Please ignore the link below for now, just read on, we'll come back to it:
TheFundamentals consistently brings you two reminders -
One, at the very top of our website page - you can read what America's number one military man had to say during a time of great wailing and hand wringing over the various threats to America's national security. Some said it was fundamentalist Islamics. Some said it was WMD. Some said it was government bureaucrats (put us in this category). Some said it was global warming. Some said it was high sugar content soft drinks - cigarettes - cheap whisky - California wine - rap music - Hillary Clinton's pant suit color schemes. In a few very understandable words, Admiral Mullen delegates all these other concerns to second place, or lower, status and focuses our attention on the key concern: DEBT.
Always. Always, remember: Deficits = Debt = Destruction.
Our second reminder is in the right column. The up-to-the-minute debt tally reminder. At this very moment we are drafting this essay, the debt tally reminder says we owe: $16,738,767,256,596.67
If you look now, it is most likely higher. The debt goes up and up and up which means the threat to our national security goes up and up and up. Stop blaming the Muslims - blame the bureaucrats who overreact to the Muslims which is why this essayist says its government bureaucrats who are to blame.
Into this fray now arrives additional information and it is not good.
We vaguely know that the federal reserve is buying up debt - a lot of it at very low interest rates. Never a good idea. Common sense would tell you that no one should be buying up any debt issued at a historic low point in interest rates. The reason is simple - when rates rise, the value of the debt declines. Regardless, the geniuses at the federal reserve keep buying more and more debt. Meanwhile our savings keep losing value.
But lets get to the heart of the matter, as the Eagles would say. We frequently compare our debt level to GDP or national income or some such metric to show that we are not as bad off as others. You know who the others are, the usual suspects: Greece, Italy, Spain, Somalia, etc. We always say - we're not there - we're not like you - we are in control of our situation.
Nonsense. Pure, unadulterated propaganda. Be it David Axelrod or his mouthpiece, Barack Obama. Be it Ben Bernanke or his mouthpiece, Barack Obama. Be it John Maynard Keynes, Paul Krugman and their mouthpiece, Barack Obama. The situation is dire. And here is why.
America has a lot more debt out there than is represented by the number the federal government discloses - $16,738,767,256,596.67. We have 50 states and we have hundreds of cities, counties, school and park districts and they all have one thing in common - debt. They love to issue debt. They have gone crazy issuing debt. And, on top of issuing debt we can account for - they create future obligations which are much more difficult to count. How much you ask? Well, remember that link at the top of this essay - please go back and click on it now.
That link takes you to this report which tells you the following:
- The states spend $2.5 trillion annually, employ 19 million people or 15% of all working Americans.
- They estimate than nearly every state in America has accumulated future obligations of between 1 and 3 trillion dollars. (Aside: many of these states today are insolvent - obviously many more are on the road to insolvency. The road to insolvency leads to bankruptcy.)
- The report includes a chart showing the ten best states for dealing with their employee pension obligations and the ten worst. We encourage you to click on the report link and, at a minimum, read this chart. If you care to know where commerce and income and employment and economic growth will most likely be occurring and where it most likely will be struggling - glance at the chart. Caution: teaser to follow. Guess which of the ten worst states has the highest unfunded pension liability? Hint: it has something to do with your great leader and no, its not Hawaii.
This report is an indictment of America's governing personnel. There is no other way to look at it - those of us who work in the private sector - who go about our business, pay our taxes, hold up our end of the compact - have been taken to the cleaners by those we have elected to office and those who we have hired and paid to run the public sector while we run the private sector.
The report doesn't say it quite as directly as we just did but here is a direct quote from the report:
"States do not account to citizens in ways that are transparent, timely, or accessible."
In other words, they deliberately mask and delay reporting facts and then they withhold the information so that we don't really know what is going on. If you are part of the 49% that attempted to change things in November 2012, good for you. We encourage you to stay the course. If you are part of the 51% that voted for the majority party candidates and, this is important, consider yourself an INFORMED voter, all TheFundamentals can ask of you is this, "What are you possibly thinking? What does it take to get you to wake up?" You have now been informed!
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