"Ostrich" Congress puts head in the sand and votes for debt increase

[Riot]

Originally Posted by joeydb

So, we can preserve our "AAA" rating by borrowing another $2.1T that we can't repay.

Uhh...what good is a credit rating when you can't repay your debt?

Who is telling you we can't repay our debt? That's not true. We are repaying our debt. We always repay our debt. Our AAA credit rating is because we repay our debt. That's what a credit rating "is". We are the most trusted debt repayer in the world. When financial markets go crazy, the markets go to US Treasuries.

There were idiots in Congress and the Senate yesterday that were trying to make it so that we could NOT repay our debt. Fools. "We owe this money, but we've decided we won't pay it" Oh yeah? I don't think so. We are the USA. Not someone like IL Tea Party darling Congressman Joe Walsh that owes $100,000 in unpaid child support to his ex-wife. No wonder idiots like him think it literally "doesn't matter" if you don't pay what you owe!

Especially the idiots that thinks, "it's a lie, we have the money". Duh. If that were true, we'd not have to borrow, right?

Every business borrows for cash flow. Every country does, too.

You know, you don't give away trillions in income by going to "part time" income level, then double your debt and increase your spending on the credit card for years in the future by trillions. We had a former cheerleader that did that to us.

Just cutting the spending - although admirable - will never get you back to your normal financial situation. It's mathematically impossible. You need to get that full-time income back, too.

Because our population is increasing, and our infrastructure is crumbling, and Wall Street has all the money and isn't letting it go, even though their profits have been record, bonuses record, and taxes low as hell.

The recession cut our tax income a bit. But the Bush Tax cuts literally threw us off the clift, and is still doing so. Our income is only 14% of our GDP, when it normally is 20% or so. That's how much it's dropped. Let those puppies expire, and our debt is cut in half in about 10 years, doing nothing else at all.

BTW, we've been worse in the hole a couple of times before in our history.

Let's remind ourselves what caused our debt, because it's things we can control, and we get that income stream back, and very readily.

National debt 14 trillion

3.6 trillion - Social Security trust fund

4.0 trillion - Bush, unfunded wars, unfunded Medicare drug giveaway
3.0 trillion - Bush, unfunded tax cuts

2.0 trillion - loss of income due to unemployment and recession

1.4 trillion - Obama policies, temporary stimulus (most paid back), etc.

So, Joey, if you want to stand with the "non-ostriches", as you think they are, you'd better explain how that works. Using math and facts and stuff. Because now we have a few billion in spending cuts that kick in with Octobers 2012 budget, and a few more after that in 2013, and we're still in a recession and that oughta put us near a double dip. Yay! Brilliant! Let's stop spending, and take more money out of the economy, when we are on the verge. That worked so well for Japan, and for us in extending a depression into The Great Depression. Repeating those mistakes looks really promising.

[dellinger63]

Originally Posted by Riot

Who is telling you we can't repay our debt? That's not true. We are repaying our debt. We always repay our debt. Our AAA credit rating is because we repay our debt..

That's a fairytail. We always pay the interest on our debt and like a good credit card customer keep those balances at the limit even if the limit keeps going up. We even 'borrow' from our fixed income grandparents to keep it going. Even when we tax and or make more we always find something to spend it on whether it be a war or paying for and destroying cars so people will buy new ones.

What was the last year we paid down our debt and not just interest towards the debt? How much was the paydown? lol There is a point of no return and sadly we're headed full steam for it!

[Riot]

Originally Posted by dellinger63

That's a fairytail. We always pay the interest on our debt and like a good credit card customer keep those balances at the limit even if the limit keeps going up.

Nope. No fairytail. You present a T-bill for cash, and it's cashed, with interest. You don't only get paid interest.

The last year we paid down our debt was right before Bush W. put us in the crapper. And I think his first year did, too.

[dellinger63]

Originally Posted by Riot

Nope. No fairytail. You present a T-bill for cash, and it's cashed, with interest. You don't only get paid interest.

The last year we paid down our debt was right before Bush W. put us in the crapper. And I think his first year did, too.

If you could do that with a treasury credit there would be no problem. But you can't and that's where the fairytail part starts.

[Riot]

Originally Posted by dellinger63

If you could do that with a treasury credit there would be no problem. But you can't and that's where the fairytail part starts.

Sigh.

All we have to do is have the Treasury take a credit from column A to column B, issue a bill, and place the cash in that account as needed.

It's what we've been doing for years. We've never been 1 day late on any payment.

Is this really too hard to understand? The only fairy tale is the Tea Party understanding of "finance". I find it amazing some are freaking out over something that has been being ably taken care of for years.

Now - tell your Congress to get your income back, that they gave away! You have bills you have agreed to pay!

Never mind, they are on vacation from their 4-day-a-week, two weeks on, one week off terrible schedule. Leaving the swamps of Washington for a month to avoid the heat and malaria. Just like the founding fathers.

[Antitrust32]

I hope the ceiling is never raised again.

I certainly dread the day when our debt reaches 25 trillion, 30 trillion, etc.

that is what it will look like if the dems and repubs keep their game going. they do NOT care about the future of this country.

[Riot]

Originally Posted by Antitrust32

that is what it will look like if the dems and repubs keep their game going. they do NOT care about the future of this country.

My anger at Congress for leaving the FAA existence hanging? Plus the 90,000 small business contractors currently working for FAA for runway safety construction that had to be furloughed without pay? No pay for food, no pay for car payments, no pay for mortgage?

(Happy August! Were you planning on driving your kid to college this month? Buying school supplies? Paying a tuition payment?)

We are losing 30 million a day in FAA fees? While the airlines are grabbing that up as profit by keeping ticket prices the same?

(and they say consumer protection agencies are not needed, right)

Congress, who was too damn lazy to stay one more day and take care of this (they asked Boehner, he said they'd deal with it when they got back) - well, they have cost us 1.2 billion

1.2 billion. We worry, while they vacation.

Hey Congress? JOBS? You know, here's 94,000 you could have had paid in August. Let alone the 1.2 billion you'll cost us.

Rand Paul is gonna get an earful at his first local town hall You are absolutely correct, they don't care one bit. How dare they do this, to these poor people.

Let's do the math: this happened because GOP wanted 16.5 million in cuts. They are costing us 1.2 billion by doing so.

Reckless, irresponsible, spenders, the GOP. They haven't changed a bit since the Bush years. Demagogue and cost us money, and people their jobs, food, cars ....

Where the hell is the Tea Party on this matter? Oh, they rushed home for vacation.

WASHINGTON — A stalemate that has partially shut down the Federal Aviation Administration will continue into September. A spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid says Senate Democrats were unwilling to accept cuts in subsidies for rural air service.

House Republicans had demanded the $16.5 million in subsidy cuts as part of a bill to continue the FAA's operating authority. Senate Democrats repeatedly tried and failed to pass their own bill without the cuts.

The FAA's operating authority expired 11 days ago, as well as the authority of airlines to collect about $30 million a day in ticket taxes. If allowed to continue until Congress returns to work next month, the cost in lost revenue will be an estimated $1.2 billion.

Nearly 4,000 FAA employees have been laid off.