Friday, February 13, 2009

The end - Fox News: "Congress passes stimulus bill"  This spending bill will push the budget deficit as a function of GDP well past anything seen since World War II.  The bottom line is: this stimulus may work, and it may not work.  But no matter what happens, the United States will owe a mountain of debt to foreign and domestic lenders, crowding out commercial lending, and pushing the federal government closer to the non-activist role I've warned about for years.

That is: Social Security and Medicare already account for more than 50% of the federal budget.  Now our interest obligations on the national debt are about to rise.  We're reaching a point where there will be no such thing as "discretionary" spending.  There will only be entitlements and debt payments.

That's our bleak, and unavoidable, future.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

As opposed to the bleak, and very avoidable, cost of Iraq.

Eric said...

Was that the Iraq war approved by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton or Vice President Joe Biden? And directed by Secretary of Defense Robert Gates? I forget.

Hope and change!

Anonymous said...

No, it's the Iraq War that elected President Barack Obama.

Duck and weave!

Bait and switch!

Cut and run!

Anonymous said...

"We're reaching a point where there will be no such thing as "discretionary" spending. There will only be entitlements and debt payments."

It's only a diaster if your forecast is the new status quo. The silver lining for me, is that I know the government will NEVER change its obscene fiscal policy, leading inextricably to total ecionomic collapse. From those ashes we can recover & rebuild a actual limited government with sound currency.

Anonymous said...

One of the things that I fear most is the historical tendency of economic collapse being followed by total dictatorship. It makes sense, actually, when people are desperate & vulnerable, they look for a strong hand to guide them out of their troubles. But with horrific consequences.

Think of France's TOTAL collapse in 1794, which led to Emperor Napoleon. Or the Weimar Republic's economic collapse which led DIRECTLY to Hitler. Or Russia's economic (and political) collapse in 1920, which led to Stalin.

I see dark days ahead.

Anonymous said...

ONLY OPRAH CAN SAVE US NOW.
OR AHHH-NOLD!

Yours is a chilling appraisal, and so true. Think also of Japan's economic collapse, which led DIRECTLY to... more of the same leadership. Or Argentina's economic collapse, which led to... Nestor Kirchner, who repudiated military rule. Or the United States' economic collapse in the early 30s, which led to... the cruel dictator FDR.

Anonymous said...

Japan's stagnation in the 90s was far from an economic collapse.

Argentina's failed economy of the early 1970s did, in fact, set the stage for a fascist coup: Pinochet.

And America's collapse in 1929? Yeah, that had nothing to do with setting the conditions for WWII.

Humour fail.

Anonymous said...

Your assessment will come as quite a happy surprise to the nation of Japan. You should email them right away.

Argentina's economic collapse occurred in 1999-2001, a decade after Pinochet left office. Also, and just as a minor aside, Pinochet was the leader of Chile. Comprehensive fail.

(Also, Pinochet was a free market deregulator who smashed unions, eliminated the minumum wage, and cut taxes. If he could somehow be revived for the 2012 Republican primaries, Sarah Palin would be toast.)

The actual example of FDR shatters your stupid hypothetical "dark days" premise, of course. Which explains your final irrelevant comment. Too bad the "conditions for World War II" were set before Roosevelt contracted polio.

Anonymous said...

I know the government will NEVER change its obscene fiscal policy, leading inextricably to total ecionomic collapse. From those ashes we can recover & rebuild a actual limited government with sound currency. One of the things that I fear most is the historical tendency of economic collapse being followed by total dictatorship. It makes sense, actually, when people are desperate & vulnerable, they look for a strong hand to guide them out of their troubles. But with horrific consequences. I see dark days ahead.

Um hum. You left out the part where the Bush/Cheney cabal diabolically cancels the 2008 elections.