America Will Soon Owe More Than Its Citizens Are Worth

Economy, Federal Reserve Bank, Inflation, Political Economy

I’ve frequently warned about America’s overall debt: “Government debt is $70 trillion: $9 trillion plus the unfunded liabilities of ‘Medicare, pension, and Social Security programs.‘”

David M. Walker, former Comptroller General of the United States, is one of the few power brokers who’s been sounding the same alarm. The Peter G. Peterson Foundation, with which Walker is now affiliated, reported:

“NEW YORK (Dec. 15, 2008) – The sum of America’s liabilities and other financial commitments now exceeds the collective net worth of its citizens, the Peter G. Peterson Foundation has calculated using the latest official data. Growth in the government’s unfunded promises for social insurance programs such as Medicare, combined with a drop in Americans’ net worth due in part by lower home equity values, is causing this unprecedented milestone.”

“The Foundation’s calculations are based primarily on the new consolidated federal financial statements as of September 30, 2008 which do not reflect the additional toll taken by more recent market declines, bailout packages, and record October and November deficits. The financial statements show approximately $56.4 trillion in debts, liabilities, and unfunded promises for Medicare and Social Security versus the Federal Reserve’s estimate a total household net worth of $56.5 trillion, both as of September 30, 2008.”

“Given more recent developments, it’s clear that America now owes more than its citizens are worth,” said Foundation President and CEO David M. Walker. ‘Passing this shocking milestone highlights the need for President-elect Obama and the next Congress not only to turn the economy around and boost consumer confidence, but to put a process in place that will lead to tough choices getting made to strengthen the government’s financial condition once the economy begins growing again.'”

[SNIP]

Rome is burning. But nobody is stopping the arsonists.

Courtesy of the same source comes the Real National Debt:

Total Federal Burden
$56,400,000,000,000

Your Share
$184,000

The Stupid Party Needs A Bigger Tent (Or, A Bigger Tin-Foil Hat)

Intelligence, Liberty, Republicans, Ron Paul

Listen to the clowns vying for the chairmanship of the RNC, as they pule about “reaching out” to Ron Paul supporters:

Aren’t they stupid? Deeply and profoundly stupid.

One after the other, each huckster proceeds to misconstrue the Ron Paul Revolution. Each sounds off, as dumbly as any female on The View, about the passion and the personality that united Paulites.

Wrong: Ron Paul’s appeal, as he has always insisted perceptively, was in the ideas of liberty. Paul, an impish and ascetic gentleman, is hardly a larger-than-life, expansive personality.

But his ideas are.

Paul’s unequivocal commitment to these eternal verities has made him the legend he has become. His supporters, myself included, gravitated to liberty as articulated by the Thomas Jefferson of our times.

Not one of these RNC asses with ears understood, or articulated, this simple fact.

Pardon Me, Mr. President, I Was Just Following Orders

Bush, Criminal Injustice, Homeland Security, IMMIGRATION, Iraq, Law

The White House has confirmed that President Bush is considering a request that an eastern Idaho soldier convicted of killing an unarmed Iraqi receive a pardon, the soldier’s father says.

Didn’t I tell you, in “Take this, Mr. President, For Ramos and Compean,” that a soldier shooting up civilians in Iraq has more of a shot at a pardon than Ramos and Compean, who grazed the derriere of a Mexican drug dealer?

So I did.

Sgt. Evan Vela, a 24-year-old Army sniper assigned to Fort Richardson, was convicted in February and sentenced to 10 years in prison for killing an unarmed Iraqi civilian who stumbled upon him and five other soldiers sleeping on May 11, 2007.

The president has already sent an encouraging note to Sgt. Evan.

Compean and Ramos defended a border Bush wants open.

Neocon-Style Social Engineering

Economy, Energy, Left-Liberalism And Progressivisim, Neoconservatism, Socialism, Taxation

However you slice it, what you have in Charles Krauthammer is a crypto-leftist. Here he proposes an elaborate tax scheme to shape consumer conduct. After all, that’s why we have know-it-alls like Krauthammer—to lead us toward the light:

[BLOVIATION BEGINS]

“Here is how it works. The simultaneous enactment of two measures: A $1 increase in the federal gasoline tax–together with an immediate $14 a week reduction of the FICA tax. Indeed, that reduction in payroll tax should go into effect the preceding week, so that the upside of the swap (the cash from the payroll tax rebate) is in hand even before the downside (the tax) kicks in.

The math is simple. The average American buys roughly 14 gallons of gasoline a week. The $1 gas tax takes $14 out of his pocket. The reduction in payroll tax puts it right back. The average driver comes out even, and the government makes nothing on the transaction. (There are, of course, more drivers than workers–203 million vs. 163 million. The 10 million unemployed would receive the extra $14 in their unemployment insurance checks. And the elderly who drive–there are 30 million licensed drivers over 65–would receive it with their Social Security payments.)

Revenue neutrality is essential. No money is taken out of the economy. Washington doesn’t get fatter. Nor does it get leaner. It is simply a transfer agent moving money from one activity (gasoline purchasing) to another (employment) with zero net revenue for the government. …”

[SNIP]

Incentivizing good behavior (“drive less and shift to fuel-efficient cars”), and penalizing bad is in the purview of the big, overweening neoconservative government. This has been the Bush mandate. And it’s of a piece with Obama’s impetus.

Hear it straight from the ass’s mouth: “The whole idea is to reward those who drive less and to disadvantage those who drive more. … we support such incentives because … Decreased oil consumption is a … desirable national good.”

Who is this Royal “We” you speak of, Krauthammer, you statist?

Inoculate yourself against the gaseous one with “The Goods On Gas.”