tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-759178030677978044.post8578729513547075131..comments2024-02-19T07:24:42.397-08:00Comments on Anglican Curmudgeon: On Greed and Ignorance, i.e., Fiscal CliffsA. S. Haleyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05108498446058643166noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-759178030677978044.post-13168717712398921572012-12-16T11:30:41.949-08:002012-12-16T11:30:41.949-08:00And the very LAST government expendure to be cut w...And the very LAST government expendure to be cut will be the President's & Congress's salarys and benifiets. The last ones on the "government't tits" as Sen Alan Sinpson puts it.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10906980382835490734noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-759178030677978044.post-21264972611480256812012-12-14T14:24:02.515-08:002012-12-14T14:24:02.515-08:00TRR, there are two ways all this folly can end: on...TRR, there are two ways all this folly can end: one is with a massive deflation (all businesses failing; everyone thrown out of work; no one has any money to spend on anything), or massive inflation (the dollar becomes worth less than the paper it is printed on). Or it may be that we will have the first followed shortly afterwards by the second. Right now, the Fed is pumping money into the system like crazy, which ordinarily would be inflationary. But no one is spending their money as they did in the past, because of the uncertain future -- the velocity of money has been falling, just as it did in the years of the Great Depression -- and that is deflationary. <br /><br />Thus far the forces have been more or less countering each other: money disappears (businesses fail and go bankrupt; mortgages and other loans are not repaid) about as fast as the Fed is creating it.<br /><br />But sooner or later, one factor has to get the upper hand, and possibly whether or not taxes go up and government spending actually drops will have a good deal of influence on which force eventually dominates. A number of tax increases are already certain -- chiefly the ones associated with the insanity of Obamacare. And government spending will massively increase under Obamacare, despite any mandated cuts that will take place if no agreement is reached.<br /><br />So with taxes going up (deflationary) and spending going up (inflationary), the forces will battle it out for a while longer. But eventually, the government will run out of other people's money, and will have to make do on what the Fed can print for it. Look for the value of the dollar to plummet when that point is reached. The resulting inflation will bankrupt most all remaining creditors, and take the country back to a barter economy. And guess what? Unlike individual families, the federal government can't survive by barter, so it will become irrelevant.<br /><br />The one thing that is <i>not</i> in the cards is a soft landing.A. S. Haleyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05108498446058643166noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-759178030677978044.post-86369830606673505242012-12-14T13:51:06.885-08:002012-12-14T13:51:06.885-08:00I've Got Mine
"I've got mine!" ...I've Got Mine<br /><br />"I've got mine!" say the old folks:<br />My social security, my medicare.<br />I paid for them for forty plus years;<br />They damn well owe it to me.<br /><br />(The are the last generation <br />To received unrestricted largesse<br />From the government, financed<br />By their children and grandchildren.)<br /><br />"I've got mine!" say the unemployed.<br />It's not my fault I can't find a job.<br />The benefits are keeping me alive;<br />They damn well owe it to me.<br /><br />"I've got mine!" say the disabled.<br />I worked hard all those years;<br />My bad back is their fault.<br />They damn well owe it to me.<br /><br />"I've got mine!" say the single moms.<br />I can't work and tend my babies.<br />That bastard left me nothing.<br />They damn well owe it to me.<br /><br />"I've got mine!" say the food stamp recipients.<br />It's not my fault that prices are sky high.<br />I have to feed my family somehow.<br />They damn well owe it to me.<br /><br />And while we're at it,<br />What happened to "freedom from want?"<br />Why do we have to pay for medical care?<br />Why isn't college tuition free?<br /><br />Don't tell us about the national debt.<br />Don't tell us about the budget deficit.<br />That's someone else's problem.<br />I'm only concerned about my finances.<br /><br />So tax the rich, like the fellow said.<br />That's everybody who has more than me.<br />They should have to get along <br />With a whole lot less, like me.Patrick Kimballhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09880477052032384770noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-759178030677978044.post-75948504908093246782012-12-14T09:50:29.809-08:002012-12-14T09:50:29.809-08:00The trouble is that these people do not understand...The trouble is that these people do not understand basic economics. They were not taught it in school.<br /><br />David KatzakianUnknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07218931330153862059noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-759178030677978044.post-43777178429023081382012-12-14T09:26:50.785-08:002012-12-14T09:26:50.785-08:00I will have other questions probably later, but on...I will have other questions probably later, but one quick question first: <br /><br />The power of the federal government is, and always will be, MONEY. If a state doesn't want to do something the federal government wants it to do, they cut their highway funds, etc. If conservatives cannot muster enough voters nationwide (the same way unions, minority groups, etc.) to the polls to elect a realistic group of politicians to stop/cut spending, etc., then not only will we go over the "fiscal cliff" (if we haven't already, as you said), but we will see the complete collapse of the federal government. With another 4 years of Obama, I'm not sure how we can avoid it. <br /><br />(Amazing to think that Obama, with the help of low-information voters and his leftist thugs, will have accomplished what two World Wars, a Civil War, a Cold War, and a Great Depression could not...but that's another topic.)<br /><br />My question is this: When will we know for certain that the federal government has collapsed? Sure, long before it does, we'll have seniors being declined Medicare reimbursements, federal workers will be removed from their offices when they default on their leases, etc. <br /><br />While it is true that oftentimes the snows begin to fall before the leaves, and we are seeing signs of desperation already. But when will we know that the federal era is over? <br /><br />I can see in my minds-eye right now a large press conference at Jefferson's home led by Rick Perry, Bobby Jindal, Bob McDonald and other governors from red states issuing a statement saying that they will no longer force the residents of their states to pay federal income taxes (by then at astronomical rates) or any other federal tax, and that from now on, state revenues will stay in the states. <br /><br />Is this the moment when we know that the federal government as we have known it is no more? <br /><br />By then, the IRS won't exist anymore because the federal government will have failed to pay their employees. Obama would have no other choice but to send the army (it will be amazing how pro-military he will be by then!), but would the commanders do it since the forced collection of tax revenues is outside their usual charter. The Reformed Reinhardthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12117578058106157744noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-759178030677978044.post-75064071114342307212012-12-13T23:04:14.041-08:002012-12-13T23:04:14.041-08:00I am 80, and I have seen this coming for 50 yrs. ...I am 80, and I have seen this coming for 50 yrs. For several yrs I have been asking my "progressive" (socialists, to me) friends & relatives "But what about your children & grandchildren...can't you see what this will mean for them?"<br />They never have an answer, BUT THEY DO NOT CHANGE THEIR MINDS. Some of them live very conservative & responsible lives, otherwise.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10906980382835490734noreply@blogger.com