The Reality of an Economic Meltdown

The Reality of an Economic Meltdown
In pursuit of the truth - cinops be gone - Monday, Nov. 12, 2012

“It took the government of the United States two centuries to rack up its first trillion dollars in debt. Now Washington piles up another trillion every nine months. Forward! If you add up the total debt -state, local, the works - every man woman and child in this country owes 200 grand (which is rather more than the average Greek does)…

“In 2009, the Democrats became the first government in the history of the planet to establish annual trillion-dollar deficits as a permanent feature of life….

“In the course of his first term, Obama increased the federal debt by just shy of $6 trillion and, in return, grew the economy by $905 billion. So as Lance Roberts at Street Talk Live pointed out, in order to generate every $1 of economic growth the United States had to borrow $5.60.…

“In order to avoid the public humiliation of failed bond auction, the U.S. Treasury sells 70 percent of the debt to the Federal Reserve- which is to say the left hand of the U.S. government is borrowing money from the right hand of the U.S government.

“It’s government as Nigerian email scam, with Ben Bernake playing the role of the dictator’s widow with $4 trillion under her bed that she’s willing to wire to Timmy Geithner as soon as he sends her his bank account details….

“Americans as a whole have joined the rest of the Western world in voting themselves a lifestyle they are not willing to earn… Alas, on Tuesday, the electorate opted to deter if for another four years. I doubt they’ll get that long.*

* Mark Steyn, Commentary, Orange County Register, Sunday, Nov. 11, 2012

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“Chapman University demographer Joel Kotkin told Wall Street Journal earlier this year that demographic changes coupled with increasingly progressive policies drive out moderates and conservative from California’s middle class. He concluded, “increasingly the only ones fit to survive in California are the very rich and those who rely on government spending.”

“Welfare recipients “aren’t leaving,” Kotkin said, “Why would they?” They get much better in California or New York than if they go to Texas. In Texas the expectation is that people work.” California may be in the forefront of government dependency, but the nation is following the same trajectory….

“Nationally, in 2010 welfare spending increased 40 percent over two years. About 100 million people, nearly a third of the population, receive monthly aid from one or more of the 80-plus means-tested aid programs. Annual welfare spending soon will reach and unprecedented $1 trillion.

“The Senate Budget Committee found last year that the U.S. essentially spent $61,194 to support welfare programs per each household living below the poverty line, based on data from the Census.

“The U.S. is trending toward California. Welfare spending is at record highs nationally, but California accounts for 33 percent of the nation’s welfare recipients, although the state has 13 percent of the nation’s population…. A Reuters news agency headline last week announced: “Victory Puts Obama In Position To Expand Government’s Reach.”…^

^Mark Landsbaum, Commentary, Orange County Register, Sunday, Nov. 11, 2012

George H. Kubeck