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A Fiscal ‘Tsunami’ - The government's top watchdog warns of a coming catastrophe.

danarhea

danarhea

Slayer of the DP Newsbot
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Fiat money, and the Neocons' reckless spending is about to cause a very deep recession, and we are probably already past the tipping point. You know, it took centuries for the Roman Empire to fall. Bush has accomplished the same thing for America in less than 8 years. Mission accomplished.

I have to ask what dumba$$ thought up the idea that we could print money out of nothing and get away with it? It has been tried before, and everytime it has been tried, it has failed miserably. As has been said many times, those who choose to ignore history.........

Are illiterate buttheads America never needed. What the hell were they thinking? That Jesus would come down and restore the dollar? I guess the Devil is not only in the details, but in the harebrained idea itself.

Article is here.
 
Hey hey hey now, what are you trying to say? That the government is irresponsible and no longer beholden to the people, that they pander only to the corporate and wallstreet friends? Pfft...what's that all about? Why we're out there spreading democracy and apple pie to all we can, you just need to stop questioning the motives of the aristocracy and go with the flow man. Everyone knows the government is here to protect us and apparently anyone else whom could offer vested interest in the friends of the politicians. Just move along, there's nothing to see here.
 
danarhea said:
Fiat money, and the Neocons' reckless spending is about to cause a very deep recession, and we are probably already past the tipping point. You know, it took centuries for the Roman Empire to fall. Bush has accomplished the same thing for America in less than 8 years. Mission accomplished.

I have to ask what dumba$$ thought up the idea that we could print money out of nothing and get away with it? It has been tried before, and everytime it has been tried, it has failed miserably. As has been said many times, those who choose to ignore history.........

Are illiterate buttheads America never needed. What the hell were they thinking? That Jesus would come down and restore the dollar? I guess the Devil is not only in the details, but in the harebrained idea itself.

Article is here.
Click to expand...

I fail to see how is it that fiat money is the cause of this? Seems to me it is mostly fiscal irreponsibility of 3 of our last 4 presidents. Govt's can certainly overcommit and borrow with a commodity standard as well. The problem isn't that the Govt has printed money, it is that the Govt has spent more than it has taken in through taxes by huge margins since 1981, with the exception of a few years in the late 90s. It is also a problem that the benefits set for retirees are simply too rich.

I don't see how those phenonema can be blamed on fiat currency at all. Same thing can happen with a commodity standard of money. Except then you are really ****ed and have no tools with deal with it.
 
danarhea said:
Fiat money, and the Neocons' reckless spending is about to cause a very deep recession, and we are probably already past the tipping point. You know, it took centuries for the Roman Empire to fall.
Click to expand...

Fiat money, as Iriemon correctly pointed out, has absolutely nothing to do with it. Iriemon is also correct that the problem goes back thru at least 3 or 4 presidents, all of whom made half-hearted, ineffectual efforts to correct the imbalances in entitlement spending that are threatening, as pointed out by GAO head David Walker in the article you cited. The first really serious efforts at reform were back in the Reagan administration, with the formation of a task force charged with making recommendations. Which they did. Only to have their recommendations so watered down by political considerations that they were largely ineffective. (BTW, notice that Walker said absolutely nothing about a fiat money system.)

There is a considerable amount of blame accruing to all of us voters, as well. Over the last decades, we have consistently voted for representatives that not only protect current entitlement benefits, but that expand those benefits as well. It has been very much a case of "I'm all for entitlement reform, except when it reduces my entitlements."
 
Did any of you even read or comprehend the article? The problem is medicare and Social security, not discretionary spending, not printing money.
 
Sounds like the concept of fiat money and its inherent danger is widely misunderstood in this forum.
BTW shout out to dana....long time no see.

Ten thousand years of recorded history show two things:

1) ALL empires collapse.

2) Fiat money is the tool by which empire builders finance their reckless misadventures and the tool by which they manage to escape the consequences each and every time said empires collapse.
Why? It's simple. With fiat money the empire masters don't have to pay....WE the people do.
 
Re: A Fiscal ‘Tsunami’ - The government's top watchdog warns of a coming catastrophe.

This guy was starting to make some sense until I got to page five, I don’t drink or smoke,(used to do both).Mandatory testing? Its not going to fly.

What are the perverse incentives right now?

Well, right now, no matter how much you smoke, no matter how much you drink, no matter how much you eat, you get the same taxpayer subsidy.

Right. So what would be the alternative?

There could be a risk-based premium. See, one of the things we have to debate … there is a difference between whether or not you ought to be eligible for a program and how much the taxpayers ought to subsidize you. Those are fundamentally different things.

How would you know, for instance, how much somebody drinks?

Well, there are lab tests you could take.

But does the government want to get into the business of conducting blood tests on people to see what kind of lifestyle they are leading?

You know, we are kind of drilling down into the weeds here. My view is there are certain types of services that I think we are going to need to make sure that everybody has. Let me give you possible examples: inoculations against infectious diseases; certain wellness and preventative-care services that are clearly cost-beneficial; protection against financial ruin due to unexpected catastrophic illness or accident (while avoiding heroic measures), and guaranteed ability to purchase additional insurance at group rates should you desire to do so. That is the basic and essential package. Then you have to say, "Well, how are you going to price it?" That gets to a whole range of other issues. Does it make sense for everybody to be subsidized to the same extent, irrespective of his or her means?
 
And here it is, apx one year later, and it looks like Newsweek's predictions all came true. Some of us saw it coming, bought silver and a little gold, moved our portfolio out of areas of liability and protected our assets. Many did not.

Danarhea, shout out and a tip of the hat to "You say it here, it comes out there".

Jeff H in Occupied TX
 
oldreliable67 said:
Fiat money, as Iriemon correctly pointed out, has absolutely nothing to do with it. Iriemon is also correct that the problem goes back thru at least 3 or 4 presidents, all of whom made half-hearted, ineffectual efforts to correct the imbalances in entitlement spending that are threatening, as pointed out by GAO head David Walker in the article you cited. The first really serious efforts at reform were back in the Reagan administration, with the formation of a task force charged with making recommendations. Which they did. Only to have their recommendations so watered down by political considerations that they were largely ineffective. (BTW, notice that Walker said absolutely nothing about a fiat money system.)

There is a considerable amount of blame accruing to all of us voters, as well. Over the last decades, we have consistently voted for representatives that not only protect current entitlement benefits, but that expand those benefits as well. It has been very much a case of "I'm all for entitlement reform, except when it reduces my entitlements."
Click to expand...

I would be happy to take a hit on my SS, if I got a compensating tax break on my IRA withdrawals. Warren Buffett pays 15% on his capital gains, my IRA withdrawals get taxed at a much higher rate....
The rules are always stacked in favor of the rich....
 
oldreliable67 said:
There is a considerable amount of blame accruing to all of us voters, as well. Over the last decades, we have consistently voted for representatives that not only protect current entitlement benefits, but that expand those benefits as well. It has been very much a case of "I'm all for entitlement reform, except when it reduces my entitlements."
Click to expand...
Actually, over the "last decades" (I assume you mean since Nixon) we have consistently voted for the party that claims to be fiscally conservative but have ACTUALLY been unconservative with our tax money and increased the size of government to make the increase in spending. But election after election they some how manage to fool the sheeple into thinking that those tax and spend liberals want to burn your flag, take your gun, give your money to the poor, kill babies and make this a godless nation. So what have we gotten ACTUALLY gotten out of the last 40 years of republican rule? Looks like the only time that has been the right direction for the country has been the 8 years of Clinton. Nixon screwed us, Reagan screwed us, Bush 41... not so horrible as republicans go, and Bush 43 has REALLY screwed us.

Go vote republican... :doh
 
Looks like David was an optimist.
Hey Dana, you still around?
 
I am fearful for the U.S. economy.
 
danarhea said:
Fiat money, and the Neocons' reckless spending is about to cause a very deep recession, and we are probably already past the tipping point. You know, it took centuries for the Roman Empire to fall. Bush has accomplished the same thing for America in less than 8 years. Mission accomplished.

I have to ask what dumba$$ thought up the idea that we could print money out of nothing and get away with it? It has been tried before, and everytime it has been tried, it has failed miserably. As has been said many times, those who choose to ignore history.........

Are illiterate buttheads America never needed. What the hell were they thinking? That Jesus would come down and restore the dollar? I guess the Devil is not only in the details, but in the harebrained idea itself.

Article is here.
Click to expand...

Fiat money I certainly agree with. To set the blame on one party of the other I disagree with. Our current economic woes can be trace back to the New Deal and very UN-conservative fiscal policies that followed.
 
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