SRL Archive - Discussions & Debates

Anyone see the news lately? Stock markets crashin'. Ah well atleast oil prices are falling so hopefully cheaper gas prices.

Yup.. I always have CNN on… I know I hate watching it but hey its the only channel that broadcasts american news here (Canada) so.. As for the economy I think when it all comes down to it.. the younger generation (my own :c) gets screwed.. not the old bastards that are gunna die tomorrow but rather the kids coming up.

The economy is going the down the pipe because of some old people who can't work together. Plain and simple

gotta love spain and greece to :S

It is not just the US, the whole world is being affected.

Fear grips global markets, sending stocks tumbling

I will tell you what! 2012

Nah, I don't believe in that BS, but I thought it would be funny to say :D.

U.S economy will be ruined next year, buy how much live stock and gold you can while you can :) ghanam uw baqar lolol

From: Smarter Child
It is not just the US, the whole world is being affected.

"When America sneezes, the rest of the world catches a cold."

It's always best to invest in self-sustaining equipment. Buy, now, tools/things you'll need to provide for yourself/family. I watched this recently on some show, they were discussing what to do should the economy crash and we're struck with a depression.

From: Flight
It's always best to invest in self-sustaining equipment. Buy, now, tools/things you'll need to provide for yourself/family. I watched this recently on some show, they were discussing what to do should the economy crash and we're struck with a depression.

I'm capable of moving north of here and living off of the land. I've done it before :)

It's a MESS. And it's not just because politicians argue, politicians have argued forever.

This time it's different because we're finally on the edge of the abyss. 40 years of expanding the government nanny state plus the retiring of the baby boomers is pushing our financial situation to the breaking point.

By far the largest problem is Medicare/Medicaid. The average person pays $114,000 into Medicare during their lifetime. And then after they retire the average person takes out $355,000 in Medicare benefits. It's simply not sustainable. A 5-year old could figure that out, but for some reason Washington can't figure it out.

Military spending is unnecessarily high, but that's not really the problem. After World War 2 during the Eisenhower administration, our military spending was 10% of GDP, yet we had a AAA credit rating and reasonable deficits. Now it's 4% of GDP and contributes to the problem, but it's not THE problem.

President Obama proposed a budget this year that projected our national debt to go from $14 trillion to $29 trillion in the next 10 years. That's the path we're on now, even if the economy recovers soon. If there is a double dip recession, it will be even worse than that.

The government's accountants, the CBO, did an analysis in June to figure out how much we have to cut spending or raise taxes over the next 10 years just to tread water and maintain a constant Debt-To-GDP ratio. The answer was $15 trillion of cuts and/or tax hikes, and that's not even to pay down 1 cent of the national debt, that's taking on even more debt as the economy grows.

The reason that Medicare/Medicaid are the biggest problem is that their spending is projected to grow much faster than the economy will grow. So, even if we raise taxes to pay for it, a few years down the road it will outgrow those tax hikes. More and more tax hikes would be needed every few years as Medicare insatiably grows. By the time most here would retire, Medicare and Medicaid alone would spend more than 50% of our entire GDP.

Unless young people want that future, they need to demand Medicare and Medicaid reform. These are "non-discretionary" programs, where the spending and the increases are already locked in, so it's a near certainty without reform. In contrast, military spending is discretionary and could be cut at any time. It's the "easy" thing to cut. President Obama already told us it was time to eat our peas, but Medicare and Medicaid are the Democrats' sacred cows and are protected at all costs.

From: Harry
"When America sneezes, the rest of the world catches a cold."

He's has got a point here :)

~BraK

@Tarajunky trust me they are cutting military spending ;) I know this 100% for sure.

Well we got into a extremely pointless and costly war with Iraq. I think the war costed the U.S around 500b.

Also congress allowed banks to give out bull shit loans to people who could not afford them… It's just too much to list.

From: Harry
"When America sneezes, the rest of the world catches a cold."

If the rest of the world sneezed, wouldn't america catch the cold?

From: bevardis
If the rest of the world sneezed, wouldn't america catch the cold?

no, we would blame someone for starting it, then attack them to start another pointless war

leave it alone… why be stupid and touch it and make it worse … Sad Week.

I just hope teh Chinese will still be there for us and support us, like they have been…

From: P1nky
leave it alone… why be stupid and touch it and make it worse … Sad Week.

I just hope teh Chinese will still be there for us and support us, like they have been…

That won't work, it's continuing to fall with the current spending…

Also Chinese only "support us" because they are getting a shitton of money out of it.

People on U.S who decide big stuff are stupid.

and it all started back in '76

From: tarajunky
Unless young people want that future, they need to demand Medicare and Medicaid reform. These are "non-discretionary" programs, where the spending and the increases are already locked in, so it's a near certainty without reform. In contrast, military spending is discretionary and could be cut at any time. It's the "easy" thing to cut. President Obama already told us it was time to eat our peas, but Medicare and Medicaid are the Democrats' sacred cows and are protected at all costs.

Why are Medicare and Medicaid the Democrats' "sacred cows?" How do I demand reform, just send a letter/e-mail to my congressional representative?

From: ssh0rty4
and it all started back in '76

actually it started in 1837. 1836 was the last time america was out of debt

From: TomTuff
Why are Medicare and Medicaid the Democrats' "sacred cows?"

First, because they are very popular with people on them. Senior citizens in particular vote in very high numbers, so the Democrats are willing to spend the country down the toilet to keep them voting for them. Seniors are very concerned that changes to Medicare might make them pay more out of their own pockets. OF COURSE it would. They only put in $140k but want to keep taking out $350k. The only question is who should pay for it? Old people that have worked their whole lives and saved up money for a comfortable retirement, or young people that never had a choice in the matter. Right now it's generational warfare. Young people are getting loaded up with all these enormously expensive promises so that old people can have a more comfortable retirement by voting for Democrats that don't care about long-term sustainability of the program.

From: TomTuff
How do I demand reform, just send a letter/e-mail to my congressional representative?

Yes, your Congressperson and your Senator would be a good start. The common belief is that all young people are solid Democrat voters because of social issues. I think a letter or e-mail stating your age, restating the facts about how much people pay in and take out, perhaps mentioning that Medicare will be bankrupt by 2017 and won't be around for your retirement anyway, and that young people won't stand for this sort of financial slavery, would get their attention.

Just reading up about it is important. If you educate yourself, you can educate other people around you.

If you do some research, you'll see that most often they discuss Medicare deficits using unusual language. Instead of talking about trillions of dollars ($80-100 trillion in deficits approximately), they use % of GDP. It's a trick to make a huge problem seem small. As I said before, all our military spending is only 4% of GDP, so using that measuring stick makes a big number seem smaller than it really is.

From: tarajunky
First, because they are very popular with people on them. Senior citizens in particular vote in very high numbers, so the Democrats are willing to spend the country down the toilet to keep them voting for them.

Quote from Thomas Jefferson that DIRECTLY deals with the Medicare issue.

"I predict future happiness for Americans, if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them."
— Thomas Jefferson

I also believe he had a quote with something along the lines of you don't get into politics as a job, you do it for your country? I can't remember.

Edit* Going to put a little of my two cents into the Jefferson quote, just to help explain it. It's kind of ironic that this is exactly what is happening and no one is happy about it. The government is wasting money in order to take care of you later in life, but we don't have the money to take care of them now but we're still wasting money TRYING to make it work.