Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : Sioux Nation -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: stockman_scott who wrote (187706)	3/6/2010 6:59:15 AM
From: Rock_nj	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 361945

If unemployment is projected at 10% for 2010, then they are already too high. It has hovered around 9.7% for the past two months and is likely to fall as the year progresses, as the economy picks up. I would bet that many "unemployed" people are working in the underground economy doing work for cash or barter. I know a couple of people who work that way, and I assume there are many many more. I am worried about the national debt though. The problem is that interest on the national debt is going to start to become such a large part of the budget that it's going to crowd out other government programs, and the net result will be a lower standard of living for our country. In an ideal world, Mr. Weisbrot's theory of spend now to stimulate the economy is correct, as that is what the government should be doing at times of economic crisis; however, once the economy recovers, the government then needs to reign in spending and start dealing with the debt, like they did in the 1990s. Are we up to the task this time around? Time will tell. Until we start reducing the insane amounts spent on the military and really reducing medical costs (as this will be a huge issue when all the baby boomers retire), our budget deficits seem enormous. That post-9/11 military spending figure is interesting. Many have suspected that the military industrial complex was all too willing to turn a blind eye and let the 9/11 attacks happen (they ignored FBI field office warnings of arab men learning to fly planes, not land them, ignored the "Bin Laden Determined to Attack U.S." memo in the summer of 2001, stood down the air defenses on 9/11, etc.). Now we see the net result, a more than doubling military spending now versus pre-9/11 estimates (much more when off budget military spending is included). The kind of thing that makes you go hmmmm. I wonder how the sunsetting of the Bush tax cuts at the end of this year will affect the budget deficit? If the economy is in recovery mode, we could be in for some nice upside surprises for tax revenues, but we need to reign in spending when the times are good and pay off the debt.