$17.2 Trillion and not a peep ?
 

It looks like our National debt is going to hit $17.2 Trillion real, real soon and not a peep from the media. Is the current BO-Care disaster nothing but a distraction? It has certainly diverted many eyes from the debt problem.

Is a $17+ Trillion public debt sustainable ? It is projected to be in the ballpark of $23 Trillion by the time our BO leaves office. He more than doubled the public debt in a short 8 years if that should come true. Is that sustainable ? Can the next guy or gal blame our BO for the public debt issue?

I know our BO said it's unpatriotic to create a large public debt and that was targeted at others. Is our BO unpatriotic? He should live by his own words should he not? Better, another campaign promise was made about debts and deficits and that sounds like another broken promise.

It's all good, I've been told.

Besides, it's too large of a number for Joe and Jane Voter to put their heads around. So they don't and it becomes a non-issue for the voting masses and will continue to be until it affects them directly.

Then how did you find out about it?

Well, I can say it was not through any media, e.g., ABC, NBC, CBS, MSNBC, CNN, Fox, et cet. As you know, it can be found on a Google search. However, isn't this information news worthy ?

Why has the media given our BO another pass on such an important topic? OR, is this a non-issue and the public debt is of no real importance?

I am guessing our BO thinks it's no biggie. It was unpatriotic a few years ago. Now, it must be very patriotic. Maybe it's an agenda like BO-Care?

What's interesting is that he knows the ".2" part of the amount. :D

Forbes Says Don't Worry, Be Happy

The alarming situation is that U.S. government debt had already almost doubled from $5.7 trillion in 2000 to $10.0 trillion in 2008. And since then it has almost doubled again, reaching $19 trillion in 2013.

If we extend that trend endlessly into the future, which many analysts and critics are, obviously there could be nothing but catastrophe down the road.

But it’s like most doomsday scenarios. They are created by extending past trends in a straight line into the future, without consideration of how conditions change. And there are now dramatic changes taking place related to the government debt.

It is true that the debt is still growing, since the government is still spending more than it’s taking in. However, the annual deficit is shrinking dramatically.

My bad ... a paltry .2. I should have said "just" $17 Trillion. And, the annual deficit is shrinking "dramatically" (or is it), and extending the logic of doubling the public debt and doubling it again, I am guessing you're in agreement with our BO that it's OK and no biggie. Hmmm. I am guessing case closed !

Only 23? I was hoping for more. I think 30-50 is a nice round sounding number.

I'm going to vote for BO for a third term too. I dont care what you and your CONSTITUTION say about term limits. BO will simply write off an EO and have his third and probably fourth terms.

And in those third and fourth terms he will write more EO's that create more and more welfare.

I predict in his last and final move he will pen an EO that goes something like this:

"If you are a democrat, life is free for you, everything you ever wanted will be bought and paid for by the republicans. Republicans, you must work forever and pay for everything."

Beyond that he will write EO's that will ban all old Mercedes and decree that we only buy new giant SUVs and giant TRUCKS.

Shhhh.

Other significant statistics that should alarm . . .

The number of US kids and teens who die from gunshot wounds in hospital has risen almost 60% in a decade.

One in six Americans live at or below the new standards defining "poverty."

CEO pension plans are now worth an average 239 times more than the retirement plans for the employees they supervise.

If y'all think it is fun now wait till the US$ is no longer the "worlds" currency.

I pretty much agree with JD except for the last sentence. He can't make me buy anything. Oh wait, I forgot about the health insurance thing.

The first thing I would do if I were BO starting my third term would be to set it up where everyones check (no more of this 401k, mortgage tax deduction and write off foolishness) gets sent to the Fed/IRS to be evenly distributed throughout the land. Think of how many more supporters he will have and what a better job the Fed can do handing it out, opps, I mean stimulating the economy than the average consumer. (I'm talking about ppl that work and get a check now). I'm sure the IRS will do a fair job of evenly distributing it;).

Welcome to BO Utopia;), all aboard:D.

Better yet. Our entire paycheck should just go directly to the government. Then they can return to us whatever they feel is appropriate based on certain "metrics.

Like:
weight
health
spending on american goods
patriotism
amount of information given to NSA
Recent bowel movement analysis results.
Party affiliation.

CEOs are paid 300x more than the average worker too!

Another significant statistics we should worry about. The frequency of my at-work-bathroom-incursions has dropped dramatically since my diet has changed. Look what our devious government has taken away from me! My right to be paid to poop!

I guess not all statistics are created equal, for some folks. :D

Even if Barry could seize every last penny, and I am thinking he would just love that, the federal government would spend every last penny and they would be broke tomorrow. The problem is that there would be no more money to seize.

Secondly, all the statistics about hungry kids, or the homeless, and the list goes on just shows that Barry's continuing efforts to redistribute wealth have just failed. The numbers are getting bigger but in the wrong direction. The big myth or lie is that it's Bush's fault. How about reallity -- maybe it's Barry's fault. Maybe his failed economic policies of redistributing wealth are just one flop after another. Shouldn't Barry a/k/a our BO have a pep rally on the public debt? $17+ trillion sure does sound like a lot of money to pay back. Detroit went belly up ... who's next ?

You are missing one thing in regards to having to work forever to pay to someone else. You will then also be pilfered by the system once you have met your demise, through the inheritance tax. So it goes on for a few years beyond your working life.

There is no way that he would distribute all of that confiscated money evenly. If he did that evenly, then he would be sending some money to the terrible 1% that we have here. He would not go for that, it would be unfair to the bottom 45% to send some of that back to the rich.

I found some of it.
 

Looks like the DoD would be a really good place to start trimming the fat. They seem to be wasting tens of billions if not 100's of billions or more.

From the sounds of this Reuters article the DoD could survive a 25% plus cut and not even break the skin. Their accounting is so FUBAR they do not even have the capability to determine how *****ed up their accounting actually is.

I think that every dept can trim fat. Problem is when you hit my sacred cow, I scream. But I will point out that we can cut from another project I don't care about but someone does and he screams and so on and so forth. I'll bet that if you trimmed military funds, there will be cries of how troops are being used as cannon fodder by areas that depend on the spending. Since I don't care, cut away. Therein lies the problem.

This has nothing to do with sacred cows or anything else like that. This has to do with the military getting more money than it needs (literally) to the point that they have no clue where the money is going.

I was thinking they should find a firm that has a proven track record for building software. Find out how much and how long. Set up a bonus if it works and penalties if it does not. Once it is set up, just have the DoD hit the reset button and start over. There is no way they will find all the money that they have already pissed away. I think it would be cheaper to just start over. Then we can start to see how much it really costs. I think this idea could be applied to other departments as well.

Perhaps you're right ... except I highly doubt we are paying our troops enough. Want to give our soldiers sub-standard equipment? Less R&D so they have 2nd class equipment down the road.

I agree there are a lot of fat kats out there making a bundle who should be trimmed off the government teet, but when it comes to our soldiers, sailors, marines, and airmen, I would make sure they are well paid and equiped. They are certainly working for it ... unlike the millions whose sole job in life is walking to the mailbox to get their well earned welfare check. Let's start with those folks first and at the same time the fat kats out there. Hmmm, I can think of one major government contractor right now, and its called CGI. :D They did a bang up job on BO-Care's web page. Wonder who they knew in the White House to get that no-bid contract. Must be nice.

Absolutely in regards to your statement on CGI. When I contract out for a home improvement I would pay a portion to the builder for materials, and one third of the labor when the materials are delivered,and stipulate when the work has progressed to a certain point then they would get the next third of the cost. There would be no additional funds until they have proven that progress equivalent to that has been made. That is not the way to buy votes though. If you send one of your political donators a few hundred million dollars of other peoples money they really do not have to deliver anything other than votes.

Read the article. Pay and quality of equipment is to the issue. The issue is the waste. The massive amount of waste in the DoD.

CGI was on the no bid list for 7 years already.

I highly doubt any person could argue there is no massive waste in the federal government. CGI Federal is a symptom of a bigger problem. It received the contract for the BO-Care disaster through its connections with the white house, and in particular the first lady. Is that new? Of course not.

Get rid of all waste in DoD and get rid of the do-nothing federal agencies and all the handouts and gifts. My guess is that Ron Paul was correct in his views of slicing the federal government down by 50% or more.

I am betting our deficit and public debt will go down too. Just a hunch. Our BO has had about 5 years to tackle this problem and our debt just hit over $17 trillion and not a peep.

It has everything to do with the sacred cow. How do you figure it doesn't? You pay the company for all kinds of unwanted or unneeded things and if my territory is a beneficiary, you bet I will scream if you want to cut it off. It is absolutely necessary for us to buy 30 rifles for each man, for example. Not because they will use it but because the rifles are made in my state and I'll fight you tooth and nail to say it is necessary. OTOH, I'll gladly cut the pork out of YOUR territory.