Welcome To Bankster-Gangsterstan...
Message 25955028
From: SliderOnTheBlack 9/18/2009 6:12:20 PM
1 Recommendation Read Replies (2) of 19306
Welcome To Bankster-Gangsterstan...
U.S. about to hit debt ceiling - again
"The $12.1 trillion debt ceiling is fast approaching 'over the
limit' status. Unless Congress raises it, Uncle Sam won't be
able to pay what the country owes."
money.cnn.com
By Jeanne Sahadi, CNNMoney.com senior writer
Last Updated: September 16, 2009: 10:34 AM ET
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Congress has raised the debt ceiling
four times in the past two years and will probably have to do
it again in the next month.
With the government borrowing record amounts of money, the nation's
current debt ceiling of $12.1 trillion will be pierced soon.
That ceiling is the cap on how much the country allows itself
to have in debt. In credit card parlance, the ceiling is the
U.S. credit limit. At the end of August, U.S. debt totaled
$11.8 trillion. That's roughly $349 billion shy of the
statutory limit.
The ceiling is meant to serve as a brake on spending because
lawmakers would have to think very seriously before they
breach the limit and take a very difficult political vote to
do so. In reality, lawmakers really don't have a choice but to
raise the ceiling and they know it.
Put simply, if they don't raise the ceiling, the country will
go into default on its debt. The domino effect would be painful,
to say the least.
Treasury bonds would come due but the Treasury wouldn't have
the
authority to borrow more money to pay holders of those securities.
The government might be able to come up with some cash by, for
instance, borrowing from the federal employee retirement trust
fund.
The Treasury Department also said Wednesday that it was taking
steps to "preserve flexibility" in how it manages its debt.
It will reduce the amount of money in its financial rescue
reserve -- essentially setting aside cash in the event that
lawmakers don't raise the ceiling in a timely manner.
But such measures can only stave off the inevitable temporarily.
After Treasury exhausts its options, barring an increase in the
ceiling, the value of U.S. bonds, would sink, jeopardizing the
portfolios of countries and investors around the world who invest
in U.S. debt.
"Our credit as a nation would plummet immediately and throw
the world economy into a depression," said Charles Konigsberg,
chief budget counsel for The Concord Coalition, a deficit
watchdog group.
In the hands of Congress
The debt ceiling was implemented decades ago. Lawmakers have
raised it 90 times in the past 69 years, according to data
from the Office of Management and Budget.
Earlier this year, the House passed a joint resolution that
would raise the debt ceiling to $13.029 trillion for fiscal
year 2010. The Senate has yet to weigh in.
While lawmakers are almost certain to support an increase, the
issue is expected to spark a firestorm on the House and Senate
floors.
That's because the statutory debt limit is more of a political
hammer used most often by whichever party is in the minority
to blame the majority for the soaring debt. Konigsberg said he
expects the debates in all likelihood to be "0% substance and
100% politics. It comes down to two parties arguing about
who's responsible for the debt."
But one quid pro quo that fiscal conservatives might propose
is an amendment to create a deficit reduction commission,
which is an idea that could generate bipartisan support, he
said.
In any case, the debates over the debt ceiling may be
particularly heated because of the unprecedented government
interventions that were launched in the past 18 months to
curtail the financial and economic crises.
A debate over the debt ceiling will also intersect with the
fight over health care reform, which could cost as much as
$800 billion to $1 trillion over the next decade.
--------------
And it's not just rising debt, it's falling revenue.
pbn.com
"Individual income tax revenue is down 22 percent and corporate
income tax receipts have fallen 57 percent compared with 2008,
according to the AP."
-------------
But wait there's more!
zerohedge.com
"The Social Security Trust Fund reported an August net deficit
of $5.865 Billion."
This is the largest monthly deficit in nineteen years. Base on
recent years data it was not surprising the Fund ran a deficit
in August. But the magnitude of the shortfall was a surprise
to me. This deficit is now the seventh in the past twelve
months. That pace has never been seen before."
------------
And then there's the Pension funding crisis...
92.7% of US Pensions are underfunded, and on average, only 46% funded.
futuremetrics.com
"Corporate pension funding shortfalls are a major operating
cash flow problem for the corporations that experience
shortfalls because by law corporations must finance pension
funds to 100% over time. Pension fund shortfalls were
problematic for most companies even before the financial
crisis. Post crisis, the number of pension funds that are not
100% or better funded has increased from 67.6% in FY 2008 to
92.7% in FY 2009 ending in June. The median funded level is a
mere 46%.
The pension funding shortfalls crisis initially appeared
between 2002 to 2003 from a combination of falling stock
prices and interest rates. The combination turned thousands
of previously fully funded pension plans into underfunded
plans."
-------------
And it's not just a US problem. 85% of UK pensions are also
underfunded...
ftalphaville.ft.com
--------------
And for the 34th time, I will once again re-post the sobering
stats from the CBO from Q2 2008, before last years
financial meltdown and $23.7 TRILLION in new bailouts and
banker backstops.
Quoting the Congressional Budget Office:
heritage.org
"TAX RATES would need to be raised by "substantial" amounts to
finance projected spending. Specifically, "the TAX rate for
the lowest bracket would have to be increased from 10 percent
to 25 percent; the TAX rate on incomes in the current 25 percent
bracket would have to be increased to 63 percent; and the TAX
rate of the highest bracket would have to be raised from 35
percent to 88 percent.
The top corporate income TAX rate would also increase from
35 percent to 88 percent."[4]
"Such TAX RATES would significantly reduce economic activity
and would create serious problems with TAX avoidance and tax
evasion. Revenues would probably fall significantly short of
the amount needed to finance the growth of spending;
therefore, TAX RATES at such levels would probably not be
economically feasible."[5]
-----------
The CBO just admitted that it is "economically infeasible"
to raise income tax rates high enough to service our debt
and unfunded liabilities.
I want you to pause here for a moment.
Read that last paragraph again from the CBO.
And remember that those comments were BEFORE last September's
financial collapse and $23.7 trillion in new bailouts and
banker backstops.
What don't you understand about what the CBO said in that
last paragraph?
America is bankrupt, and there is no way to deliver upon
the promise of social security, medicare and medicaid.
And the CBO said that BEFORE the $23.7 trillion in new bailouts
and backstops, and the 22% collapse in Federal Tax revenues
and recent shortfalls in Social Security funding.
And it's not just the CBO...
Former U.S. Comptroller General David Walker told the truth
over a year ago with his appearance on 60 Minutes.
youtube.com
David Walker quote on Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid:
"These are massive entitlement programs we can no longer afford.
If we do deliver on the benefits, there will be no money
for national defense, homeland security, or education.
"The Medicare Problem is 5 times greater than the Social
Security Problem."
No money for the military-industrial complex and Homeland
Security - if we "try" to pay the benefits promised and paid
for by the American people.
Hmmm?
They either default on our benefits, or they go broke.
Which option do you think they've chosen?
Now your final Darwin Test...
Do you think the Health Care bill is about delivering more
and better health care to Americans, or about rationing
care and delivering less... given those numbers above,
and the essence of the plan as reflected by Dr. Ezekiel
Emmanuel's "Complete Lives System" rationing graph below?
riffenberg.files.wordpress.com
What is it that you don't understand about this chart America?
WAKE UP AMERICA, this isn't an expansion of health care,
this is a default on the unfunded liabilities of Social
Security, Medicare, and Medicaid.
We've been looted.
We're bankrupt.
And now we're about to be IMF'd, with emphasis on the F'd part.
The new Health Care plan is about rationing health care as
part and parcel of the default on the $60 trillion of
unfunded liabilities to Social Security, Medicare, and
Medicaid.
The Obama administration admits to over $500 billion in
Medicare/Medicaid cuts in their plan.
This is about America getting IMF'd by the central bankers.
-- Infrastructure will be looted and privatized.
-- Resources and services will be rationed.
-- Spending will be cut.
-- And taxes will be raised, raised again, and raised again.
That's what Cap & Trade is all about.
Rationing and taxes to International Bankers as America is now
bankrupt and in receivership.
Understand this people...
THIS IS A DEFAULT ON THE PRESENT SOCIAL SECURITY, MEDICARE
AND MEDICAID SYSTEM. THIS IS ABOUT REDUCED BENEFITS, AND
A RATIONING OF HEALTH CARE. AND THERE WILL BE A MASSIVE
REDUCTION OF BENEFITS, AND AS DAVID WALKER ADMITTED, IT WILL
BE DONE IN A SERIES OF BENEFIT REDUCTIONS OVER TIME.
Congress knows this...
How many times have your heard them say... "well, we have
to do something."
Now ask yourself - is that in reference to "having to do
something FOR the people", or is that in reference to the
system having been looted and now bankrupt, as per David
Walker's open acknowledgement that... "America is already
unable to pay and deliver upon the promises of the present
system?"
They're addressing health care now, and Social Security
will come later, once they takeover the health care system
and people are more dependent upon the government.
David Walker has preached this one simple fact to Congress,
and they all know it's true...
"We can not deliver on our present promises in Social Security,
Medicare, and Medicaid."
Can't do it - period, end of discussion.
Now how naive can we be?
What do you expect Congress to do - stand up and admit to
America that they looted the Social Security, Medicare and
Medicaid system, and then gave the banksters all the money that
was left in the Treasury... and now we're broke and they can't
deliver the Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid benefits
you already paid for?
They're trying to sell us a default, with reduced and rationed
benefits as a beneficial new plan.
America can't possibly be this stupid.
Wake Up America, time is running short.
SOTB |
