This nation is in deep trouble.

[PLC1]

U.S. deficit biggest since 1945

The Obama administration on Friday said the government ran a $1.42 trillion deficit in fiscal year 2009.

That made it the worst year on record since World War II, according to data from the Treasury and the White House Office of Management and Budget.

At the end of September, the country's total debt -- which is an accumulation of all annual deficits to date plus other obligations -- stood at $11.9 trillion.

How much longer can this go on before the whole house of cards comes crashing down?

There are no longer any fiscal conservatives in either party. This situation started with the Bush Administration and its Republican Congress, continued with the Democrat Congress, and is still going on under Obama and the Democratic Congress. Both parties are screwing us over, but royally.

The government can't figure out how to craft a health care reform that will do anything to bring that black hole of dollars under control, either. Instead of rational discussion and problem solving, we get ranting, fear mongering, and idiotic partisanship.

Meanwhile the war in Afganistan is on the back burner. Just what is the current goal there? When will we know we have achieved our objective? No one knows, and the general in charge is saying that the war will be lost without a massive troop surge. Are we finally going to admit defeat and go the way of the last superpower to fight there? Is the Taliban going to take over Pakistan as well?

Meanwhile, back in the social front, we have the highest rate of drug abuse in the industrialized world and more prisoners per capita than any nation on Earth.

Get my fiddle, Nero. It's time.

 

[pocketfullofshells]

how is Afghanistan on the back burner? on what planet? Afghanistan has far overtaken Iraq

 

[Dante the Marxist]

It has been obvious since the 1700s that this nation was doomed.

 

[top gun]

U.S. deficit biggest since 1945

How much longer can this go on before the whole house of cards comes crashing down?

There are no longer any fiscal conservatives in either party. This situation started with the Bush Administration and its Republican Congress, continued with the Democrat Congress, and is still going on under Obama and the Democratic Congress. Both parties are screwing us over, but royally.

The government can't figure out how to craft a health care reform that will do anything to bring that black hole of dollars under control, either. Instead of rational discussion and problem solving, we get ranting, fear mongering, and idiotic partisanship.

Meanwhile the war in Afganistan is on the back burner. Just what is the current goal there? When will we know we have achieved our objective? No one knows, and the general in charge is saying that the war will be lost without a massive troop surge. Are we finally going to admit defeat and go the way of the last superpower to fight there? Is the Taliban going to take over Pakistan as well?

Meanwhile, back in the social front, we have the highest rate of drug abuse in the industrialized world and more prisoners per capita than any nation on Earth.

Get my fiddle, Nero. It's time.

While I of course agree there are problems... will always be problems... there are multiple ways to address those problems.

I for one think that throwing everyone under the bus that gets old or needs healthcare... not the answer.

Could we scale back military occupations (read that Nation Building), military spending and the some of the trillions we give away to other countries? I think we can.

Could we do things like legalize marijuana, tax it like alcohol and free up law enforcement to go after serious addictive drugs? I think we can.

Could we do away with three strike laws on none violent offenses and spend more on rehabilitation and parolee job programs and less on warehousing people? I think we can.

To answer one of your statements more directly "Afghanistan is on the back burner". It's not that it's on the back burner... it's that it's a crappy situation no matter what part of the stove it's on. Sometimes you have to just reconcile yourself that all you can do is make a statement. In Afghanistan that statement may have to be that we weren't afraid to go in, kill a whole bunch of bad guys and come home.

Pakistan is a little different. They have a much more established government. There is a lot more chance that helping the Pakistan government would work out more productively than what we have going in Afghanistan. In any counter insurgency you must have one thing... A STRONG GROUP INSIDE THAT COUNTRY THAT WANTS WHAT YOU WANT. I don't see that in Afghanistan myself. So that's a problem.

Overall the problem isn't so much that we couldn't come up with solutions and even for the most part many funding solutions. The problem is that nationally the country is so politically divided philosophically (usually about 52% to 48% one way or the other) that to get ANYTHING done one politically is forced to play to the middle to even be in power to do ANYTHING.

I'm not a doom & gloom person. People gave the same doom & gloom predictions during the Great Depression and then the other side gave it after the New Deal.

So as I see it we don't need the lone fiddler. We just need the whole band working together for a change. Maybe let the band that was actually hired to play the gig, play the gig.

 

[always]

U.S. deficit biggest since 1945





How much longer can this go on before the whole house of cards comes crashing down?

There are no longer any fiscal conservatives in either party. This situation started with the Bush Administration and its Republican Congress, continued with the Democrat Congress, and is still going on under Obama and the Democratic Congress. Both parties are screwing us over, but royally.

The government can't figure out how to craft a health care reform that will do anything to bring that black hole of dollars under control, either. Instead of rational discussion and problem solving, we get ranting, fear mongering, and idiotic partisanship.

Meanwhile the war in Afganistan is on the back burner. Just what is the current goal there? When will we know we have achieved our objective? No one knows, and the general in charge is saying that the war will be lost without a massive troop surge. Are we finally going to admit defeat and go the way of the last superpower to fight there? Is the Taliban going to take over Pakistan as well?

Meanwhile, back in the social front, we have the highest rate of drug abuse in the industrialized world and more prisoners per capita than any nation on Earth.

Get my fiddle, Nero. It's time.

The "HOUSE of CARDS " will fall as soon as we get the "JOKER" out of our White house . Of course we also must send his gang of FASCISTS with him. Our Congress is full of his kind in both democrat and republican parties. SO!! , in 2010& 2012, WE must VOTE PRINCIPLE over PARTY! Throw ourtALL who supported Obama,s fascism be they democrat or republican! In 2012, throw the big ACORN NUT out of OUR white house , along with any remaining Obama misfits. Make AMERICA CLEAN AGAIN! , some fascists are threatening a revolution if the America voters reject Obama and his ilk!
What say you?

 

[Mr. Shaman]

U.S. deficit biggest since 1945

How much longer can this go on before the whole house of cards comes crashing down?

Yeah....whatta shame Obama can't have as creative, a budget, as Lil' Dumbya.

​

"Adding insult to injury, Republican budget$ have been notorious for containing gimmick$ designed to hide the full extent of their irresponsibility—the most egregious was funding the Iraq war with $pecial appropriation$ outside of the budget.

This year, President Obama changed all that. His budget described a comprehensive plan covering 10 years. It included contingency funds that may or may not have to be spent. It was, quite simply, the most honest budget ever proposed.

So if you hear someone attack the Obama budget because of the deficits it honestly lays out, first say, “Where were you and your deficit-hawk arguments when George W. Bush turned Bill Clinton’s $200 billion budget surplus into a $1 trillion budget deficit?”

 

[Mr. Shaman]

The "HOUSE of CARDS " will fall as soon as we get the "JOKER" out of our White house .

DONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

*

You're RIGHT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!​

"A former top White House official was sentenced Friday to a year and a day in federal prison for obstructing justice and lying to officials and investigators about a lavish golf trip to Scotland and his ties to disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

It was the second time that David H. Safavian, a former chief of staff at the General Services Administration, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Paul L. Friedman on a conviction stemming from a federal probe of Abramoff's illicit lobbying activities. In 2006, Friedman sentenced Safavian to 18 months, but the underlying conviction was thrown out last year by an appeals court.

Prosecutors retried Safavian. He was convicted in December on charges of lying to a GSA ethics officer, obstructing a GSA investigation into the 2002 golf trip and lying on financial disclosure forms about its costs. He was also convicted of making false statements to an FBI agent."

 

[PLC1]

While I of course agree there are problems... will always be problems... there are multiple ways to address those problems.

Yes, but no one, at least no one in Washington, seems able to address those problems in any meaningful way. Everything they do descends to the level of partisan sniping, and nothing happens.

I for one think that throwing everyone under the bus that gets old or needs healthcare... not the answer.

I'd have to agree with you there.

Could we scale back military occupations (read that Nation Building), military spending and the some of the trillions we give away to other countries? I think we can.

Could we do things like legalize marijuana, tax it like alcohol and free up law enforcement to go after serious addictive drugs? I think we can.

Then why don't we? It seems so simple, yet is it really possible in today's divisive political climate?

Could we do away with three strike laws on none violent offenses and spend more on rehabilitation and parolee job programs and less on warehousing people? I think we can.

No, because anyone who suggested such a thing would be branded as "soft on crime", which will fit on a bumper sticker and is therefore a valid political philosophy, and not be reelected.

To answer one of your statements more directly "Afghanistan is on the back burner". It's not that it's on the back burner... it's that it's a crappy situation no matter what part of the stove it's on. Sometimes you have to just reconcile yourself that all you can do is make a statement. In Afghanistan that statement may have to be that we weren't afraid to go in, kill a whole bunch of bad guys and come home.

Yes, it as a lose-lose situation. Meanwhile, Obama is trying to decide which of the choices is the lesser of the evils, and is doing nothing. That is what I meant by it being on the back burner. Do we give McChrystal the troops he needs? Do we pull out and let the Taliban take over? Those are the choices.

Pakistan is a little different. They have a much more established government. There is a lot more chance that helping the Pakistan government would work out more productively than what we have going in Afghanistan. In any counter insurgency you must have one thing... A STRONG GROUP INSIDE THAT COUNTRY THAT WANTS WHAT YOU WANT. I don't see that in Afghanistan myself. So that's a problem.

Yes, we are at least supporting the government of Pakistan. That is a good thing. Of course, that support is being attacked as a waste of money here in the states.

Overall the problem isn't so much that we couldn't come up with solutions and even for the most part many funding solutions. The problem is that nationally the country is so politically divided philosophically (usually about 52% to 48% one way or the other) that to get ANYTHING done one politically is forced to play to the middle to even be in power to do ANYTHING.

Exactly.

I'm not a doom & gloom person. People gave the same doom & gloom predictions during the Great Depression and then the other side gave it after the New Deal.

Well, I wrote the OP rant at 11:00 at night just before going to bed. This morning, the world is still going around just as it has been, so maybe it was a matter of my cynicism coming to the surface. Still, my innate cynicism seems to be right a lot of the time.

Looking back in history, there were darker times than this, though.

So as I see it we don't need the lone fiddler. We just need the whole band working together for a change. Maybe let the band that was actually hired to play the gig, play the gig.

Yes, the band needs to play together. Currently, half is playing country western, while the other half plays rap.

 

[asur]

You agree with what I have been stating, we are in trouble with Obama.

Obama can pay tons of bailout money to big business
but what revenue money will replace it?

There are to few people taxes to support the spending he is doing.

He could be raising taxes on Google, IBM, etc. like other liberals would love, but he hasn't which is strange!
I don't think he knows how to manage a budget!

 

[AtheismIsReality]

You agree with what I have been stating, we are in trouble with Obama.

Obama can pay tons of bailout money to big business
but what revenue money will replace it?

There are to few people taxes to support the spending he is doing.

He could be raising taxes on Google, IBM, etc. like other liberals would love, but he hasn't which is strange!
I don't think he knows how to manage a budget!

He's just following the Reagan "Deficits Don't Matter" plan. Is that not valid anymore?

 

[top gun]

Yes, but no one, at least no one in Washington, seems able to address those problems in any meaningful way. Everything they do descends to the level of partisan sniping, and nothing happens.

Yes and that's a real problem that I really have no idea about how to address. Unless a truly centrist third Party comes becomes a reality so that people can vote for the center without constantly being tugged to the Far Right or Far Left.

I'd have to agree with you there.

Then why don't we? It seems so simple, yet is it really possible in today's divisive political climate?

It goes back to that 52% to 48% split. There's always enough who want whatever the other side wants to give politicians political cover to obstruct movement on major issues.

No, because anyone who suggested such a thing would be branded as "soft on crime", which will fit on a bumper sticker and is therefore a valid political philosophy, and not be reelected.

Absolutely 100% correct my friend. It becomes nothing more than a matter of posturing and not really about addressing a problem.

Yes, it as a lose-lose situation. Meanwhile, Obama is trying to decide which of the choices is the lesser of the evils, and is doing nothing. That is what I meant by it being on the back burner. Do we give McChrystal the troops he needs? Do we pull out and let the Taliban take over? Those are the choices.

My vote would definitely not be for escalating... and probably be for pulling of up to half of the current troops a year from now. Possibly leaving the other half along the Afghan Pakistan border as sort of a quick strike force and a buffer zone.

Yes, we are at least supporting the government of Pakistan. That is a good thing. Of course, that support is being attacked as a waste of money here in the states.

Well Pak has the bomb and that's something that is of great importance when we're talking about it's government control. Even coming from the Left side view I think Pak has to be of grave concern.

Exactly.

Well, I wrote the OP rant at 11:00 at night just before going to bed. This morning, the world is still going around just as it has been, so maybe it was a matter of my cynicism coming to the surface. Still, my innate cynicism seems to be right a lot of the time.

Looking back in history, there were darker times than this, though.

Sleepy or not... your posts always seem moderate and well thought out without any hatred for either side.

Because of this, knowing that I'm slightly Left of Center but like to think of myself as a moderate, When I'm looking for a position to try and gage just how moderate I'm really being... I often look at your position.

Yes, the band needs to play together. Currently, half is playing country western, while the other half plays rap.

Well country western and rap... that's certainly a clash. Maybe when it should be more pop (with my favorite video no pun intended) focused on what really matters.

 

[Diehardrightwinger]

Oh go cry to someone who Really listens. I would rather play a hand with that joker, than the lying, sneaky, bow to everyone, racist, anti-american in the white house at the moment......one term junky. All that we will have left is change when him and his liberal sicko hippies are finished.
Lets just see if it passes !! Hell, even the Blue Dogs think he stinks !!
One term and he's DONE !!

 

[Andy]

Yeah....whatta shame Obama can't have as creative, a budget, as Lil' Dumbya.

​

Unbelievable. Obama does exactly what Bush did, and you call it good.

 

[Andy]

My vote would definitely not be for escalating... and probably be for pulling of up to half of the current troops a year from now. Possibly leaving the other half along the Afghan Pakistan border as sort of a quick strike force and a buffer zone.

Um, Vietnam all over again? Yeah we'll just patrol the boarder with North Vietnam with strike forces. Never pulling completely out (defeat), or ever moving towards a victory with a direct assault.

Sleepy or not... your posts always seem moderate and well thought out without any hatred for either side.

Because of this, knowing that I'm slightly Left of Center but like to think of myself as a moderate, When I'm looking for a position to try and gage just how moderate I'm really being... I often look at your position.

Oh now I'm amused. Do tell: On what issue(s), do you consider yourself moderate? And moderate compared to what?

 

[Pidgey]

Have any of y'all given a lot of thought to what spending you'd have to cut from federal expenditures in order to balance the budget and start paying off the National Debt?