Sunday, October 20, 2013

Fwd: debt


'...As Niall Ferguson notes, while politicians crow that the deficit has dropped -- from super-enormous to merely really, really gigantic -- every year that we're in deficit adds to the debt. And the long-term trends are bad: "A very striking feature of the latest Congressional Budget Office report is how much worse it is than last year's. A year ago, the CBO's extended baseline series for the federal debt in public hands projected a figure of 52% of GDP by 2038. That figure has very nearly doubled to 100%. A year ago the debt was supposed to glide down to zero by the 2070s. This year's long-run projection for 2076 is above 200%. In this devastating reassessment, a crucial role is played here by the more realistic growth assumptions used this year."'
 
 


Thursday, October 10, 2013

Re: Budget Math

He is overly generous with military cuts.  You could pull this off by raising taxes.   I am sure there many government contracts that must still be honored. 


On Oct 10, 2013, at 9:47 AM, "<larry.r.trout@> wrote:

'gnore what you hear and read in the news. The federal government actually reached the legal debt ceiling about four months ago. Since then, the government has been financing its monthly budget deficit by stealing/borrowing money from other government funds, like the federal government employees' pension fund. In about two weeks, the government will run out of tricks to keep operating as if nothing has happened. If the debt ceiling is not raised by then, the government has to balance its budget.

 

That's right. As much as the politicians and news media have tried to convince you that the world will end without a debt ceiling increase, it is simply not true. The federal debt ceiling sets a legal limit for how much money the federal government can borrow. In other words, it places an upper limit on the national debt. It is like the credit limit on the government's gold card.

 

Reaching the debt ceiling does not mean that the government will default on the outstanding government debt. In fact, the U.S. Constitution forbids defaulting on the debt (14th Amendment, Section 4), so the government is not allowed to default even if it wanted to.

 

In reality, if the debt ceiling is not raised in the next two weeks, the government will actually have to prioritize its expenses and keep its monthly, weekly, and daily spending under the revenue the government collects. In simple terms, the government would have to spend an amount less than or equal to what it earns. Just like ordinary Americans have to do in their everyday lives.

 

Once the reality of what hitting the debt ceiling means is understood, the important question is: can the government actually live with a balanced budget? How much money could it spend? Could enough spending be cut to live within a balanced budget? The answer is yes, the federal government could live with a balanced budget. Below I will show you precisely how.'

 

http://www.forbes.com/sites/jeffreydorfman/2013/10/03/dont-believe-the-debt-ceiling-hype-the-federal-government-can-survive-without-an-increase/

 

Sunday, October 6, 2013

America's Richest (and Poorest) States

http://247wallst.com/special-report/2013/09/19/americas-richest-and-poorest-states/2/

Ten Brands That Will Disappear in 2014

http://247wallst.com/special-report/2013/05/23/ten-brands-that-will-disappear-in-2014/2/

Friday, October 4, 2013

Re: Fusion

This is a stark contrast to all the people who condemned cold fusion as lunacy. 

I remain skeptical.  If it were real, I think that the scientific community would be embracing it right now.  This could be a ruse to dupe investors, as this kind of thing has been done before in all sorts of "free energy" schemes.

Turning a proton into a neutron is an amazingly difficult thing to do. 

If it were true, our energy problems would be solved forever.  There would be no limit to what the human race could accomplish.  



On Oct 4, 2013, at 11:56 AM, "Trout, Larry R wrote: