What's So Hard to Understand?

[XLFD]

A perfect analogy for the current 'budget battles' in the US Congress was coined by Gary Johnson recently:

 

"Imagine: You make $60,000 a year; you are spending $100,000 per year. You sit down with your banker, a credit counselor, or heaven forbid, a Bankruptcy Judge to find a way out of your obvious problem. You begin the conversation by saying you know you have to cut your spending, but you and your wife can’t agree on how to do it. You want to cut $2,000, but she only wants to cut $1,000. Never mind the fact that you don’t have a $1,000 or $2,000 problem – you have a $40,000 problem."

We know what eventually happens to such a family that lives so far beyond its means, with no realistic financial discipline shown by either of the married parties. Why would anyone expect the country to fare any different.

We are facing a financial collapse under the weight of more than a trillion dollars in deficit spending, and Washington is pretending to wage a budget battle royale over whether to cut spending by 1% or 2%.

By any reasonable math, they need to be fighting over whether to cut 40% or 45%. That is the debate the American people wanted when they turned Congress on end in last fall’s election – and that is the conversation we need to be having.

[AQUAMAN]

So true, but, it looks like this won't happen until it's too late, and by my math, maybe it's too late already. These people are so wealthy already, the concept of not getting anymore doesn't make a difference to them, they have enough to live out the next 4 lifetimes now.

[J.B]

Is everyone too young to remember when they had No bounce check's, but we corvered them

[Edie Lindsey]

Here's a point.  Some local families have went from a budget of $60,000 to $30,000 or less due to the local economy faltering.  Somehow the ones that were living within their means at $60,000 are somehow getting by at their drastically reduced rate.  We can do it as a country, as well, but we got to control our spending.

[Willy]

As long as the Republican and Democrat partys are in charge nothing will get done. Only lies will be the product of a Congress run by these inept and corrupt orginizations.

[easymoney]

I know I will get some flack for this, but, Paul Ryans budget would really start to pay off our debt. It will create pain for alot of people, even me, but drastic measures are needed, or we'll all go down the tubes together.

O'bama again wants to tax the rich???? There are 401 billionares in this country and their combined worth is 1.23 trillion, hell, O's first year budget was 1.6 tril. and over a trillion every year after that. How can we continue down this path? We can't, it'll take very drastic measures to get us out of the mess were in.

Saw today, where china is selling off our securities, and japan will have to cash in theirs to clean up after all the problems they are having. WE ARE IN SOME DEEP DO-DO FOLKS.

if you were to spend 1 dollar a second 24/7 it would take 3000years to reach 1 trillion, times that by fourteen

 

 

[AQUAMAN]

Good math easy, and well worth the investigation. Now, it's been reported that over $125Billion in waste expenditures the last year were "overpaid mistrakes (mistakes)"!!! WOW! That's 4X what the current amount Congress agreed to in cuts right now......lol. The UN payments for security have added up to over "$286Million in OVERPAID Expenditures" too. I guess they just call this errors in accounting??? You think any individual or corporation could get away with these kind of accounting discrepancies? Without being HUNG OUT to DRY? I think NOT............

[easymoney]

It's called creative acounting, I'm 68 years of age and have loved math all my life, everytime I see the stastics put out by this administration, and previeous ones, just amazes me. Exspecially labor stats, when they continue to say less people are signing up for unemploment. DUH, how many people can you let go before you close your doors.

THE ONLY REASON i EVEN MENTION MY AGE IS THE FACT THAT WITH RYANS BILL, i'M ONE WHO WOULD BE HIT HARD. But, I'm more than willing to give up some so my grandchildren will have some sort of a chance for a decent life, notice I didn't say better, someone has to pay the bills that have been run up since the Carter administration, thats where it started and has continued ever since. Reagan tried, but, couldn't get enough in place to combat the landslide that had started.

The programs Carter put in place were the beginnig of the entitlement mentality which is one of our biggest problems we are facing today. Keep people endebted to the gov. for survival and they will vote for anyone who won't take that away.

But, thats a whole new topic

[J.B]

Easy just remember one thing figures never lie, but liars figure.   I agree about carter programs.   Yesterday I mentioned to a shopper at wall mart that they could make a savings on telling the cashier about eggs being under a dollar at shop and save.   The woman said she did not care it was on her bridge card. The only fair tax we had was on food.

[easymoney]

My wife worked at a printing plant for 22 years and they closed their doors three years ago.

She's been a cashier at wal-mart for two years now and has to bite her tongue with the entitled ones who come thru her lane. The attitude of some of these feeloaders is beyong belief. They complain the loudest and the most, yet pay with their state or fed. isssued cards. More than once she has had to quell the urge to remind them who's really paying for their goods. 

If I had rent subs,electric subs, food assitance and what ever else they have, I could live much better than I do. Don't get me wrong, their are those in real need, but to many are told how to game the system.

 

My own grand daughter became preganent at 17 and was told by those in the system(employed by) not to get married because of all the benefits they could reap from the system if she stayed single . Whats that teaching the youth of our country???

[AQUAMAN]

Easy, that's one of the Planned Parenthood councilors no doubt giving that advice to gd. One of the programs the R's want cut and dried out to retirement. On the subject of INFLATION? Guess what? It's just been revealed the Gov't. statistics have not been including the price of fuel, for heat and autos, as well as food, into the equations for recent years. Now, what does that tell us? Inflation is not 3-4% or anywhere close to it, if you factor in food and fuel, (who doesn't need both each week to survive?), you would probably see inflation is really closer to 12-17%, maybe even higher. Talk about creative bookkeeping..........propaganda is alive and well.........right here at home.

[XLFD]

It looks like we may be going back to '70s style stagflation as well.  Wages are holding steady, while inflation increases.  Using simple logic, that means your paycheck is getting smaller even when its remaining the same. 

Meanwhile, all levels of government are doing what they can to get more of what you have due to their stagnant or decreased revenues, to use on projects of dubious public merit (locally, the Washington Ave. Bridge, the City Marina Transient Docks, the PM Park entrance building, the Ludington Water Towers painting, the Fairgrounds Grandstand roof, etc.) 

[masonco]

Aquaman...yes it is true that COLA does not include the increased costs of heat, food, fuel, auto insurance, and of course increased out of pocket health care costs. COLA is based on those those big ticket items that go down in price when no one can afford them.