http://www.treasurydirect.gov/govt/reports/pd/histdebt/histdebt_histo5.htm Bush and the repubs have added 3.4 trillion dollars to the national debt in 7 years, an increase in the total debt of the nation of 60% in 7 years. We've got tax cuts that disproportionately went to the rich, wars fought by just borrowing, and a decimated dollar that disproportionately hurts the poor and middle classes. We've got a medicare prescription drug plan where the govt is forbidden by the bill from negotiating volume discounts on the drugs they pay for, ensuring BIG PHARMA CEO bonuses. We need a fiscal conservative to come in a clean things up, and the republicans have failed miserably.
Worse than the wasted war expenses is the increase in NEW unfunded non-military government spending, far above Clinton's surplus budget numbers. "No child" costs us a fortune and no does the Department of Homeland Security. Huge new bureaucracies established while tax revenues were cut. So we sell Treasury bonds to China and Saudi Arabia to pay for it all. If they ever dumped them on the market, they could cause havoc with the dollar and our economy.
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20071118/D8T0BC8O0.html This talk of the dollar no longer being the accepted 'reserve currency' in international markets is bad news. It will mean there is less demand for dollars. To support the currency, we will have to raise rates in the short term, which is hard to do in the middle of a housing crisis, or let the currency depreciate further, raising the price of imports further, which is inflationary. In the long run, we can cut spending to get in line with receipts, but that won't be without pain. The other option is to grow the economy so growth generates taxes to pay for the spending, but with the boomers (like me) nearing retirement, social security and medicare expenses will make that hard to do. Rock, meet hard place.
Well, you can safely ignore the sage wisdom from Ahmadnutjob. He's just posturing. But the Euro is taking some business away from the dollar as far as international currencies. It lets nations diversify and perhaps save money by having more options. Of course the euro is nowhere near as secure as the dollar, not with Russia sitting there dreaming of lost empire.
really? how exactly does a weaker dollar bring more pain to the poor and middle class? last time i checked inflation was being held in check and imports cost less....meanwhile our exports are cheaper and more attractive to acquire keeping the manufacturing base in high cotton.
higher import prices hurts importers...causing a squeeze on their margins as they have to compete with U.S. competition. those w/o u.s. can't arbitrarily raise their prices. the solution is to grow the economy allowing for tax receipts to pay down the debt, simultaneously we do need to reduce spending on social programs, raising the disbursement age on social security, higher thresholds on medicare expenses etc....
and? nice video of him using his time to question the Federal Reserve to insert some political campaigning. too bad no one is buying his arguements that a declining dollar "robs" Americans. he reminds me a lot of the populist Ross Perot who once feared NAFTA would be the bane and ruin of the middle class...anyone seen Ross lately?
Since 2000, oil has gone from 30 a barrel to 90 a barrel, and a gal of regular has gone from 1 to 3 dollars, roughly. Do you think that percent increase in gas prices hurts an upper middle class family at all? No. If you use 30 gallons a month, you're paying $60 a month more for gas, or 720 bucks a year more, for one vehicle. If you're making 40K a year gross, that's about 2% of your take home, for one vehicle; if you have 2 cars, then double it. At 40K its hard to save money, so if you have to come up with an extra 60 a month for gas, something else will have to give. Either you can't save as much for retirement, or you'll have to eat out less or stop seeing movies, or something. Gas is a necessity, you can't cut it out. The dollar has gone from 80 cents buying a Euro in 2000, to about 1.50 to buy a Euro today. Apply that ratio to oil, and 30 dollar oil becomes 60 dollar oil, just on the fall of our currency. Supply demand adds the rest. The fact remains, that $60 dollar a month is a much bigger hit on the lower end of the economic spectrum than on the higher end, so its regressive. It works as a hidden tax. The govt. cuts taxes, then spends more on war and drug programs for which no tax revenue was collected, we run up the debt, and foreigners look at the banana republic management of our currency by the republicans, and they demand more dollars for their goods, like oil. We've gotten something of a pass by importing more from China, and by taking advantage of their cheap labor, prices have not gone up at Wal Mart. But that came at the price of off shoring many jobs and really hurt up in the midwest manufacturing sector. It is no accident that the big foreclosures in homes are in Ca., Fla., and OHIO. Ohio did not have a big housing boom like the other 2, it had its manufacturing base sucked out to China. The concept of inflation being held in check is BS in my book. Clinton changed the measure of inflation in the mid 90's, to understate it. He did that to decrease the cost of living increases to social security recipients and govt. retirees, to try and keep the budget balanced into the future, and he was on a good fiscally conservative path. But oil is up 200%, gold in up 200%, college tuition is rising 8% a year, health care costs are rising 10-12%, housing was rising much faster than the stated inflation rate for 6 years (falling in many places now). A gallon of milk has almost doubled in the last five years. Anyone that believes the govt. statistics on inflation does not live in the real world.
