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Politics : The Legacy of Perpetual Debt -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: SargeK who wrote (1)	1/30/2006 5:07:36 PM
From: Bucky Katt	Respond to of 5

A few debt clocks> toptips.com brillig.com And then there is this, the US is in technical default> In a shocking development, the Treasury Department website is openly stating that as of January 24, 2006 our national debt stood at $8,185.3 billion and on January 26th at $8,190.5 billion. publicdebt.treas.gov Yet the US national debt ‘ceiling’, the maximum amount of debt the US government may hold at any one time, stands at $8,184 billion – a full $5.5 billion less. Although called upon by John Snow, Congress has not yet passed an expansion of the debt ceiling and so the US government is now operating in technical default. You may recall that when last the debt ceiling was approached in the months surrounding the 2004 elections, the Treasury department furiously employed every accounting trick in the book (and then some) to avoid breaching the limit. They even went so far as to take the unprecedented step of borrowing $14 billion from the Federal Financing Bank to cover up the shortfall. But they never breached the ceiling. On January 24th they breached it brazenly and openly and with nary an accompanying explanation. Neither have any lawmakers have broached this indelicate subject. I suppose we could write this off as merely an unsurprising development from a government that no longer bothers to even appear to be adhering to rules, laws and procedures, let alone actually doing so. But the silence is all the more troubling because there is an unprecedented level of government borrowing on the books for 1Q06 with next 2 weeks (Feb 1st to Feb 9th) an especially busy period of time. An ambitious ~$70-$80b in Treasury paper will hit the market. The federal government does not have the legal authority to borrow above the statutory debt limit, which raises the prospect of emergency congressional action to avoid a full-fledged default. Congress will probably attach a rider to a “must-pass” defense appropriation bill and ironically title it “The Fiscal Responsibility Amendment of 2006”. And if they do, $50 says they do it very late on Friday night. Since the debt ceiling has been raised 50 times over the past 40 years, hoping for some rational debate on the matter would be an extravagant indulgence. Time spent wishing pigs could fly would offer a far better potential return. Another odd facet of this story is the deafening silence from the financial press (and I use that term loosely) regarding this matter. Leaving aside the issue of a technical default, one wonders why questions aren’t being asked about the rate of debt accumulation and whether it’s sustainable. The last debt-ceiling adjustment was $800 billion and was passed in November 2004. Now, on January 24th 2006, it is entirely gone. $800 billion in only 16 months for an average of $50B a month. Factoring out the plundering of excess social security contributions, the US government borrowed $52B in 3Q05, $96B in 4Q05 and expects to borrow $171B in 1Q06. A trend nearly as mind-boggling as the soon to be discontinued M3 series. Why do I even bother to pen such distressing factoids? Because in all my time studying economics I have determined only one thing; there’s no free lunch. Pay now or pay later but pay we will. financialsense.com

To: SargeK who wrote (1)	5/27/2006 12:12:30 PM
From: SargeK	Respond to of 5

“Amnesty’ Disguised as ‘Guest Worker Program’ Letter to the Editor published May 27, 2006 in the Tyler Morning Telegraph. >>>>CALLING ON SANITY TO STOP ‘GUEST WORKERS’ Under the not-so-cleverly disguised heading "Guest Worker Program" the Senate bill crafted this week would provide a path toward citizenship to millions of illegal aliens.The good news is the measure will go to conference where it will confront House measures that do not award citizenship to illegal aliens. Maybe sanity will prevail. In pursuit of cheap labor the ruling class is attempting to further legitimize low wage competition to American workers.Adding more claimants to social benefits (Social Security, Supplementary Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, Earned Income Tax Credits, Child Tax Credits, etc.) is like putting out fire with gasoline instead of water.Funds for future Social Security and Medicare beneficiaries have already been spent. Unlike capital gains, interest and dividend income, wages are taxed twice (two income taxes) at the source. The FICA tax is merged with the FIT from workers' paychecks and sent to the U.S. Treasury. IOUs are sent to the respective Trust (Slush) Funds. The cash is spent and debt in the slush funds compounds because the government is loaning money to itself. Contact your political representatives and ask them how and who will redeem the IOUs? Instruct them to be specific in their response. Do it now! Instead of repealing a law that provides that government may only loan money to itself, the government continues to create new laws that perpetuate legalized fraud. When will the American people wake up? A small chance still exists that another Great Depression may be avoided, but only if politicians are held accountable for decades of mischief. The chances for this are slim to none. John T. Koraska, Tyler, Texas <<<<<<< IF YOU agree with this article, copy it and the following link and E-Mail it to family, friends, your local paper and your representatives. DO IT NOW!http://www.zwire.com/site/news.asp?brd=1994&pag=460&dept_id=459482 For in depth articles relating to the convoluted US Tax and Welfare chaos created by poorly crafted laws, please visit my website at: debtism.com SargeK “Law cannot be properly evaluated by the quality of its words or intent; but, by the quality of fairness and justice found in the results produced by its application.” John Koraska January 1, 2005

To: SargeK who wrote (1)	10/11/2006 8:20:21 AM
From: SargeK	Respond to of 5

SAVING SOCIAL SECURITY The following letter to the Editor, East Texas Mailbox, Tyler Morning Telegraph, was published today. zwire.com (Note: scroll to the third item in the column.) “In his first major speech as Treasury secretary, Henry Paulson said the growth in Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid was the "biggest economic issue facing our country." He said, "trying to find a solution was a leading reason that he took the job." Secretary Paulson will likely have no more success in reforming Social Security than the President did last year UNLESS public outrage forces fundamental changes. To reform SS and Medicare means concurrently, reforming the tax code. To do either exposes the FRAUD that has been perpetrated on US employees, for decades. I have written extensively about SS in my free E-Book “Getting Ready for Hard Times” As a minimum two things have to occur for SS to be made solvent: 1. AMEND the IRS tax code so that FICA taxes (including those contained within "wages") cannot be a business expense deduction on Corporate Income tax returns OR REPLACE the Corporate Income Tax with an excise tax on business receipts. Currently approximately 1/3 of the FICA (OASDI-HI) taxes withheld from employee paychecks and reported by corporations to the Social Security Administration is NOT collected by the IRS because of business expensing of wages (THAT CONTAIN THE FICA TAXES). This is the ONLY way current deficits may be replaced with surpluses, 2. AFTER enacting one of the above alternatives (that would produce surpluses instead of deficits), REPEAL the law that requires that SS and Medicare surpluses ONLY be invested in special government bonds. REPLACE with a law that requires the newly created surpluses SHALL be placed in REAL TRUST FUNDS invested in alternatives OTHER than US Government debt. This is the ONLY way COMPOUNDING, unredeemable US DEBT can be replaced with COMPOUNDING real ASSETS. Neither of these actions will be taken OR even discussed by politicians or mass media UNLESS there is a PUBLIC OUTRAGE to the ongoing FRAUD. There will be no public outrage until the public understands HOW the system really works. And, the public will not understand how the system works UNLESS they are told. The urgency for Social Security and tax reforms should be elevated to the HIGHEST POLITICAL PRIORITY (above the War on Terrorism and Illegal Immigration) before the federal government bankrupts the country. John Koraska Tyler" This part of my letter to the Editor was omitted from the publication: DOING YOUR PART to SAVE SOCIAL SECURITY If you agree with the above, please help spread the word by MASS e-mailing this letter and/or hyper-linking Getting Ready for Hard Times debtism.com to those you think may interested. Request they repeat the process. SargeK P.S. It is an arduous process, but it appears some fundamental defects in tax and welfare laws are slowly seeping into the public domain. It took decades for this mess to develop and will likely take years before basic changes can occur and take effect, hopefully BEFORE it is too late. It will also require great effort by selfless citizens with a burning desire to help save the country from itself. United We Stand (Divided We Fall)