Ross Perot

[DaGip]

Wow! Ross Perot is still around! I was directed to this website that he has just put up.

It seems that many American billionaires are warning us about Americas financial future. For those of you that think that Ron Paul is a fruitcake, perhaps you will listen to a well known billionaire:

http://perotcharts.com/

Then if that doesn't suit ya, maybe you should consider watching the new movie I.O.U.S.A. :

http://www.iousathemovie.com/

[Curmudgeonx]

Wow! Ross Perot is still around! I was directed to this website that he has just put up.

It seems that many American billionaires are warning us about Americas financial future. For those of you that think that Ron Paul is a fruitcake, perhaps you will listen to a well known billionaire:

http://perotcharts.com/

Then if that doesn't suit ya, maybe you should consider watching the new movie I.O.U.S.A. :

http://www.iousathemovie.com/

And he has found the joys of PowerPoint and Excel!

[got tonkaed]

I perused that a few weeks ago i think. I know some people will discredit the source pretty quickly, but it doesnt take a genius to realize we are in a bit of a budgetary mess and are going to have to make some cuts.

The sad thing is, in their own ways, neither candidate really seems like they are going to be able to do that.

Mccain is planning on extending tax cuts that would make it rather impossible to begin servicing our debt. I havent seen many sources thus far which claim extending the tax cuts as being a smart budgetary move (at least not persuasive ones). On the flip side Obama, if he were able to put in some of the more costly programs he would like to attempt (ie the healthcare system) it would be very expensive as well.

[gdeangel]

I think there is really only one way out of this problem, and that isredistribution of wealth coupled with eradication of the notion of fundamental right to be a non-contributor to society. It's time to call a duck for what it is - a duck.

There is one central force driving America's financial crisis. I did not watch the Perot clip, but I did look at some of the slide and read some of the stuff on this site. I have to generally agree with what I think he's saying... the US's problem is government spending that exceeds the ability of the country to fund while retaining the private incentive for wealth accumulation that keeps the middle class working hard to become members of the upper-middle class. Take that away, and they become just like the equivalent of the renouned Italian broomsmen of the 20th century (I can say that, I'm Italian).

When the government sets out to borrower against its defecit, it has to borrower from foreign governments, either directly, or indirectly by soaking up private investment dollars that then forces American business to go abroad (e.g., to the sovereign wealth funds) for their capital. Once those foreigners hold dollar denominated debt, they have an incentive to prop up the dollar. An artificially strong dollar leads to trade defecits. Trade defecits lead to, ironically, more dollars in foreigners hands. (Now they have dollars and dollar denominated debt - they are in the water with both feet). And to get rid of some of that exposure to the dollar, they force the dollars back into the US by doubling down on the debt (i.e., cheap credit). So what looks like one thing - and over abundance of cheap credit driving excessive consumption - is in fact, due to not enough private capital available to fund both business growth and government deficits.

Solution = cut government budget defecit. How? You can't raise taxes, or you kill your economy and will have a serious loss of confidence in the American economy / dollar, leading to downward spiral. You can't cut spending, because there is a significant portion of the population that is underserved nearly to the point of bankrupting states with unmanageable prison populations and driving people to loot, carjack, and generally become indifferent to human life.

The answer... why not a socialist coup? The world focus on China suggests that there are certainly much worse possibilities.

[jay_a2j]

You can cut spending. There is so much unnecessary things you can cut. For starters Congressmen make almost $170,000 /year. Um, way to much for the little they do, most of the time they are out of session on vacation. Term Limits- this would ensure that the people elected to Congress/Senate would do what is in "the best interest of the people" (for a change). A massive push from welfare to workfare. Money for repaving roads that don't need it but in order to get the same Federal funds next year they have to spend it. Making lobbies illegal. There is so much that can be done to improve how this country is run. If any CEO was responsible for running up a 9.5 billion deficit, (like they would have a job that long) they would be out on their ear. Why do we allow our government to continue to mishandle our money? Republican or Democrat it doesn't matter. We will need something along the lines of another American Revolution to get this country back. And I don't see that ever happening.

[gdeangel]

You can cut spending. There is so much unnecessary things you can cut. For starters Congressmen make almost $170,000 /year. Um, way to much for the little they do, most of the time they are out of session on vacation. Term Limits- this would ensure that the people elected to Congress/Senate would do what is in "the best interest of the people" (for a change). A massive push from welfare to workfare. Money for repaving roads that don't need it but in order to get the same Federal funds next year they have to spend it. Making lobbies illegal. There is so much that can be done to improve how this country is run. If any CEO was responsible for running up a 9.5 billion deficit, (like they would have a job that long) they would be out on their ear. Why do we allow our government to continue to mishandle our money? Republican or Democrat it doesn't matter. We will need something along the lines of another American Revolution to get this country back. And I don't see that ever happening.

After 30+ years of entitlements, and an expansive Supreme Court interpretation of procedural due process, it is practically speaking impossible to cut spending in a meaningful way. You cannot privatize the military - cf.Blackwater and Haliburton. You can't eliminate most of the entitlement programs out there without significant negative social consequences, like no opportunities for the inner city except become gang bangers. You would end up with massive lawlessness, and the cost of maintaining someone in prison (or even executing them with all of the legal hurdles out there), means that once you hit the critical threshold of lawlessness, you will end up paying the same if not more than you were paying for entitlement programs just to lock people up in jail. For you see, jail is not what it used to be. It's not a great place to end up, particularly the first time because of the effects of having a record. But once your there, or have been there before, in many cases its not as scary a place as it traditionally has been throughout the history of modern society. And without that "fear" element, prisons are not a crime deterrent, no matter how much money is pumped into the prison system.

[PerkinsRooster]

The problem is no politician can get elected telling people what they don't want to hear. There is no chance in hell citizens of the USA will collect on their entitlements barring massive tax increases. So the country will go deeper into debt until the US dollar becomes worth less then the paper it's made of.