debt as a percentage of GDP

[guido911]

Smoke a little paranoia inducement?

Nope. Just laughing at how the same 2-3 of you chime in sounding like clones of one another.

[Townsend]

Nope. Just laughing at how the same 2-3 of you chime in sounding like clones of one another.

As opposed to your loon-assed lone gunman routine?

You know how everyone just walks away from you in the middle of a conversation at a cocktail party Guido?  You've been lied to.  Yes, that is your fault and no, it doesn't happen to everyone else.

[heironymouspasparagus]

Townsend,
Ya gotta remember - guido is the president of his little CJ club.
And he wouldn't smoke some paranoia inducement - that would be wrong - and off-script.  More likely the designer booze dujour.
(That way if he did get caught driving, he could get 10 or 12 'passes' rather than jail time.)

Now, if there were some absinthe involved....

[Teatownclown]

Bernanke Tells Republicans: Stop Playing Chicken With the Debt Ceiling
"I fully understand the desire to use the debt limit deadline to force some necessary and difficult fiscal policy adjustments, but the debt limit is the wrong tool for that important job," he said. "Failing to raise the debt ceiling in a timely way would be self-defeating if the objective is to chart a course toward a better fiscal situation for our nation."

He also warns of the dire consequences of not raising the ceiling:

...even a short suspension of payments on principal or interest on the Treasury's debt obligations could cause severe disruptions in financial markets and the payments system, induce ratings downgrades of U.S. government debt, create fundamental doubts about the creditworthiness of the United States, and damage the special role of the dollar and Treasury securities in global markets in the longer term. Interest rates would likely rise, slowing the recovery and, perversely, worsening the deficit problem by increasing required interest payments on the debt for what might well be a protracted period.

His warning is not helping the long end of the Treasury market, though it's not having a big effect. Ten-year note yields are up to 3.10% from 3.09% before the speech. Two-year notes yield 0.44%, up from 0.43% before.



http://blogs.wsj.com/marketbeat/2011/06/14/bernanke-tells-republicans-stop-playing-chicken-with-the-debt-ceiling/?mod=yahoo_hs


DUH! Ben, print more money....fuel the economy.

[heironymouspasparagus]

It took 31 years of mostly Republicontin spending to put us where we are.  It may well take a like amount of time to get out - IF they start actually doing something about it.  Which they still aren't.  Well, in 31 more years, I probably won't have to worry about it.  Just the grandkids and great grandkids. 

They are gonna be SOOOO proud!!

[Conan71]

How about these?

Since coming into office on January 21, 2009, President Barack Obama has:

Renewed dialogue with NATO and other allies and partners on strategic issues:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/09/04/04/Afghanistan-and-NATO

I wasn't aware we'd quit talking to NATO.  Is that the same NATO whose sanctions Saddam Hussein kept flouting that President Bush finally acted upon?  The same NATO which stirs up smile and expects the U.S. to go in and play the cop?

Provided funding to families of fallen soldiers have expenses covered to be on hand when the body arrives at Dover AFB:
http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/03/18/pentagon-will-help-families

Signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act:
http://www.recovery.gov/About/Pages/The_Act.aspx

Announced the "Making Home Affordable" home refinancing plan:
http://www.makinghomeaffordable.gov

Lauded as a great program at the time, homeowners are saying it's a bust.

Launched a $15 billion plan to boost lending to small businesses:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/Remarks-by-the-President-to-small-business-owners

Provided the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) with more than $1.4 billion to improve services to America's Veterans:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/issues/veterans

Signed an Executive Order establishing the White House Office of Urban Affairs:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/02/AR2009070201410.html

Established a central portal for Americans to find service opportunities:
http://www.serve.gov


Launched Business.gov – enabling conversation and online collaboration between small business owners, government representatives and industry experts in discussion forums relevant to starting and managing a business:
http://www.business.gov

I do admire his stated goals of making it easier to do business in America. I really must check out this site and see all it has to offer.  It's a shame though that he turns a deaf ear when small business tells him what would make the biggest difference in turning the economy around and creating jobs.  Update: I checked out this site, it rolls right to SBA.gov which existed long before his time in office.

Appointed the first ever Federal Chief Information Officer to provide management and oversight over federal IT spending:
http://www.cio.gov

How many more bureaucrats were created to serve under this new position?

Signed the Children's Health Insurance Reauthorization Act on February 4, 2009, which provides quality health care to 11 million kids – 4 million who were previously uninsured:
http://themiddleclass.org/bill/children039s-health-insurance-program-reauthorization-act-2009

Issued an Executive Order repealing the Bush-Era restrictions on embryonic stem cell research:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/mar/09/obama-administration-stem-cell-funding

Ended the previous stop-loss policy that kept soldiers in Iraq/Afghanistan longer than their enlistment date:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/19/washington/19gates.html

Provided federal support for stem-cell and new biomedical research:
http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1908954,00.html

Provided new federal funding for science and research labs:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/18/science/18sfstimulus.html

Signed the Weapons Systems Acquisition Reform Act to stop fraud and wasteful spending in the defense procurement and contracting system:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weapon_Systems_Acquisition_Reform_Act_of_2009

I'm all for searching out waste and fraud.  When do you suppose he will do the same thing for Social Security, Medicare/Medicaid, EBT Programs, and other entitlements which are easily scammed?

Empowered states to enact federal fuel efficiency standards above federal standards:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/26/us/politics/26calif.html

Typo?  States cannot enact federal standards.

Increased infrastructure spending (roads, bridges, power plants) after years of neglect:
http://www.usnews.com/articles/news/stimulus/2009/01/08/poll-americans-strongly-back-increase-in-infrastructure-spending.html

Increased minority access to capital:
http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/promises/promise/16/increase-minority-access-to-capital

Awesome! What's he done to increase majority access to capital?

Signed the Fraud Enforcement and Recovery Act which gives the federal government more tools to investigate and prosecute fraud, from lending to the financial system, and creates a bipartisan Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission to investigate the financial practices that brought us to this point:
http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2009/05/obama-signs-hou.html
What have they found out so far?

Signed the Helping Families Save Their Homes Act, expanding on the Making Home Affordable Program to help millions of Americans avoid preventable foreclosures, providing $2.2 billion to help combat homelessness, and helping to stabilize the housing market for everybody:
http://www.zillow.com/blog/mortgage/2009/05/21/president-obama-signs-helping-families-save-their-homes-act

Sounded great at the time, again not heavily lauded by actual homeowners.  Sort of hard to avoid foreclosure when you can't afford your home under any conditions.

Issued a Presidential Memorandum to the Department of Energy to implement more aggressive efficiency standards for common household appliances, like dishwashers and refrigerators. Through this step, over the next three decades, we'll save twice the amount of energy produced by all the coal-fired power plants in America in any given year:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/ApplianceEfficiencyStandards

That's okay, his EPA is about to idle quite a few coal plants which will either be shut down indefinitely or undergo expensive and lengthy re-fits, including the AEP/PSO plant at Oologah. But hey, retrofits create more temporary jobs while the plant workers sit at home and collect unemployment for a few years! Yay!

Unveiled a program on Earth Day 2009 to develop the renewable energy projects on the waters of our Outer Continental Shelf that produce electricity from wind, wave, and ocean currents. These regulations will enable, for the first time ever, the nation to tap into our ocean's vast sustainable resources to generate clean energy in an environmentally sound and safe manner:
http://www.earthday.org

Every president needs his rainbows and unicorns moment

Announced a strategy to address the international nuclear threat:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/Remarks-By-President-Barack-Obama-In-Prague-As-Delivered

Established a new "U.S.-China Strategic and Economic Dialogue":
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/Statement-On-Bilateral-Meeting-With-President-Hu-Of-China

That appears to be working out great for the Chinese laborers

Announced new policy steps towards Cuba:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/05/world/americas/05cuba.html

So the SOSOTUS' husband's cigar collection will no longer be considered contraband?

Increased minority access to capital:
http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/promises/promise/16/increase-minority-access-to-capital

Repeating accomplishments, that's cheating

Funded the design of a new Smithsonian National Museum of African American History scheduled to open on the National Mall in 2015:
http://www.facebook.com/NMAAHC

Cool! When will the Hispanic, Asian, GLBT, Women, Muslim, and Anglo American history museums be completed?

Signed the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility, and Disclosure (CARD) Act to protect Americans from unfair and deceptive credit card practices:
http://www.newsunfiltered.com/archives/2010/02/pew_finds_credi.html

Banks have already figured out new ways to abuse consumers to make up the difference

Signed an Executive Order establishing a White House Council on Women and Girls to provide a coordinated Federal response to the challenges confronted by women and girls and to ensure that all Cabinet and Cabinet-level agencies consider how their policies and programs impact women and
families:
http://parenting.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/03/11/obamas-council-on-women-and-girls

Men and boys don't face challenges, I guess?

Launched a U.S. financial and banking rescue plan:
http://www.america.gov/st/econ-english/2009/February/20090210163128saikceinawz0.7537805.html

Ended the previous policy; the US now has a no torture policy and is in compliance with the Geneva Convention standards:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geneva_Accord

Yeah we don't torture enemy combatants anymore.  Cough Wink, wink

Launched U.S. Auto industry rescue plan:
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-03/31/content_11102980.htm

Provided better body armor to our troops:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2004-03-26-body-armor_x.htm

He's a seamstress?

Restarted the nuclear nonproliferation talks and building back up the nuclear inspection infrastructure/protocols:
http://articles.latimes.com/2009/sep/25/world/fg-obama-nuclear25

Reengaged in the treaties/agreements to protect the Antarctic:
http://jonbowermaster.com/blog/2009/04/obama-calls-for-limits-on-antarctic-tourism

Reengaged in the agreements/talks on global warming and greenhouse gas emissions, and addressed the U.N. Climate Change Conference:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZ-SMqh7q3o

As I recall he left Copenhagen amidst much ridicule

Supported the first steps of a legally-binding treaty to reduce mercury emissions worldwide:
http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/feb2009/2009-02-16-02.asp

Visited more countries and met with more world leaders than any president in his first six months in office:
http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2009/nov/19/chain-email/chain-e-mail-claims-obama-has-visited-more-countri

You mean took more vacation days?  Oh wait those were working vacations. Jet-setted like the global celebrity he is.  

Managed several natural disasters successfully, including severe winter ice storms and flooding in several states:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=drlsi3Ng4jw

Well done, Brownie!

Provided new car tax credit:
http://www.soundmoneymatters.com/new-car-tax-credit

Provided attractive tax write-offs for those who buy hybrid automobiles:
http://www.hybridcars.com/federal-incentives.html

Purchased fuel efficient American-made fleet of vehicles for the federal government:
http://blogs.edmunds.com/greencaradvisor/2009/06/gsa-buys-210-million-worth-of-fuel-efficient-vehicles-from-us-carmakers.html

Endorsed Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act of 2009 that would close offshore tax havens:
http://www.financialtaskforce.org/2009/10/27/the-foreign-account-tax-compliance-act-of-2009

Nominated Sonia Sotomayor to Supreme Court. She was confirmed and becomes the first Hispanic Supreme Court justice:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/08/06/sotomayor-confirmed-by-fu_n_253146.html

70. Helped reverse a downward spiral of the stock market. On January 19, 2009, the last day of President Bush's presidency, the Dow closed at 8,218.22. It is up around 50% in 30 months.
http://stockcharts.com/charts/historical/djia1900.html

Not noted is how he presided over an additional slide of about 1700 points over the next six weeks while he and Secretary "TurboTax Effed Me" Geithner continued to beat down the economy.  Makes me wonder if they were shorting the whole time. Much wealth was lost from people's IRA's and 401K's while this administration did absolutely nothing to inspire confidence in the economy.

Provided affordable, high-quality child care to working families:
http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/promises/promise/244/provide-affordable-high-quality-child-care

Issued an executive order to create the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform:
http://money.cnn.com/2010/02/18/news/economy/obama_debt_commission/index.htm

Increased funding for student loans and pell grants for 2010 students:
http://www.ourfuture.org/report/2009031325/obama-s-budget-supporting-students-not-banks

Negotiated deal with Swiss banks to permit US government to gain access to records of tax evaders and criminals:
http://www.law.com/jsp/law/international/LawArticleIntl.jsp?id=1202433002570

Provided tax credit to workers thus cutting taxes for 95% of America's working families:
http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2008/sep/18/barack-obama/a-credit-for-workers-cuts-taxes-for-middle-class

Appointed the first Special Assistant to the President for Disability Policy:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/Vice-President-Joe-Biden-Announces-Kareem-Dale-As-Special-Assistant-to-the-Preside

Signed the Veterans Health Care Budget Reform and Transparency Act authorizing advance appropriations for the Department of Veterans Affairs by providing two-fiscal year budget authority thus enabling better medical care for veterans. Endorsed by the American Legion, American Veterans, Blinded Veter...ans Association, Disabled American Veterans, Jewish War Veterans, Military Officers Association, Military Order of the Purple Heart, Paralyzed Veterans of America and Vietnam Veterans of America:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/Remarks-by-the-President-at-Signing-of-the-Veterans-Health-Care-Budget-Reform-and-Transparency-Act

Protected 300,000 education jobs, such as teachers, principals, librarians, and counselors through the Recovery Act that would have otherwise been lost:
http://www2.ed.gov/news/pressreleases/2010/02/02012010a.html

Extended discounted COBRA health coverage for the nation's unemployed from 9 months to 15 months. Workers laid off between September 1, 2008 and February 28, 2010 qualify:
http://bucks.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/12/23/how-to-get-extended-cobra-health-coverage-subsidies

Extended unemployment benefits for 2,000,000 unemployed Americans by 20 weeks. At the time the bill was signed 7,000 unemployed Americans were losing their unemployment benefits each day:
http://money.cnn.com/2009/11/05/news/economy/Extending_unemployment_benefits/index.htm

Eliminated federal funding for abstinence-only education which was significantly increased during the Bush Administration to $176 million annually:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/jul/20/bush-teen-pregnancy-cdc-report

Appointed the most diverse Cabinet in history including more women appointees than any other incoming president:
http://www.diversityinc.com/content/1757/article/6319

Committed to no permanent military bases in Iraq through the Defense Authorization Act. For your reference:
http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/promises/promise/132/no-permanent-bases-in-iraq

Provided the Department of Veterans Affairs the largest spending increase in 30 years to improve medical facilities and national cemeteries, and to assist states in acquiring or constructing state nursing homes and extended care facilities:
http://www1.va.gov/opa/pressrel/pressrelease.cfm?id=1671

Strengthened the Endangered Species Act:
http://www.stopextinction.org/media/releases/89-release-president-obama-restores-endangered-species-protections.html

Empowered states that legalized medical marijuana to regulate themselves. Fourteen states have allowed some use of marijuana for medical purposes: Alaska, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maryland, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Maryland, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/10/19/new-medical-marijuana-pol_n_325426.html

Once a doper always a doper.  Man up and decriminalize it nationally.  The war on drugs is an abysmal failure.

Increased funding for national parks and forests.
http://www.defenders.org/newsroom/press_releases_folder/2010/02_01_2010_obamas_budget_includes_key_funding_for_land_and_water.php

Allocated special funding to the Labor Department to provide green job training to veterans:
http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/promises/promise/466/create-a-green-vet-initiative-to-promote-environ

Allocated funding to states and the Department of Homeland Security to save thousands of police or firefighter jobs from being cut during the recession:
http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/promises/promise/188/increase-funding-for-local-emergency-planning

Let's see...Helps families, appoints women, protects the environment, supports small businesses, supports veterans...

Looks like he is moving America forward.

Wow!  That's a whole lot of fun with America's checkbook! Such benevolent generosity!  How could anyone possibly ignore this obvious contribution to the national debt?  How much of this was really required as a response to something that was Bush's fault?  

I wish I could print my own money.  I'd be riding in a chauffeured limo, flying all over the globe in a 747, and giving handouts to whomever I saw fit as well.  Man that's a lot of spending and a lot of new bureaucracy he created.

What looks especially bad is in spite of all that government spending (a great percentage of it in programs created his first six months in office), the economy is still creaking along, unemployment is still hovering around 9% with no major change in sight, and people are still losing their homes.  

In other words, not much in the way of results to run on, don't you think?  It's one thing to set out on a path of well-intentioned actions, quite another to leave a path of more debt and government dependence for someone else to have to mop up down the road.

Inevitable Bush's fault bash coming in 3,2,1....

[Conan71]

induce ratings downgrades of U.S. government debt, create fundamental doubts about the creditworthiness of the United States,

That's coming regardless.  Again we are faced with cold hard realities.  Deal with them now or kick the can a few more blocks down the road?  There were obvious problems we put a band aid on in 2001/2002 without really fixing the problem.  Look how bad the fall-out was when the smile finally hit the fan in the summer of 2008.

[Teatownclown]

That's coming regardless.  Again we are faced with cold hard realities.  Deal with them now or kick the can a few more blocks down the road?  There were obvious problems we put a band aid on in 2001/2002 without really fixing the problem.  Look how bad the fall-out was when the smile finally hit the fan in the summer of 2008.

Can you prove "That's coming regardless" statement? Is growing an economy kicking the can a few more blocks down the road? Band aid? The housing debacle? HUH!?

You know it's about ideology, Conan. And your less government is ok except when we need more government to raise the economy and facilitate job creation.

Now print some money, Ben. Ignore Conan, Ayn Rand, Keynes and just get us growing while re-inflating.  I think we're seeing a flat tire economy right now and nobody has air and a tire tool they want to grab.

[Gaspar]

Can you prove "That's coming regardless" statement? Is growing an economy kicking the can a few more blocks down the road? Band aid? The housing debacle? HUH!?

You know it's about ideology, Conan. And your less government is ok except when we need more government to raise the economy and facilitate job creation.

Now print some money, Ben. Ignore Conan, Ayn Rand, Keynes and just get us growing while re-inflating.  I think we're seeing a flat tire economy right now and nobody has air and a tire tool they want to grab.

Good analogy.

The tire has a hole in it, and the air supply is limited.  It's not a slow leak.   

Best to patch the tire, then fill it up.  Huh?

[Conan71]

Can you prove "That's coming regardless" statement? Is growing an economy kicking the can a few more blocks down the road? Band aid? The housing debacle? HUH!?

You know it's about ideology, Conan. And your less government is ok except when we need more government to raise the economy and facilitate job creation.

Now print some money, Ben. Ignore Conan, Ayn Rand, Keynes and just get us growing while re-inflating.  I think we're seeing a flat tire economy right now and nobody has air and a tire tool they want to grab.

So now, basically, the U.S. Government needs a bailout.

Previous attempts don't appear to have offered a long-term solution.  The only solutions government has offered with more printed money are either temporary solutions like "shovel-ready" stimulus projects or long term dependence to try and stimulate spending with chump change.

Perhaps your grasp on things like bonds and T-Bills is better than mine.  Problem is, as I see it is if you keep borrowing money to pay on the interest on the money you borrowed earlier, it's a sure sign your financial house is in total disarray and not only do you not have the intention of paying it back, but you lack the ability.

To oversimplify, if I called my banker and said I needed to borrow $100K to pay on that $1mm I already owe him, otherwise I'll go into default, he might do it once if I'd hit a bump in the road or had a large client who owed me money and could not pay me yet.  If I did it several times and just kept making interest payments because I've been on a cocaine binge for the last two and a half years sooner or later he's going to call in the note rather than to get stuck with a bunch of worthless debt.

That sort of spending problem is an issue even on a macroeconomic level.

[Teatownclown]

Conan, your issue is you keep trying to put the ordinary household budget in direct correlation with annual government handouts and the US deficit with personal indebtedness. This is a fallacy. Get off it.

[Conan71]

Conan, your issue is you keep trying to put the ordinary household budget in direct correlation with annual government handouts and the US deficit with personal indebtedness. This is a fallacy. Get off it.

Not so fast.  I have a tendency to oversimplify at times, however, when the dollar eventually collapses due to over-printing, our major debt buyers like China will be holding a bag of feces and they know it.

How good an investment does Greek debt look like these days?

It's like suicide.  It's a short term solution for long term problems.  We've been printing money like crazy for at least the last ten years and it's resulted in a collapsed banking system, collapsed housing market, high unemployment, and more government dependence.

So let's say we print two trillion more and two or three years down the road we are still stuck in the same mode, what then?  Say we were wrong and apologize?

[Hoss]

Smoke a little paranoia inducement?

No, him and BB had one of their 'sessions'...

[Hoss]

Nope. Just laughing at how the same 2-3 of you chime in sounding like clones of one another.

Can't be any worse than the amount of self-replying you do to your own posts.

[Teatownclown]

So let's say we print two trillion more and two or three years down the road we are still stuck in the same mode, what then?  Say we were wrong and apologize?

Question: If the two trillion dropped the unemployment rate significantly and added trillions in value to the overall economy, would it be a worthy investment?

I've thought about your comparisons. What would a bank say if the borrower had an asset base of 80 trillion and indebtedness of ten trillion? Many companies borrow even with negative cash flow because sometimes the lender see's the advantage to making a loan based on future production. The only collateral Greece could offer up is the Parthenon and olive oil....maybe some beaches.

edit to add: and what if there were those in our country willing to sign a personal guarantee for this indebtedness? I'll take some of Lake Meade as a lien.