billion dollars a year deficit?!?

The increase in revenue sure isn't coming from the rich:
"The increased taxes on the high earners would bring an added $44 billion to the federal treasury"

"One question seldom asked and almost never answered is where, in a nation theoretically governed by a Constitution of delegated powers, does Congress find the authority to fund more than 1,000 government programs?"
:judge::judge::judge:

"...a military budget that has doubled since 2000..."
"The United States has no shortage of weapons needed for our defense. The inventory includes 11 aircraft carriers, with plans for a twelfth."
"Only 34 percent think the military’s strategy should be the maintenance of worldwide stability and peace"
Anyone think the military is going to get a big cut in the end?
 
http://www.sovereignman.com/expat/i-apologize-for-what-youre-about-to-read-9397/

The numbers are getting really simple...

The interest on our existing debt plus what we spend on mandatory spending entitlements like Medicare, Social Security and VA benefits exceed how much the government recieves in tax revenue by $251.8 billion in 2012.

This does NOT include the Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force, FBI, TSA, CIA, EPA, FDA, DHS, IRS, SEC.......

"Raising taxes won’t help. Since the end of World War II, tax receipts in the US have averaged 17.7% of GDP in a very tight range. The low has been 14.4% of GDP, and the high has been 20.6% of GDP.

During that period, however, tax rates have been all over the board. Individual rates have ranged from 10% to 91%. Corporate rates from 15% to 53%. Gift taxes, estate taxes, etc. have all varied. And yet, total tax revenue has stayed nearly constant at 17.7% of GDP."

 
As money is only a concept based on our belief in it, it doesnt really matter that the debt cannot be paid.
The game, surely, is to keep printing at roughly the same speed as all other fiat controlling central banks, to maintain the pretence and when it no longer works, to have the biggest stick and take whatever resources are needed to keep the show on the road.

Its pretty much the only option as i see it ......

Long big sticks then )-:
 
The answer is simple, but painful. Cut EVERYTHING. Rein in welfare. Period. When I see people pulling up to the welfare building on Blake Avenue in a fucking thirty five thousand dollar car, it makes me want to scream. On any given Wednesday you can see the welfare queens in line wearing Jordache, hundred dollar sneakers, yapping away on their iPhone or Androids, all while displaying their bling-bling gold necklaces, gold rings on every finger, gold grills and so forth. There should be a serious re-look at means testing prior to simply signing people up for endless "benefits". For instance, in order to get full wlefare, you MUST work. No exceptions. The streets need cleaning, the schools need maintaining, libraries need staffing, the list is endless. Our county government is whinging on and on about having to lay off staff, so why not require welfare recipients who cannot get a job to perform a little janitorial work? How about day-care for other welfare queens so they can seek out employment? How about doing something for a change instead of simply suckling at the tit?

I say food stamps should not cover ice cream, candy, soda, "joose", steak, lobster, etcetera.

I have no problem helping someone out, but I refuse to believe anyone has a right to eat ice cream and steak on my fucking dime, yet it happens anyway. The liberals say that excluding these things from possible purchase with SNAP benefits would be "demeaning" and unnecessarily cruel. I say too fucking bad. Maybe a little humility will make someone think twice about constantly taking without ever giving back. Maybe we should require re-payment of the largesse when the recipient gets a job. Perhaps food stamp and welfare money could be repaid over a long period of time, making the person well aware that nothing in life is free.

In addition, means testing for socialism security would be a good idea as well. For instance, Michael Bloomberg has no business taking SSI payments. Yeah, yeah, I know, they paid in so why shouldn't they get their check like everyone else? Why not? I'll tell you why not, because we're fucking broke, that's why not. And since people NEVER voluntarily do the right thing when it comes to money, we need to change the system to protect those who produce, help those who are willing to help themselves and unload all the freeloaders.
 
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I was thinking about it all, and eventually, I come to a conclusion: we already USED to have just the thing: it is called WAGE. If someone can work, to get his SS "benefits", why do we need government to redistribute & pay them?

IT would require few changes: abolition of minimal wage, abolition of ANY government-distributed "social welfare". I am so sorry, but one should ONLY get paid as much, as his work is worth to someone else in the society to pay for it, it is as simple as that. If I am willing to pay, say, $10 a month to my council, to clean our streets - that's how much that work is worth.

What would these two things also do: they would push DOWN the prices (supply/demand thing - with lowered demand), they would (most probably) push up PRODUCTIVE wages, in the areas of economy that are chronically prone to "gray economy" - eg the ones, which allow someone to collect both welfare benefits, and do some "gray market" job - at artificially suppressed hourly rates (because he can still afford living, with sub-marginal, illegal salary, supplemented by welfare - but he would not take this payment alone, if not supported by welfare - he couldn't survive on that)

In general, I think that free market, and getting the Govt Co., the feck out of our lives, would be much more moral, appropriate thing to do - with benefits to all, mid to long term, with some (big) pain to some of the "recipients" of the current system.

But that is only a reasonable thing to do, and that's why it will never happen.
 
Bushi,
It is exactly the gray market labor thing that confounds our "system". If government would step the hell out of the way and let real price discovery occur, things would be much better.

In England, one can live their entire life without ever producing anything at all. The welfare system over there is FAR too generous with productive peoples money. Just like the sacred work rules in France, which make it damn near impossible to fire a worker, workers in places liek Greece and Italy have way too much say in matters. Why anyone in Italy or France would ever consider opening a business is beyond my comprehension.
 
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I do not disagree with your ideas Ancona, just dont see how they can be introduced without a BIG backlash from the free lunchers.

As this is politically impossible, they must keep on giving sustenance to those who breath yet produce nothing, or do away with 'democracy' and the charade of allowing us to choose how we are governed. At this point we become a facist / dictator state.

So when the paper charade implodes, as we agree it must, food distribution becomes more direct, per a communist state, only the workers will be the poor in countries that resources are stolen from.

And you will be an emeny of the state if you do not toe the line .............

All our ideas about allowing free markets to do what markets will, are slowly being destroyed by the controllers.

Pesky markets, far to unpredictable !
 
Suprisingly, QE3 may be extended another year... /endsarcasm
http://www.silverdoctors.com/feds-williams-bond-buying-may-exceed-600-billion/

rblong2us, you are spot on in the thought that it is politically impossible to take away these benefits.
I remember reading an article a while back that called it something along lines of Trying to take a bone from a dog. It is easy to give it to them, but hard to take it back.
 
In an economic collapse, all things are possible. Our current welfare state is absolutely unsustainable and it must be changed. The same goes for our imperial forces, currently languishing on over 725 bases around the globe. Our army, navy and air forces remain in most of these places simply to secure the area for our business interests, nothing more and nothing less. If we withdraw our troops from around the world, secure our own borders, radically reduce transfer payments from the government to all but those who are really and truly needy, or who absolutely cannot sustain themselves, such as the frail and elderly, then eliminate all unnecessary government agencies such as Homeland Security, then and only then do we stand a chance.

Without bold and radical moves such as these, this edifice will crash down around us leaving millions upon millions dead. We all had front row seats to bear witness to how quickly society devolves back in to savagery with this little breeze in the northeast corridor. Imagine what happens when ATM's go out nationwide for.......well, forever. Imagine if you will empty shelves at WalMarts, Safeway, Food Lion, etc. across the country. Imagine rolling blackouts as a daily occurrence. Shit will get very, very real in one quick hurry. Anyone who thinks our system is any kind of stable needs to go back on their meds, because the butterfly effect is very real. Shit getting ugly in Europe crosses the pond in the wink of an eye, and when the southern countries realize that going Iceland is their only hope, that's going to be the genesis of a world-wide banking collapse, and when it happens, you had better be ready.
 
@ ancona and friends

The other part of my Plan B is to get:

1) physically fit (part way there)

2) financially fit (part way there)

3) spiritually fit (going need a lot of work).

The above three will help each of us get through this.

***

Note that I do not count on ANYTHING to be changed. Because NOTHING will be.
 
Luckily, the QE programs do not cause inflation...


http://www.acting-man.com/?p=20416

"the available evidence suggests they have been effective in stimulating growth without creating an undesirable rise in inflation," Williams said at the lecture. "We are not seeing signs of rising inflation on the horizon."
 
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