We admit that this is entirely anecdotal and that the Minnesota state government has only been shut down for a few days, but it is nevertheless enlightening to see that chaos doesn’t necessarily ensue when Medium Brother goes away.
The Minneapolis Star Tribune tells what’s happened in the Land of 10,000 Lakes when the state government shut down in a budget dispute between Republicans and Democrats:
Bob Gehlen had a whiskey and Coke in one hand, and a fistful of opinions on the state government shutdown in the other.
“I think we ought to shut down the government for a year,” said the former Marine, standing at the Elks Lodge bar on bingo night. “It really hasn’t had any impact.”
It hasn’t happened since the Great Depression, but we now find ourselves in a situation where the U.S. government is handing out more benefits to households than they are taking from them in taxes. If your first thought is that, of course, that’s because we aren’t taxing those damn rich people enough, please leave now, you’re causing a foul smell on my blog.
Elizabeth MacDonald of Fox News has penned a clear piece of work today that presents the big picture problem of just how far off-track our once proud capitalist America has gone.
In 2010, households were taxed $2.2 trillion, but raked in $2.3 trillion of goodies, from the usual big ticket programs like Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, to one-time programs like stimulus spending, to supporting illegal aliens, to thousands of absurd giveaways you probably don’t even know about like millions of cell phones free from the government for the poor and illegal. An estimated 59% of the 308.7 million Americans get at least one federal benefit, according to the Census Bureau, based on 2009 data.
What’s really disturbing is that the handouts have been growing, and people are becoming more and more addicted to their programs. Get a load of this statistic: since 2007, 79% of household growth is attributed to government cash handouts. Just to be clear, yes, I am talking about the United States of America, not Europe who is now going in the other direction.
I’ve been absent from posting the last few days because, among other things, I’ve been busy putting together my taxes, a completely unproductive task that takes many days to a week or two to complete each year. Imagine my joy yesterday as I was going through my records, cursing the government, when our Campaigner-in-Chief came on TV to tell us how we can Win the Future by raising taxes on “the rich.”
As usual, President Obama’s speech had little of substance, was full of contempt and surprise, surprise, class warfare. Obama, who’s always in campaign mode, was probably at his best in a long time because he’s found a fight he truly can sink his teeth into — taxation versus spending cuts — with the issue so clear, at the fortuitous time of the kickoff of his reelection drive.
I tried to post something after watching it, but I filled with so much hate (yes, that is the proper word) for this man that could not get the right words out. Later on, I tuned into watched my favorite segment of the day on cable news, Bret Baier’s Special Report’ All Star Panel. In particular, I tune in for Charles Krauthammer. Once again, he didn’t disappoint. In describing Obama’s deficit speech, Krauthammer took the words out of my mouth, but so much more eloquently:
Of course we now know that we’ve been leaderless since January 20, 2009. But our MIA president insists on continuing to remind us. A couple weeks ago, he left congress a note that he’d started a war kinetic military action and left for Rio. And today we find ourselves on the verge of a government shutdown, and he’s off to two unessential campaign stops speaking engagements. The Washington Post has the story:
A fiery President Obama insisted Tuesday that if he and congressional leaders couldn’t reach a deal to avert a government shutdown, “I want a meeting again tomorrow here at the White House.”
“I will invite the same folks that we invited today,” he added. “And if that doesn’t work, we’ll invite them again the day after that. And I will have my entire team available to work through the details of getting a deal done.”
Obama’s team may not include the president himself. Despite the impasse in Washington over federal spending, the president as of early Wednesday was scheduled to give two speeches outside of Washington: one on energy in the Philadelphia suburbs, then another Wednesday evening to a group of black political activists in New York.
Paul Ryan said it best: ““We don’t need a good politician. We need a strong leader.” Here he is, one of the only leaders in Washington:
Self-proclaimed socialist Lawrence O’Donnell showed up on MSNBC telling everyone to chill — relax, be happy — there is no rush to try and fix our $14 trillion dollar debt. We can just keep on doing what we’re doing (spending) for two more years; what’s important is making sure Obama gets in for a second term, and then he’ll fix it for us. Yeah, he’ll fix it for us good.
Wisconsin Republican Representative and Chairman of the House Budget Committee Paul Ryan unveils his budget proposal today, and finally, damn it, someone is getting serious. His budget calls for slashing the debt by $4.4 trillion over the next 10 years. The House Budget Committee has posted this video called “The Path to Prosperity” in which Ryan visually walks you through our fiscal problems.
Get ready for the charges of the GOP wanting to kill children and seniors, and pollute the earth. Oh wait, they already started last week.
The government could shut down! The government could shut down! Okay, I hear you. Now, please DO IT. I can’t think of anything better. And the American people are just fine with this. For the first time ever, a Rasmussen poll finds that a majority of voters don’t mind shutting down the government if it leads to more tax cuts.
Did you hear that Republicans? Don’t let Harry Reid and Chucky Schumer scare you out of standing up for spending cuts, in the magnitude that was promised during last November. Don’t worry that the democrats they’ve planned, synchronized and aimed their fabricated name calling of “Extremist” at you. If that’s Extremist, 57% of us are extremist.
This budget, this debt, this deficit, these are what are extremist.
A majority of voters are fine with a partial shutdown of the federal government if that’s what it takes to get deeper cuts in federal government spending.
A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 57% of Likely U.S. Voters think making deeper spending cuts in the federal budget for 2011 is more important than avoiding a partial government shutdown. Thirty-one percent (31%) disagree and say avoiding a shutdown is more important. Twelve percent (12%) are not sure. (To see survey question wording, click here.)
DON’T WUSS OUT Republicans, or 2012 will make 2010 look mild, and you’ll be out of a job.
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) yesterday found our fiscal red ink worse than expected. It turns out amount of debt President Obama’s budget will create in the coming decade will be $2.7 trillion more than expected.
“For the 10-year projection period as a whole, the deficit that would result under the President’s proposals – $9.5 trillion, or 4.8 percent of GDP – would be $2.7 trillion greater than the cumulative deficit projected under current law,” CBO’s report explained.
In concrete terms, that means today’s public debt of $14.2 trillion will balloon to $23.7 trillion by the year 2021. For each American who pays taxes, that represents a $260,000 liability. The jumbo-sized deficits have a real impact on taxpayers who will end up spending more of their money on interest. That’s the case under Mr. Obama’s budget, where interest payments nearly quadruple from $260 billion to $931 billion a year in 2021. That means 3.9 percent of the nation’s entire productive output will be devoted not to funding present government operations, but to covering the excess spending of an administration long past.
Another stopgap budget measure by Congress yesterday gives the government another three weeks of funding. Still no political will for a long term solution. Entitlements are the main problem and here is Boston University’s professor Laurence Kotlikoff on the huge cost of Obamacare,
Takeaway quote: “We are bankrupt today. He set that up in a way that can be tremendously expensive, and he also did nothing to stop the explosion of costs in Medicare and Medicaid.”
Here’s an idea to close the deficit: What if we get rid of national defense, interstate highways, national parks, homeland security, and all other discretionary programs. Just rip them right out of the budget. Yeah, that ought to do it.
Actually, no. It would not do it. You see, even if we didn’t spend a penny on discretionary programs, we’d still spend more than we take in this year. That’s how effed up we are.
Peter Schiff, as always, gives you the real take on things, this time on Obama’s budget and the German takeover of the New York Stock Exchange. Schiff references his radio show, which you can find here.
President Barack Obama’s proposed budget for 2012 outlines $3.7 trillion in spending during the next fiscal year and $8 trillion in new debt over the next decade. All without even a notion of how to pay for any of it. We’re sunk.
Here are some new records we U.S. citizens can be proud of this morning: Budget for 2012: $3.7 billion, the biggest one-year jump in debt in history, or nearly $2 trillion in a single year. Deficit: $1.65 trillion, 11% of the $14 trillion economy, the largest since 1945, Debt: $15.476 trillion by Sept. 30, the end of the fiscal year, to reaching 102.6 percent of GDP — the largest by far since WWII. If you want to read the budget yourself and see how we close (or beyond?) we are to the Greece, Ireland, Spain, Italy and Portugal, you can get a short 216 page PDF here.
And nothing that can save us is coming our of Washington. Nothing.
Hold on just a gash darn minute. President Obama has been taking credit for extending the tax cuts. AP Reports It’s all lip service, as usual. In his new budget, released today, he resurrects them for “the wealthy” (those who create jobs).
The plan unveiled Monday includes tax increases for oil, gas and coal producers, investment managers and U.S.-based multinational corporations. The plan would allow Bush-era tax cuts to expire at the end of 2012 for individuals making more than $200,000 and married couples making more than $250,000. Wealthy taxpayers would have their itemized deductions limited starting in 2012, including deductions for mortgage interest, charitable contributions and state and local taxes.
Just last month, Illinois lawmakers increased personal income tax rates on its citizens by a “temporary” whopping 66 percent. The new revenue is supposed to balance the state’s annual budget and let officials begin chipping away at the backlog of unpaid bills.
R. Arthur Beckles: Barack Obama is President of all Americans, not just of African-Americans! It’s difficult for all working class Americans – black, white, brown, etc. African-Americans who don’t want to vote for Obama, can feel free to do so. But do they think that their lot...
keith: wow. Whos got the bigger stick, My @!(k is bigger than yours, your country my country, my countries poor is richer than yours. the truth of it is that in the end the civilians are going to feel the brunt of this economic downfall. i live in the U.S. and there are over 200 multi...
Anonymous: I agree with many of the above. I know people from both the US and Europe that are on disability because of health problems and the one person in Europe is receiving much more help than are the US citizens.
Sunday: BTW, before you ask why two adults only received $240 a week for unemployment, just remember that you can only receive unemployment if you were laid off. If you were fired or quit, you cannot receive unemployment. In my case, I got ill, and FMLA only applies to people who have worked at a...
EriktheRed: I like how it’s “fortunate that the crisis is confined to the E.U.”- what’s unemployment in the U.S. right now? How about the millions of foreclosures you’ve had already? Tent cities, anyone? Deficit spending at $3.5 bn a DAY? HMM!
David, Self Defense Retailer: Really? Why in the world are they doing that for Gitmo detainees? A whole soccer field? Outrageous! Maybe the EU really won’t last.
David, Stun Gun Supplier: It’s the next bubble. I wonder what Romney has to say about this. Obama’s made himself clear in his typical way. It’ll probably be worse than housing when it does.
See I told you: Who didn’t see this coming . Put a communist organizer in the White house and just wait. To bad the American populace lacks true intellect or is it just that the dummies out number the smart 20 to 1. Probably the latter. Obvious who controlls the vote with those kind of...
James: After a seriously obese person has had fat removal procedures, his/her flesh sags where excess fat used to be. World population should never have risen this high. It will be reduced. Through lower birth rates; or by more traditional means: war, disease, famine, cannabalism. I’m not a...
JoAnn: I have a real problem with Obama borrowing money to send to Greece when so many people in this country who have lost long term jobs,lost homes,living on the street, little or no food. I vote to take Obama and his family if they want to go and DROP them on a desert island some where just so...
Arkansas Slim: Update. Oil hit 105 per barrel yesterday, 2 20 12. Gas US Avg => 3.50 per gallon. Cloward Piven Theory of Economics: Tipping point of US Electorate => 51%. Nevada odds for Obama RE Election 6/10 on thier sport boards. EU/Greece set to collapse, dominos arranged. Socialistic...
kkl: America is now turning mediocre no more fun no more trips or vacations 100 bucks to fill gas tank and pasta and ramen noodles for life for usa there is no more hope no more fun just work go home work go home fill up gas tank eat shit and work no more fun thanks for nothing nobama i hope you...
Chris Marshall: Hi Janice, I just wanted to know, how would you be able to get a good investment out of the Whole Life Insurance if it costs really high? The projections usually given out by “Financial Advisors” that 12% is the usual earnings specially if it is invested in TSX or NYX...
Agent: Walt Disney funded Disney World by using the cash value in his whole life policy. You can’t say that was a mistake. Buy term for a specific need/period and buy whole for a permanent need or if you need your life insurance past age 65.
Forex Agent: As a financial advisor what I tell clients is that the main purpose of a life insurance policy is to provide a death benefit. Whether term, some sort of permanent life insurance, or a combination of the two is most appropriate depends on a number of factors including the...
Cindy: Before long they will, if not already, invade and keep track of everything you do including the privacy of your own home exploiting you and demanding that you worship them. You will be powerless to control it so you will have two choices…… ;kiss butt or commit suicide.
Space Cadet: don’t be rediculous. Glass Steagall is a red hearing. This problem is much farther reaching, from before the Nixon Administration. He took the US off the gold standard which was the pillar of the US dollar, and the reason it is the world currancy. He did that because the US...
Hervy: Very good advice, same as I give when talking to people. Clark Howard and Dave Ramsey are both good sources of information that is inline with what is written here at EC. Another good website that i tell people to go to in order to get an easy calculation of how much insurance to buy is...
BenP: This is part of the cannon fodder that will be used against Obama in 2012 and his administration. It’s not that he is horrible (he is) or worse than any other President (about the same), its that examples like these can be used to show the devil you know has got to be worse than the...
Lauren: Personally I think you sound like an idiot. The NIH spent 55,000 to promote a vacine that does not exist and, one of which, they would not fund to discover in the first place(yes, it’s ture look it up). If someone lives in an area with a lot of storms they already understand the...
Matt USA: I know I’m a little late to this discussion, but I think that the economic collapse scenario has changed somewhat in recent weeks. It appears that Europe will go first, followed by the United States who has gambled and lost on a TARP style European bailout. The real question for...
Kim: Marcy, Rep. Alan Grayson said in the attached youtube video in 2010 that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac both own stock in MERS. How much stock and when did they own it? Would this explain their current actions? Did they move loans out of MERS and into Fannie Mae for the tax payers to bail out?...
China: @Serban Enache , You Are Wrong We are In Lot Of Trouble and you Know This , Starting In 2012 We will have Many Many Different Problems , We The Government Is Paying For All This Building , We Know Our Own Citizens Can’t Afford This Type Of Live Style , but we are building it Any way...
City On a Shining Hill: “The problem with socialism, i.e., the failed economic system being adopted by so many nations in the world today, is that in funding entitlement programs voters want in their politicians and having governments fund retirement, health care, education, etc, is that...
Rider I: How the US has historically used mineral rushes to get it out of Deficits and stop foreign economic take over. In the US’s historical past the Druids have used and impressed upon the US leadership to use mineral resources to stop economic warfare, along with military take over....
Financial Collapse: Everyone needs to get this correct… (REPOST ON TWITTER, FACEBOOK) America is controlled by the 3 privately owned states (district of columbia, the city of london, and the vatican.) Each has it’s own flag, pays no taxes and has it’s own laws. All 3 are part of...
Tm Newman: I graduated with my B.A. in psych/soc a year ago. Interned teaching math and English to fourth and seventh graders. The school shut down due to lack of funding. All the kids got shipped off to public school. I can’t find a position in my field, and there are no teaching jobs in...
hefsmaster: Been a slow couple weeks since the downgrade. News wise that is. But it gave me more time to coin a phrase. You’re a true libertarian when you piss everybody off. Which explains why everybody thinks were nuts and relegated to being a third wheel in politics. Well call me and...
PeacefulPatriot: The worst is yet to come in the realm of austere measures to keep up appearances on the global markets. The truth though is quite obvious to the sane members of society, we have reached a break point and it is the Systemic collapse of the post-industrial globalization bubble. All...
Serban Enache: Pearl Harbos was orchestrated as an operation years before WW2, by the British empire in conjunction with Imperial Japan. The japanese elite didn’t surrender even when they did not have any hope of wining, let alone after Hiroshima, though I don’t agree with the two...
hefsmaster: No, despite these guys obvious failings. He is exactly right. You think japan would have attacked us without any allies. Pearl harbor is an effect from a cause. Without hitler, point is mute. By the way lee, you haven’t copied anything in a while. You a congressman?
Serban Enache: This Larry Summers has some nerve. Is he trying to say that Hitler attacked Pearl Harbor?
Gordon Shumway: Two questions: 1. Why is it a felony for an individual to print money, but evidence of a keen insight into the arcane world of macroeconomics when a bankster does the same thing, only on a vastly greater scale? 2. Since those who are running the Fed and Treasury are supposed to be...
tim: i for one will not pay a single dr bill my sickness is caused by our government let’s take it back already raped and brusied lady liberty is not what she stood for so many years lets scrap the statue that means so little any more freedom is prison in america try being disabled for 20...
tim: well about time someone in power noticed what wool us seniors have to face daily after food shopping go to my drug store same tricks and and cost is up 25 percent then dr co-pays up another 20 % what will we do when money social security doesnt go far enough to keep us healthy
Space Cadet: Does it matter how we got here? The people in charge ‘think’ they are so smart that they will finesse our way out, while staying in power and making a ton of money for their pals. We will be left to pick up the tab and clean up the mess, as usual. My neighbors just got...