Tag: deficit

MONEY: The coming default by the US FED / Treasury?

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https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/are-you-ready-coming-us-government-default

Are You Ready For The Coming US Government Default?
by Tyler Durden
Monday, Nov 07, 2022 – 07:20 AM

Authored by MN Gordon via EconomicPrism.com,

*** begin quote ***

The vast herd of investors are a deluded crowd. Following the Federal Reserve’s much anticipated 75 basis point rate hike on Wednesday the major stock market indexes jumped upward.

Optimistic investors keyed in on the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) statement and, in particular, the remark that the Fed, “will take into account the cumulative tightening of monetary policy, the lags with which monetary policy affects economic activity and inflation and economic and financial developments.”

*** and ***

In other words, this bear market may not bottom out until well into 2025. What’s more, the entire dollar based financial system will likely blow up sometime beforehand.

*** and ***

But many won’t recognize heavy handed monetary policy as reasons for their disappointment. The erosion of purchasing power can be subtle over long periods. Moreover, the effects of currency debasement policies extend to all corners of the economy.

*** end quote ***

Depends upon how you define default. What happens when no one wants to buy US Treasuries?

It’s going to be ugly. As the interest rate goes up, more of the Federal budget should go to interest on the debt. If they don’t cut, then more dollar printing.

A vicious cycle.

Sigh!

But what will be the form of it? Us tin foil hats are trying to guess will they just: “print”, “default on the bonds (i.e., tough <synonym for excrement> you suckers)”, or something involving a FED version of mandatory bitcoin (i.e., cash is recalled just like gold was)?

And, then what will the sheeple do?

—30—

ECONOMICS: The “ugly chicken” of unfunded liabilities

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http://www.survivalblog.com/2013/03/become-your-own-central-banker-by-lbg.html

*** begin quote ***

Today the U.S. has spent the nation’s blood and treasure as well as our emotional capital on the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. We have become involved in Libya, Egypt, and Syria.  Potential issues with Iran and North Korea loom large. There are 47 million people on food stamps. Unreported millions are unemployed. Spending on social programs has exploded.  The housing market collapsed and has never fully recovered. The banking system is on life support. The Federal Reserve is purchasing $85 billion dollars each month (a trillion dollars a year) in U.S. Treasury issues because no one else is willing to do so.  Despite government statistics and reports Inflation has driven prices on energy, food, clothing, health insurance, and everyday items beyond reason.  Expenditures outstrip tax revenues. Government spending is out of control and we are approaching $17 trillion dollars in national debt with untold (and unfathomable) amounts in promised future benefits, entitlements, mandates, and promissory notes.  By some estimates the U.S. has 238 TRILLION DOLLARS in unfunded liabilities.  We can’t cover it. We are flat busted.  And if our leadership refuses to address and fix the problem, the rest of the world will fix it for us.

*** end quote ***

And why are the Sheeple and Clovers happy? Dancing Idol is on TV!

Fools.

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POLITICAL: Bozell Blasts GOP Leaders In CPAC Speec

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http://cnsnews.com/blog/craig-bannister/bozell-blasts-gop-leaders-cpac-speech-you-are-not-what-you-promised-be

Bozell Blasts GOP Leaders In CPAC Speech: ‘You Are Not What You Promised To Be’ (Conservative)
March 16, 2013

By Craig Bannister

*** begin quote ***

“You’ve done nothing for over two years but give us excuses and more commitments that tomorrow, yes tomorrow, you’ll honor your promises. Gentlemen, where promises are concerned, you are not what you promised to be.

“Do you want to restore your reputations as conservative leaders? All you need to do is honor your promises. They were good ones. Watch what happens next. You’ll be heroes.”

*** end quote ***

Absolutely true.

We don’t need bigger Gooferment!

Balance the budget today!

Eliminate the national debt!

Kill the FED!

Honest money!

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RANT: 1M$ gooferment employee!

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http://watchdog.org/62420/co-secret-energy-lab-spawns-million-dollar-govt-employee/

CO: Secret energy lab spawns million dollar govt employee

By Tori Richards / November 24, 2012 / Colorado Watchdog

*** begin quote ***

GOLDEN, Colo. – The federal government’s dream of a renewable energy empire hinges on a scrubby outpost here, where scientists and executives doggedly explore a

If you live outside Colorado, you probably haven’t heard of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory – NREL for short. It’s the place where solar panels, windmills and corn are deemed the energy source of the future and companies who support such endeavors are courted.

It’s also the place where highly paid staff decide how to spend hundreds of millions in taxpayer dollars.

And the public pays those decision-makers well: NREL’s top executive, Dr. Dan Arvizu, makes close to a million dollars per year. His two top lieutenants rake in more than half a million each and nine others make more than $350,000 a year.

*** end quote ***

And no one can figure out how to cut the budget?!!!!

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MONEY: This economy, and lack of political fiscal discipline, is hardest on the poor

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http://www.csmonitor.com/Business/2013/0222/Why-is-Wal-Mart-worried-Payroll-tax-could-cut-consumer-spending.-video?nav=87-frontpage-entryLeadStory

Why is Wal-Mart worried? Payroll tax could cut consumer spending. (+video)
Recent reports forecast lower spending for this year, anticipating that the restored payroll tax will impact consumers’ wallets, especially low-income earners. Wal-Mart is adjusting its strategy.

By Husna Haq, Correspondent / February 22, 2013

*** begin quote ***

“It’s a big deal,” says Morgan Housley, a macroeconomic analyst with Motley Fool, an online financial education website. “The biggest impact is on lower-income households since the payroll tax is regressive, only applying to the first $113,000 of income. Wealthier households don’t feel the same pinch because the tax doesn’t hit all of their income. Lower-income households also spend a larger share of their income than wealthier consumers.… Low-income families are in one of the toughest spots they’ve been in since 2009.”

*** end quote ***

Anyone believe a less that 2% cpi?

Not me!

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Why is Wal-Mart worried? Payroll tax could cut consumer spending. (+video)Recent reports forecast lower spending for this year, anticipating that the restored payroll tax will impact consumers’ wallets, especially low-income earners. Wal-Mart is adjusting its strategy.

By Husna Haq, Correspondent / February 22, 2013

POLITICAL: France has a top rate of 75%

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http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/09/28/us-france-budget-idUSBRE88R0AK20120928

France taxes rich and business to slash deficit
By Daniel Flynn and Leigh Thomas
PARIS | Fri Sep 28, 2012 7:49am EDT

*** begin quote ***

(Reuters) – President Francois Hollande’s Socialist government unveiled sharp tax hikes on business and the rich on Friday in a 2013 budget aimed at showing France has the fiscal rigor to remain at the core of the euro zone.

The package will recoup 30 billion euros ($39 billion) for the public purse with a goal of narrowing the deficit to 3.0 percent of national output next year from 4.5 percent this year – France’s toughest single belt-tightening in 30 years.

But with record unemployment and a barrage of data pointing to economic stagnation, there are fears the deficit target will slip as France falls short of the modest 0.8 percent economic growth rate on which it is banking for next year.

*** end quote ***

Here’s a country that’s going be a laboratory for high tax rates.

Better them than us.

The USA has growth rate below 2 and the true unemployment rate (U6) above 15%.

The Gooferment deficit, debt, and spending are spinning out of control; the Senate doesn’t even deign to do a budget.

I’m no fan of either party’s offering. But four more years of European style Gooferment is going to push the economy over the edge.

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FUN: Bernard McGirk on “replacement refs”

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“Our long national nightmare is over!. — Bernard McGirk on the Don Imus show about the regular refs coming back to work

# – # – #  

We have so many problems. Serious problems — unemployment, deficit, debt, crime in Chicago, immigration, … … California finances, crony capitalism … … 

… … where in this list is “replacement refs”?

Argh!

# – # – # – # – #  2012-Sep-27 @ 07:41  

POLITICAL: Big Gooferment is even bigger than we think?

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http://www.theblaze.com/stories/report-govt-may-be-bigger-than-you-think/

Business Report: Gov’t May Be Bigger Than You Think
Posted on April 2, 2012 at 6:45pm by Becket Adams

*** begin quote ***

But the tax break isn’t counted as spending. In fact, while the check for $2,100 is classified as “federal spending,” the tax break doesn’t even show up on the federal budget. So when you hear a policymaker talk about lowering the deficit or expanding/reducing the size of government, most of them don’t factor in tax breaks.

The CNN report goes on to argue that because tax breaks get the same results as government checks (e.g. giving homeowners deductions on mortgage interest, giving tax credits to “green” energy companies, etc), they’re practically interchangeable, right?

Not quite: the government check is directly funded by taxpayers while the tax break comes at a cost to no one.

But this is not to say that tax breaks should be disregarded from the deficit discussion. As taxes generate income, and fixing the deficit is all about balancing revenue with expenditures, then tax breaks should be included.

*** end quote ***

That makes me ill.

Bigger?

Seriously. Are you kidding me!

23.7%

Argh!

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Business Report: Gov’t May Be Bigger Than You Think
Posted on April 2, 2012 at 6:45pm by Becket Adams Becket Adams

MONEY: No meaningful way to save

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http://www.forbes.com/sites/charleskadlec/2012/01/23/gingrich-the-gold-standard-and-the-florida-primary

ForbesOp/Ed|1/23/2012 @ 4:33PM
Gingrich, The Gold Standard, And The Florida Primary Charles Kadlec, Contributor

*** begin quote ***

There is no meaningful way to save for your retirement, for your children’s education, or for the future if you don’t know what the dollar will be worth when you will need to spend it.  That makes us insecure and more dependent on government.  Sound money — a dollar that can buy the same amount 10, 20 or 30 years from now — increases our ability to take care of ourselves, our families and to be far less dependent on government.  That goes to the heart of our ability to live in liberty.

The gold standard also reinforces the constitutional limits on the power of the federal government.  When the dollar is linked to gold, the Federal Reserve cannot finance federal government deficits by printing excessive amounts of money.  If it were to try to do so, holders of dollars could over-rule the Fed by turning in the extra dollars for gold, forcing the Fed to reverse its policies.  Except in times of war, the Federal budget deficits were tiny.  From 1947 to 1967, they averaged just 0.1% a year.  In today’s economy, that would be the equivalent of $15 billion.

Finally, making the dollar as good as gold, and restoring gold to the center of the international monetary system, will give the Unites States an enormous boost in soft power.  According to a recent study by the Bank of England, when compared to even the flawed, post World War II gold standard, the paper dollar standard has been a disaster whose true dimensions have been disguised by the time over which it has been inflicted on people all over the world.   Since 1971, real per capital growth rates have been cut by 1 percentage point a year, even as world inflation increased 1.5 percentage points to average 4.8% per year.  Meanwhile, the frequency and severity of economic downturns have increased, as have the number of banking crises.

*** end quote ***

As far as I know, Gingrich doesn’t support a Gold Standard; only Ron Paul wants to start the process. And, it would have to be a process. A complete process of unwinding the “Era of Big Government”.

There’s a TV commercial on about the old couple at the bank being congratulated about their retirement. The teller is counting out blank pieces of paper. How true is that? In my mind, very.

Social Security was sold to “We, The Sheeple” as “insurance”. Unlike real “insurance”, the politicians and bureaucrats took the “contributions” and spent them on the welfare / warfare state. And, put IOUs in the “lockbox”. What a joke! A fraud. At least Ponzi didn’t force people to participate. If MetLife did what the Gooferment did, all the executives would be jail. The politicians and bureaucrats collect a big Gooferment pension for <synonym for the act of procreation in real time> us.

And, Social Security was never supposed to be taxable. And, inflation adjusted. Until the Gooferment decided that energy and food shouldn’t count towards inflation. Right!

And, good luck saving on your own for your retirement. The FED, to hold down the Gooferment’s borrowing costs, has by diktat keeps interest rates at zero. Or pretty close to it.

401Ks and IRA were introduced to induce savings for retirement and take pressure off Social Security. Since “it was never intended to entirely fund a person’s retirement”. That would surprise “We, The Sheeple” circa 1935.

But then a lot would surprise them!

So, perhaps, youngsters might be better off saving for their retirement in gold or silver bullion coins.

Remember that in ancient Rome two gold coins would buy a fine man’s outfit. Pretty much the same today.

Remember that in 1964, three silver dimes would but a gallon of gas. I can PERSONALLY attest to that. And, they cleaned your window, gave you a free class, and trading stamps. Today, those three silver dimes would be worth about SIX DOLLARS; enough for almost TWO gallons of gas.

So, what has changed?

The dollar!

So returning to that old couple at the bank with a lifetime of paper savings. They’ve been defrauded by society. Hard to imagine, but visualize if they’d put those savings into gold bullion coins that they kept in a kitchen pot. Each week, instead of “saving” with paper, they put some gold or silver away in that pot. Hard to imagine that they would nt be better off.

Finally, returning to Gingrich, I agree he could ignite a fire of reality. But, that’s not going to happen. Because at the end of the road, these guys are all suits who want to control people.

Vote Ron Paul. A return to sanity begines with a single step.

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MONEY: Kill the FED; save the Republic

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http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/opinion/s_777634.html

Kill the FedBy Eric Heyl, PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEWSaturday, January 21, 2012
Read more: Kill the Fed – Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

*** begin quote ***

John Allison is the former chairman and CEO of BB&T, the nation’s 10th-largest financial holding company. He was named one of the 100 most successful CEOs by the Harvard Business Review and since 2009 has been on the Wake Forest University Schools of Business faculty as Distinguished Professor of Practice.

*** and ***

Q: In the long term, what do you think should be done with the Fed?

A: If I were in charge, I would get rid of the Fed. I believe that as long as the Fed exists, Congress can effectively print money. And it doesn’t matter whether they are Democrats or Republicans, they would rather print money than tax people. They want to spend because that effectively buys votes, and they don’t want to tax people because that loses votes.

I think the Fed provides the temptation for massive government deficits. If the federal government couldn’t print money, it would have to have better financial discipline than it has today.

*** end quote ***

Vote Ron Paul.

There’s no other candidate on the horizon that understands or articulates that the FED is the problem.

It gives the duopoly — the D’s and the R’s are two sides of the same coin intended to give “We, The Sheeple” the illusion of a choice — an unlimited checkbook to borrow and spend.

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GOLD: Unfunded liabilities

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http://lewrockwell.com/spl3/gold-chart-walk-2012.html

Gold Chart Walk 2012
by Morris Hubbartt

*** begin quote ***

Unlimited government requires unlimited funding. The unfunded liabilities of the USA are staggering. Over the next 20-25 years there is probably a gigantic $75 trillion unfunded liability problem for the US government. Think of the move in gold against the dollar with a debt of $15 trillion. Can you imagine the action in gold with a debt five times the current size?

The United States could be headed towards decades of dollar devaluation. With all of the problems in Europe, why isn’t the euro hitting new lows? Why can’t the dollar mount a real rally, instead of this tiny bit of strength?

The answer is that the dollar isn’t really very strong at all. If America goes into a crisis like you’ve just seen in Europe, the fall in the dollar could dwarf the euro’s fall, because America is the largest debtor nation in the history of the world.

The nature of all fiat currencies is to be competitive, with each currency group looking for an advantage in trade, and more importantly, an advantage in debt relief for the governments that issue these currencies. Fiat currencies are designed to be depreciated over time. Buy Gold in this time of gold price weakness, because your opportunity won’t last forever.

*** end quote ***

Regardless of how you feel about gold — the magic mineral, an obsolete anachronism, or something in between — this quote should strike fear into the heart on anyone who understands “real life”.

As if “unlimited government” was NOT scary enough, “unlimited funding” should be down right terrifying.

The national debt stands at 15T$ and growing every second.

Then you hit the guesstimate of 75T$ of unfunded liability, which should knock your socks off. It does mine.

How did “we” get in this mess? Even a crooked accountant, with two sets of books, has one that tells him the truth. Even Bernie Made-off knew he was “underwater”. We don’t even have ONE set that tells us the truth.

“Jobs created or saved”, “unemployment” stats that don’t account for the “99 week”-ers, and an inflation rate that doesn’t include food or fuel.

These are the statisticians that you’re looking to tell you “the truth”.

Can you even handle “the truth”?

“The truth” is that we’re going to be like Japan, the Soviet Union, and Zimbabwe all rolled into one.

As one of those war movies said: “Tell everyone to get small in their holes because trouble is coming.”

Argh!

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POLITICAL: What the government is not

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http://lewrockwell.com/napolitano/napolitano34.1.html

The Case for Austerity
by Andrew P. Napolitano

*** begin quote ***

Government is not a jobs program, and government is not your caretaker. Government is an arrangement made by free individuals to protect their rights and their property.

It doesn’t take $3.6 trillion a year to do that effectively in America today. I doubt it takes a trillion. We must swallow the bitter pill of austerity now, on our own terms, while we are still the undisputed leader of the free world and while we still have a Constitution, so that we can restore our prosperity in a way consistent with personal liberty.

*** end quote ***

Certainly seems that the 15T$ national debt is OUR problem.

If we were all on the same page, then we could amortize that over generations.

Bet we could sell 50 year bonds!

But we’re not even on the same planet as some people.

The Tea Party and the Occupy folks were all screaming about the same thing. Crony Capitalism, Regulatory Capture, and Rule by the Effete Elite. (imho)

Time to cut spending. And get everyone back to work.

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FLASH: The next debt limit debate

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http://news.yahoo.com/obama-ask-debt-limit-hike-treasury-official-152416457.html

Obama to ask for debt limit hike: Treasury officialReutersReuters – 3 mins 32 secs ago

*** begin quote ***

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The White House plans to ask Congress by the end of the week for an increase in the government’s debt ceiling to allow the United States to pay its bills on time, according to a senior Treasury Department official on Tuesday.

The approval is expected to go through without a challenge, given that Congress is in recess until later in January and the request is in line with an agreement to keep the U.S. government funded into 2013.

The debt is projected to fall within $100 billion of the current cap by December 30, when the United States has $82 billion in interest on its debt and payments such as Social Security coming due. President Barack Obama is expected to ask for authority to increase the borrowing limit by $1.2 trillion, part of the spending authority that was negotiated between Congress and the White House this summer.

*** end quote ***

OK, let’s start another “debt deal”. No!

No more debt!

Ever.

In fact, it’s sticking it to the posterity. Stop spending.

End the FED.

# – # – # – # – #  2011-Dec-27 @ 11:39