This is off topic, but I closed my political blog so I guess I'll post it here. I just watched "Frontline: Ten Trillion and Counting" about the national deficit.
I think that the most important matters that this video illuminates are:
* the great success of Bush Srs Pay-Go policy, and how tragic that when it lapsed, Bush Jr. was unrestrained in reckless spending
* the centrality of Medicare and Medicaid in our current trajectory toward fiscal collapse. These entitlements will ruin the US. Hence, Obamas addressing health care is aimed at the real problem. I cant say if his plan is any good, but it is not just there to add entitlements - it is there to head off inevitable meltdown.
* the video gives insight into the Obama thinking that if we spend a lot (and double our debt) but it has the effect of defusing the collapse that Medicare and Medicaid will otherwise bring, then yes, well be saddling our children with absurd debt, but not avoiding an even greater catastrophe.
Personally, I am incredulous that the government has been so incompetent as to get this far, and that it will require such spending to get it back in line.
At any rate, the video is extremely helpful in clarifying the nature of the trouble were in and the current administrations plan to address it.
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This site keeps a running total of the deficit:
http://www.brillig.com/debt_clock/
U.S. NATIONAL DEBT CLOCK
The Outstanding Public Debt as of 03 Aug 2009 at 06:29:15 PM GMT is:
$ 1 1 , 5 9 5 , 9 8 2 , 0 3 5 , 9 0 4 . 8 5
The estimated population of the United States is 306,667,720
so each citizen's share of this debt is $37,812.86.
The National Debt has continued to increase an average of
$3.83 billion per day since September 28, 2007!
Concerned? Then tell Congress and the White House!
It used to be that Americans bought the treasury bonds, so we owed the money to ourselves - not such a big problem. But now 50% is held by foreigner powers, and that is increasing.
http://home.att.net/~mwhodges/debt.htm
Think about the undue influence that the US exerts over Israel because of money and you'll see that depending on our enemies results in conflict of interest, such as when you watch your mother-in-law driving off a cliff - in your new Lexus!
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