[americandream]

"European governments need to restructure their economies to restore the confidence of financial markets as the global economy moves into a new danger zone, World Bank president Robert Zoellick said yesterday..........

"I'm trying in a way that I can to start to condition both the political leadership and the general public you've got to do more than you're doing and you have to move more actively," he said.""

Speaks for itself

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/economy/news/ ... d=10745569

[Sixstrings]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', '[')img]http://media.nzherald.co.nz/webcontent/image/jpg/201130/SCCZEN_AP110718225612_220x147.JPG[/img]
Zoellick, a former US trade negotiator under President George W. Bush, said the debt crisis in Europe and the political quarrel in Washington over the US Government debt limit had "unleashed a wave of worry and uncertainty about the global economy" that created steep falls on share markets.

"I think over the past couple of weeks we've moved into a new danger zone," Zoellick told reporters in a joint press conference with Australian Treasurer Wayne Swan.

[americandream]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Sixstrings', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', '[')img]http://media.nzherald.co.nz/webcontent/image/jpg/201130/SCCZEN_AP110718225612_220x147.JPG[/img]
Zoellick, a former US trade negotiator under President George W. Bush, said the debt crisis in Europe and the political quarrel in Washington over the US Government debt limit had "unleashed a wave of worry and uncertainty about the global economy" that created steep falls on share markets.

"I think over the past couple of weeks we've moved into a new danger zone," Zoellick told reporters in a joint press conference with Australian Treasurer Wayne Swan.

[Sixstrings]

Well the article makes it sound like he's singling out Europe, I didn't see anything about the US:

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', '[')b]European governments need to restructure their economies to restore the confidence of financial markets as the global economy moves into a new danger zone, World Bank president Robert Zoellick said yesterday.

[prajeshbhat]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Sixstrings', 'W')ell the article makes it sound like he's singling out Europe, I didn't see anything about the US:

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', '[')b]European governments need to restructure their economies to restore the confidence of financial markets as the global economy moves into a new danger zone, World Bank president Robert Zoellick said yesterday.

[Cog]

Cut it all.

[Roy]

Has anyone ever wondered what the USGOV budget would look like if it were translated into terms most people could understand?

I found it on ticker forum and would like to share because I have never seen it presented this way on the MSM. If it were maybe some people would start to grasp the fact that you can't spend more than you make forever. And they would begin to understand the ridiculousness of the recent debt limit debate and the subsequent 'cuts'.

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'T')he U.S. Congress sets a federal budget every year in the trillions of dollars. Few people know how much money that is so we created a breakdown of federal spending in simple terms. Let's put the 2011 federal budget into perspective:

U.S. income: $2,170,000,000,000
Federal budget: $3,820,000,000,000
New debt: $ 1,650,000,000,000
National debt: $14,271,000,000,000
Recent budget cut: $ 38,500,000,000 (about 1 percent of the budget)

It helps to think about these numbers in terms that we can relate to. Therefore, let's remove eight zeros from these numbers and pretend this is the household budget for the fictitious Jones family.


Total annual income for the Jones family: $21,700
Amount of money the Jones family spent: $38,200
Amount of new debt added to the credit card: $16,500
Outstanding balance on the credit card: $142,710
Amount cut from the budget: $385

[Pops]

Average credit card debt per household with credit card debt: $15,799*

Average mortgage $200k (average home value $185k)

Mortgage, credit card, student loan, and auto loan debt $120k per household

Average income $50k ($32k average for the bottom 90%)


So as far as debt goes, I don't see the gov in any worse shape than the average guy. In fact if you could look at a balance sheet the gov is in much better shape since 80% of the public has zero equity in anything.

The cuts in the US have nothing to do with debt, they are about taxes. I think most politicians believe the economy will come back at some point, we'll jigger the rules around a little to bring down the debt and the game will continue.

But for now anyway the cuts are coming.

[prajeshbhat]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Roy', 'H')as anyone ever wondered what the USGOV budget would look like if it were translated into terms most people could understand?

I found it on ticker forum and would like to share because I have never seen it presented this way on the MSM. If it were maybe some people would start to grasp the fact that you can't spend more than you make forever. And they would begin to understand the ridiculousness of the recent debt limit debate and the subsequent 'cuts'.

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'T')he U.S. Congress sets a federal budget every year in the trillions of dollars. Few people know how much money that is so we created a breakdown of federal spending in simple terms. Let's put the 2011 federal budget into perspective:

U.S. income: $2,170,000,000,000
Federal budget: $3,820,000,000,000
New debt: $ 1,650,000,000,000
National debt: $14,271,000,000,000
Recent budget cut: $ 38,500,000,000 (about 1 percent of the budget)

It helps to think about these numbers in terms that we can relate to. Therefore, let's remove eight zeros from these numbers and pretend this is the household budget for the fictitious Jones family.


Total annual income for the Jones family: $21,700
Amount of money the Jones family spent: $38,200
Amount of new debt added to the credit card: $16,500
Outstanding balance on the credit card: $142,710
Amount cut from the budget: $385

[Sixstrings]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('prajeshbhat', 'E')ven if he wins, the republican party majority won't last 2 weeks if Ron Paul tells his party members to just suck it up and forget about their "allowance". I think the Republican party is only presenting him as their poster child because of his internet fame. He does have a large cult following. Escapist young followers who are looking for a convenient alternative to the process heavy politics of Washington D.C.

The other fallacy is that people are calling this deficit spending as keynesian stimulus. Back in the 1940s, the government ran deficits in order to run factories and build infrastructure. The deficits actually created jobs. This time the government is simply borrowing money from big banks to keep them solvent and to make the american home owners feel good about their property values.

[evilgenius]

I think it was Peter Drucker who said that after WWII, when the economy took off, was when the government should have started balancing. He cautioned that if they didn't then when they really needed to deficit spend in order to provide stimulus they might shoot blanks. He wasn't judging Keynes, far from it. He was actually saying that Keynesian economics works when used properly.

Last night I was at dinner having this discussion about what is going on. One person jumped on Obama. I said, 'so Obama dreamed up this crisis before he got into office', pretty much blaming it on Bush. Then a Republican shot back about how unfair that was. She was right. This mess goes back a long way. The people who started this are already dead.

[Sixstrings]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('evilgenius', 'I') think it was Peter Drucker who said that after WWII, when the economy took off, was when the government should have started balancing. He cautioned that if they didn't then when they really needed to deficit spend in order to provide stimulus they might shoot blanks. He wasn't judging Keynes, far from it. He was actually saying that Keynesian economics works when used properly.

[evilgenius]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Sixstrings', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('evilgenius', 'I') think it was Peter Drucker who said that after WWII, when the economy took off, was when the government should have started balancing. He cautioned that if they didn't then when they really needed to deficit spend in order to provide stimulus they might shoot blanks. He wasn't judging Keynes, far from it. He was actually saying that Keynesian economics works when used properly.

[KrellEnergySource]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Pops', '
')So as far as debt goes, I don't see the gov in any worse shape than the average guy. In fact if you could look at a balance sheet the gov is in much better shape since 80% of the public has zero equity in anything.

[americandream]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Cog', 'C')ut it all.

[Pops]

@ Brian

I'm not trivializing the debt, just adding some perspective.

But like I say, it isn't about cuts, it's about taxes. The wealthy are hoping to consolidate their gains before the proles get a clue and they know now that taxes are lower than they've been in 60 years they need to cut the spending to keep them low.

I mean maybe probably some passing minority actually enjoy seeing people hurting but they are inconsequential in number; sociopaths at worst but mostly just misanthropes. Those are surely small in number compared to the people who are simply greedy and can ignore the poor.

Like you say though, wealth inequality, peak oil and automation are going to take the system down sooner or later, the cuts just advance the inevitable.

[americandream]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Pops', '@') Brian

I'm not trivializing the debt, just adding some perspective.

But like I say, it isn't about cuts, it's about taxes. The wealthy are hoping to consolidate their gains before the proles get a clue and they know now that taxes are lower than they've been in 60 years they need to cut the spending to keep them low.

I mean maybe probably some passing minority actually enjoy seeing people hurting but they are inconsequential in number; sociopaths at worst but mostly just misanthropes. Those are surely small in number compared to the people who are simply greedy and can ignore the poor.

Like you say though, wealth inequality, peak oil and automation are going to take the system down sooner or later, the cuts just advance the inevitable.

[Cog]

Civilized society=Take from me=Give to the mooch class

[Hawkcreek]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Cog', 'C')ivilized society=Take from me=Give to the mooch class

[americandream]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Cog', 'C')ivilized society=Take from me=Give to the mooch class