The Tea Party Way, Governing By Extortion

[donquixote99]

Originally Posted by piece-itpete

Sooner or later we will run out of money regardless what happens with our little current sideshow.

Pete

So a possible (by no means certain like you say) disaster in the indeterminate future is a reason to fuck everything up (some sideshow) right now? And to do it by methods that set a precedent that will make constitutional government impossible?

[icenine]

Originally Posted by piece-itpete

Sooner or later we will run out of money regardless what happens with our little current sideshow.

Pete

We cannot run out of money. We print it.

[icenine]

This explains everything.

http://www.alternet.org/economy/8-fa...ot-going-broke

[piece-itpete]

"About a decade ago we were running a yearly surplus, meaning that each year we were paying down our national debt, not adding to it."

Oh really? When I looked at CBO year over year debt figures it NEVER went down, not 1 year. Close one year, including 3 billion a week excess SS income at the time, but a miss is a good as a mile.

Anyway the real issue is unfunded liabilities. Sure we can print money till it becomes worthless, or borrow more money to pay money borrowed from SS that we already paid for once, or compare ourselves to Japan, but in the end we currently have $1,100,000 in liabilities PER TAXPAYER. And growing. Sooner or later something has to give.

This current brouhaha will blow over as it always does, the structural problems will not.

Pete

[icenine]

You are about the same age as me...we have run deficits every year of our lives except for 5 years.

I am not worried about the future I am worried about now.
deficit spending is one thing and is the American way
now a debt default where are credit and currency is downgraded on the world market is a totally different thing....which is what the Tea Party is bringing about.

[piece-itpete]

Still $20 on the table

Pete

[merrylander]

The whole dumbass idea of a debt ceiling was passed by Congress in 1917 and frankly, as it must be subject to a vote, probably violates the Constitution re 'full faith and credit'

[icenine]

In other words the Tea Party is trying to turn the dollar into the peso.

[BlueStreak]

Who do we owe it to, Pete? The bulk of it, that is?

Dave

[BlueStreak]

Originally Posted by merrylander

The whole dumbass idea of a debt ceiling was passed by Congress in 1917 and frankly, as it must be subject to a vote, probably violates the Constitution re 'full faith and credit'

Correct. How has that been working out? Are our debt levels frozen at 1917 levels? No, they're not, are they?

That's because the "debt ceiling" is an unworkable model in macroeconomics. We've always known that. We'll, some of us did. Then, one day the tightwads discovered an archaic rule that we've been ignoring. (Because it doesn't work.)

And, here we are..............

Dave