We Been Robbed
Thus conscience does make cowards of us all,
And thus the native hue of resolution
Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought,
And enterprise of great pitch and moment
With this regard their currents turn awry
And lose the name of action
--Hamlet, Shakespeare
_____________
The American predicament in a nutshell, courtesy Wall Street Journal (Washington is Quietly Repudiating Its Debts):
And thus the native hue of resolution
Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought,
And enterprise of great pitch and moment
With this regard their currents turn awry
And lose the name of action
--Hamlet, Shakespeare
_____________
The American predicament in a nutshell, courtesy Wall Street Journal (Washington is Quietly Repudiating Its Debts):
"As Milton Friedman long ago taught us, government spending is the ultimate tax on the economy: It extracts real resources from productive, private use and puts them to unproductive, public use. And there is the rub."
"We are at a Smithian moment, in which the temptation for the Fed to spend its last dime of credibility may prove irresistible. Investors are already being taxed by inflation and can rationally expect that tax rate (the inflation rate) to be raised going forward. Wages are not keeping up. Main Street is being taxed to fund Wall Street excess. Anyone who works, saves and invests is exposed to confiscation of his capital and earnings through inflation."
Yup, that's about all of us. Profligate expenditure and debt structure is encouraged by U.S. government policy. It is smarter business in America to spend then it is to save.
And there is the rub.
Labels: government's ripping you off, governmental confiscation of capital, greenspan policy
posted by rangeragainstwar at 9:42 PM
7 Comments:
"...In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist. We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes. We should take nothing for granted. Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals so that security and liberty may prosper together." (Pres. Dwight D. Eisenhower, "Farewell Address", 17 January 1961)
A recent report from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities:
• There has been no rapid rise in funding for domestic discretionary programs in recent years; in fact these programs have shrunk both
as a share of the budget and as a share of the economy.
• In contrast, funding for defense and related
programs has exploded. Since 2001, it has jumped at an annual average rate of 8 percent, after adjusting for inflation and population —
four times faster than the average rate of growth for Social Security, Medicare, and
Medicaid (2 percent), and 27 times faster than the average rate for growth for domestic
discretionary programs (0.3 percent).
• Funding for defense and related programs has shot up by 2 percent of GDP in just seven years. It is expected to take more than two
decades for Social Security to grow by two percent of GDP.
• Even when costs for Iraq, Afghanistan, and the
“global war on terror” are EXCLUDED, funding for
the regular defense budget has risen at a stunning rate that dwarfs the growth rates for
all parts of the domestic budget.
• The combined effect of the Administration’s tax
cuts and its defense spending increases (including the war) has been a budget deterioration equal to 3.3 percent of GDP since
2001. By contrast, increases in costs for all domestic programs combined have cost a little
less than 0.6 percent of GDP.
FURTHER...
U.S. Federal Budget 2009:
$2,650,000,000,000 (Two TRILLION, 650 BILLION DOLLARS)...
*54%(1.44 TRILLION DOLLARS) of which is MILITARY spending
*46%(1.21 TRILLION DOLLARS) of which is NON-MILITARY (divided amongst Health and Human Services, Social Security, Education, Justice, State Department, HUD, Labor Department, EPA, Agriculture, Transportation, Interior, et al)
*$60.8 BILLION of which is interest on our national debt
*$17.5 BILLION of which is for domestic "Homeland Security"
*$94 BILLION of which is for ALL Veterans benefits
Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military-industrial_complex
http://www.cbpp.org/3-5-08bud.pdf
http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget/fy2009/index.html
i concur with the previous poster about u.s. military out of america. these drunken babykillers have no business coming home to a democratic republic.
i'm sticking my monkey wrench into the military-industrial complex after i get done with this here busty redhead.
Tanya's Daddy: We don't concur at all. The only "drunken baby killers" are in Washington, D.C. Make an attempt to read between the lines. I have no more to say to you.
MC, thanks for the input.It seems by the figures that the military side of the equationgets the grease. jim
I think there might be a few in Pensacola as well. My intelligence indicates that they have begun the process of assimilating the entire northern part of Florida. I guess "resistance is futile," eh my captain?
i once made the mistake to saying to master chief norr:
it's the squeaky wheel that gets the grease.
he spit tobacco juice on my toe and said:
it's also the first one that's replaced. polish them boots.
MB,
I always thought SEALS polished their shoes with tobacco juice; at the very least, old Hersey bars.
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