Public Debt Outlook

It all starts in one place and snowballs out of control is my point.

Many share blame in their own way, but it all starts somewhere.

The more that I think about it, The people trying to get us out of it are the same ones that set the wheels in motion to get us where we are.

Barney Frank

Oh man, I\'m so glad to see you back.  You don\'t truly appreciate someone until they\'re gone.

Welcome back Giga!

Oh, give him a break. Look how upset he is about it in the picture. I forgive him!

Seriously, we tried the do nothing approach. That sucked. So America supported trying this new idea, even though it\'s creating a huge debt. The desired effect is not a short term boost, but a shove that gets the "leave the market to fix itself" ball rolling in the right direction again. Cross your fingers with the rest of us. But wash them first, you don\'t want to catch swine flu.

Then go buy something.

I see where your coming from, but I just don\'t buy it.

We have a budget deficit, so the solution is to create more debt?  It\'s just illogical.  I agree, the do-nothing approach doesn\'t help, but it doesn\'t make things worse either.  Ideally, we\'d want to CUT spending, and close the gap on the budget deficit.  Don\'t tell me there isn\'t wasteful spending in the government cause there is.

Let\'s arrive at a solution in a logical manner -

cutting spending = cutting the deficit,
cutting the deficit will lead to cutting taxes,
cutting taxes = more money in EVERYONE\'s pocket
more money will lead to more consumer spending
more spending = economic recovery.

Unfortunately the Obama (and to some extent Bush\'s) administration has so many government programs in mind that they don\'t have enough money to fund them all, therefore creating huge deficits.  We don\'t need more Government programs, because 95% of the population won\'t use them.  What we need is tax relief.

I\'m not on the tax relief bandwagon.

Neither myself or anyone I know is hurting due to taxes.

You are also missing pieces of the picture.
Cutting our deficit will not do much for the economy.

More money will not necessaily lead to more spending as more people are spending less b/c costs of everything have gone up. People are worried about keeping jobs so they are keeping money around just in case.

Like many other avenues in life, it takes money to make some.

I think Obama is doing fairly well at attacking many different fronts, I just hope he is not trying to do too much at once, which can also be a bad thing.

In no way should you believe that this is a problem that would have just  corrected itself by the free market system.

[clips]

I agree that you have to be on a budget,....but banks apparently still aren\'t lending like they should....no matter how much taxes you cut, if people aren\'t working, taxes are going to have to be raised and the u.s. is still losing jobs on a monthly basis at incredible levels. The more folks work, the more taxes goes to the state and fed. The less people work, means less money for the state and fed(not to mention that the people that have jobs already are even cutting back more), which eventually results in higher taxes at some point.

Everything is connnected, and if companies, whether they are large or small can\'t get lending from banks for their operating costs(payroll/inventory..etc) then this leads to more layoffs...in addition to more people just not buying anything because they are unsure of their future...once you stop the bleeding of jobs and get people back to work, then the economy can come back, but everything is all connected. Solving one issue isn\'t neccessarily going to make everything else fall in place.

I agree with you that the fastest way to fix the economy is to create jobs.  The more people paying into the system, the faster the economy will rebuild.  However, I still believe that the more money you have the more you are likely to spend it.  You may not be hurting from high taxes, but I definitely am.  

However, this could also be attributed to the fact that I live in NY City where the taxes are among the highest in the country.  David Patterson has done a great job here running people out of town with his "Gym Membership" and "Bottled Water" taxes that he has proposed.  And Michael Bloomberg is angering a lot of citizens with his with hikes in the MTA fares and tax hikes.  So I\'m getting hit on three fronts.

A person can not spend their way out of debt.  Why do you think the goverment can?

A person can not spend their way out of debt.  Why do you think the goverment can?

Yea, actually a person can.

That was precisely my point, but some people refuse to accept that.

Yea, actually a person can.

Yea, actually a person can.

Not unless they hit the lottery or gamble, which are extremely high risk options and the odds are always stacked in the favor of the house.

The government can not spend its way out of debt.  It has been tried and does not work.  

Also you are wrong that the free market could have not corrected itself.  It would have taken a depression, but we would have emerged much stronger from it and cut the weight of companies that can not run their own affairs properly.  By pumping money into companies like GM and Chrysler we are just prolonging the inevitable.  Let them fail.  I would miss the Challenger though - sweet car.

And what I don\'t understand is how conservatives could be to blame for this economic malaise.  Our economy was as strong as it had ever been between the years of 2003-2007 (under a conservative controlled Congress and Presidency).  Then in 2007 our economy started its tumble to where we are now.  The dummies took over control of congress in 2006.

Hmmmm...

To be fair, the Repubs also particpated in this crap post 2006.  Going back to the assertion that the people who caused this problem are now the ones trying to fix it is true.  One more reason Congress needs term limits.

Not unless they hit the lottery or gamble, which are extremely high risk options and the odds are always stacked in the favor of the house.

The government can not spend its way out of debt.  It has been tried and does not work.  

Also you are wrong that the free market could have not corrected itself.  It would have taken a depression, but we would have emerged much stronger from it and cut the weight of companies that can not run their own affairs properly.  By pumping money into companies like GM and Chrysler we are just prolonging the inevitable.  Let them fail.  I would miss the Challenger though - sweet car.

I was speaking more from the business owners that are in debt, not the average person.

If we go into another depression, the rest of the world would literally own the US.