US Government 'hiding true amount of debt' | News.com.au Why isn't our media bringing this up? Why can't politicians see the impending disaster and stop spending money we don't have? Why do we double and triple and quadruple down on spending? Will we be able to stop the madness?
David Walker, author of The Menu of Pain. Has anyone seen what a trillion dollars looks like? We think of it as the next step over a billion. Well, its much more shocking that that: The following are stacks of $100 bills: One Million: One Hundred Million: One Billion: And a Trillion: But wait... those pallets are DOUBLE STACKED. ------ When you start talking about the US being $60T in debt, we realize how screwed we are.
Good job MiT! Those that think 1 trillion is the "new" billion should be aware that means $10 is the new penny! Think about that!
Actually, I just realized that the article was wrong about David Walker. Walker was not Comptroller General until 2008. He was fired around 2003 by Bush because Bush didn't want a loudmouth telling everyone what was coming. Its an important thing to note. This is not a political ploy. No party is going to make hay by facing the reality of the situation. This is an American problem and we better get our sh- together before its too late. ------ no wait. Its not DAvid Walker. I'm thinking of Paul O'Neil. He's the guy that wrote the Menu of Pain and was fired for writing it. Walker was a good guy also, but O'Neil is the real Sam Adams.
Since I'm not an expert, I am not sure what this really means. What can be done about it? Some say it's not a big deal when the US are highly in debt: The $US is the world's leading currency and those foreign states and banks that lended the US that money will not ask it back soon, because that would damage them just as much as it would damage the US. So a permanently high debt is allegedly not really a problem. But there must be risks after all, or not? Much of this increased spending was taken into account in order to prevent the worst in the banking crisis. What if there is now, since debt is so tremendously high, another such crisis, maybe even worse? Aren't we screwed then? After WW1, the German government was totally bankrupt, had to pay back the credits they had taken in war time, in addition to reparations. In order to do so, they just printed money. This caused a hyper-inflation: On its peak, the money would lose value so quickly that on the way from receiving a paycheck to the next market, it would have lost half its value already. A piece of bread that costed 1 Mark one day, might cost a million Mark by the end of the week (I am not exaggerating here). The effect was a completely paralyzed economy, a complete pauperization of all people who had savings (all of them were gone within a few months), but those who had debts were lucky -- they could pay them all back with worthless money. This experience has strongly influenced the German's attitude towards the economy, inflation is still a things that evokes quite a few emotions. Another example is Hitler (sorry for all buddies here who might think "not again" :lol: -- don't worry, this won't be a Godwin's Law tirade again): Hitler and his government too did excessive spending and made ridiculously high debts to finance all the nice programs that gave many people the impression the Nazis are saving the country and bought them a lot of support. They never had the intention to pay it back in the first place. Right from the beginning, this plan was based on war eventually: Once the war will be won, it would be easy to pay it all back by exploiting the conquered territories and enslaving people, or confiscating property of people who will be murdered. Excessive brute violence to thoroughly change entire societies, including the financial systems, would solve the problem. I wonder, if there really is such a risk of inevitable crash, either sooner or later, what do the leaders, politicians know? It's probably perfectly suited for conspiracy theories: They know we are at the brink of collapse, but don't tell the people for obvious reasons. But are they planning anything? Are there hidden policies already for the purpose to prepare us for the worst case, without people recognizing them as such? Or do they just stumble from one risky decision to the next, crossing the fingers and hoping it will still go well long enough, until they are out of office and can't be held responsible any longer? Of course I may have the wrong impression and over-estimate the risks. If someone here is sufficiently well versed on this topic, I would appreciate your opinion. At any rate, the current situation is scary.
FT.com / US / Economy & Fed - Fed hints it could buy more bonds So let me get this straight, the fed is going to print more money to buy bonds from itself and that is going to help whom how? WTF is this shell game? The fed has already used all the bullets in their gun so now they are going to point their finger and yell BANG BANG!? Yea, that will put dinner on the table!
I read an article the other day (sorry I cant find it again to link it) that basically said "Since the US Economy is such garbage, why not just start over with brand new money! It just makes sense to print new stuff". I was appalled, mostly at the fact that the leading concept is a Euro rip off; Dowling | Duncan – Dowling Duncan redesign the US bank notes actually I found that article; So yeah, why sweat trillions when we can print a rainbow of Quintillions. The dollar is on the fast track to being the next Peso or Yen. :banghead:
The Fed said it would never monetize debt. Another lie. Nouriel Roubini laid out our future well in this article: The Spend-And-Borrow Economy - Forbes.com This is where we are now - We're still in the quiet period of deflation and high unemployment. I think a lot do. And they realize the catch-22 they are in. If the economy recovers, we will pay for this debt via hyper-inflation. Isn't this what happened to the Weimar Republic?
I'm thinking of pulling all my retirement $ out of stock & bond mutual funds before things crash, but I don't know where I should put it. Gold funds? Foreign currency? Is there any place that is "safe"? ------ Even Greenspan has taken notice, why hasn't the media and congress? Greenspan’s Warning About Gold Echoes After Fed Speaks - September 22, 2010 - The New York Sun
I've been arguing with a stock broker friend of mine about gold. Even though it has a shiny future, I think its overpriced in the short run and am expecting a collapse to somewhere near the 300 day moving average. I've been wrong about this all year and it keeps rising. I think the investment right now is land. Land is cheaper than it has been in awhile and if we do hit hyper-inflation land will rise accordingly. I'm too broke to do it, but that's where I would be.
