[Leanan]

A 'fiscal hurricane' on the horizon

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'T')o hear Walker, the nation's top auditor, tell it, the United States can be likened to Rome before the fall of the empire. Its financial condition is "worse than advertised," he says. It has a "broken business model." It faces deficits in its budget, its balance of payments, its savings — and its leadership.

[Cynus]

It's nothing more tax cuts and illegal immigrants won't be able to handle. Tax cuts and illegal immigrants (low wages, no benefits, but pay taxes) is our economic model right now.

[Leanan]

Immigration, legal and otherwise, is very much a part of our economic model. Our current system is a Ponzi scheme that relies on constant growth, and without immigration, our population growth would be as stagnant as that of many European countries. Forget all the blather about different labor laws, different tax codes, freer markets, etc. The real reason the U.S. has had stronger growth than Europe is we have more immigration. Immigrants not only increase the population by entering the country, they tend to have larger families for 3-4 generations after arriving. More people, buying more stuff, year after year after year. It's the American way.

[Permanently_Baffled]

So with a forecasted $11.2 trillion of debt, and increasing by upto $ 1 trillion per year, I wonder how the US will fund all these up and coming resource wars......


Imagine the US having to borrow from the Chinese to go to war with them, now that would be a bizarre situation!!

[aahala]

I agree with the previous posts. The US fiscal picture really sucks.
And to think in 2000, the federal budget was more or less in balance.

In regard to illegals, particularly from Mexico, until a few months ago
my head was in the sand. I thought the issue was primarily the last
decade or two. I was dumb founded to learn the US had 4 or 5 periods
in the last 150 years we encouraged this, then when conditions changed
we tried to stop it and the process repeated itself.

[RdSnt]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Leanan', 'I')mmigration, legal and otherwise, is very much a part of our economic model. Our current system is a Ponzi scheme that relies on constant growth, and without immigration, our population growth would be as stagnant as that of many European countries. Forget all the blather about different labor laws, different tax codes, freer markets, etc. The real reason the U.S. has had stronger growth than Europe is we have more immigration. Immigrants not only increase the population by entering the country, they tend to have larger families for 3-4 generations after arriving. More people, buying more stuff, year after year after year. It's the American way.

[RdSnt]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Permanently_Baffled', '
')Imagine the US having to borrow from the Chinese to go to war with them, now that would be a bizarre situation!!

[BabyPeanut]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Cynus', 'I')t's nothing more tax cuts and illegal immigrants won't be able to handle. Tax cuts and illegal immigrants (low wages, no benefits, but pay taxes) is our economic model right now.

[hull3551]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('aahala', '.')..to learn the US had 4 or 5 periods in the last 150 years we encouraged this, then when conditions changed we tried to stop it and the process repeated itself.

[dukey]

i would be more worried about the balance of payments and the enormous budget defficit tbh

[TITAN]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Permanently_Baffled', 'S')o with a forecasted $11.2 trillion of debt, and increasing by upto $ 1 trillion per year, I wonder how the US will fund all these up and coming resource wars......

Imagine the US having to borrow from the Chinese to go to war with them, now that would be a bizarre situation!!

[Leanan]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'S')o, just like in Europe, it's blame in all on the immigrants stealling jobs from good white folk?

[PrairieMule]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('hull3551', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('aahala', '.')..to learn the US had 4 or 5 periods in the last 150 years we encouraged this, then when conditions changed we tried to stop it and the process repeated itself.

[Hegel]

Europe's failure to counter massive illegal immigration will bring the whole EU-25 to its knee in a matter of months. Regardless of the looming Peak-Oil problem. USA may face the same fate in the near future.

Americans have at least the right to bear arms legally

[Eli]

If we do have an economic collapse illegal immigrants will be the first to get the boot.

A bunch of angry unemployed immigrants is not a good thing Europe is a testament to that.

And here in the US I think the political tied is already turning against illegals.

[elroy]

A matter of months ? Wow. Talk about pessimism.
I think the biggest problem with the EU is that we're not much of a union at all. The countries can rarely agree on anything. Plus the fact some nations like to wipe their ass with the Euro stability pact.

[Hegel]

Yes, Germany is going to tank even harder in the coming months. Speaking of the Euro stability pact, with Germany's social well-fare day-dream colliding with reality, there might be a chance to fullfill the pact in 2007 but not sooner than that.

[hull3551]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Leanan', '
')Please. I said the exact opposite. Our economic growth is due to immigration. Without the population growth immigrants have brought, we'd have a lot fewer jobs...

[Leanan]

I think immigration is going to be a huge issue here in the U.S. soon, if it isn't already.

Not sure if anything will be done about it, though. The GOP wants the cheap labor, and the Democrats count on recent immigrants as a big part of their base, so both parties are pro-immigration.

It might take a popular revolt, perhaps a third political party, before anything gets done. Unfortunately, any such movement is likely to have a strong racist tinge to it. Things could get nasty, even for legal immigrants.

[Hegel]

@hull3551

The social-wellfare system eats up 36€ Billion in Germany alone per year by supporting 5 million wellfare takers 2 millions of them of non-german origin. The german pension system has to shoulder 18 million pensioners right now. Only 32 out of 82 million people are employed. The current social-democratic day-dream of "giving is better than taking"-system can't be sustained any longer with-out risking an economic collapse. On the other hand, people are so use to social-wellfare hand-outs, changes in the social-wellfare system are usually greeted with major riots forcing the goverment to come up with a luke-warm compromise each time.

My guess and foremost fear is a Weimar Republik like collapse spiraling into some kind of temporal political vacuum eventually giving birth to a dictatorship. If that happens the EU-25 is toast. Things changes quickly overhere, remeber the sudden collaps of the Warsaw Pact and Soviet Communism.

@Leanan

You are right, tubo-like multi-culturism turned out to be a failure that ultimately leads into racist sentiments among ethnic groups. France clearly struggles with this failure right now, trying to corner the problems by force. Wasn't multi-culturism a peaceful idea in the first place?



What's in store for the all the other european "do-good" social-democratic wellfare states, if they can't hand-out money to the desperate foreign masses to please and ease them? In the light of Peak-Oil, I personally can't see a peaceful, law-abiding and friendly transition towards "true" multi-cultural society. I smell fascism raising its ugly head once again. May be Le Pen will be the next elected president of France? You the judge.