...we're in trouble.
Watch Congressman Pete Stark (language alert!) ripping up an interviewer who seems to be asking some valid questions about our debt.
"The more we owe, the wealthier we are."
This is news to me, but I guess some in Congress believe it!
"Some in Washington say the tax system is still not progressive enough. However, the recent IRS data bolsters the findings of an OECD study released last year showing that the U.S.—not France or Sweden—has the most progressive income tax system among OECD nations. We rely more heavily on the top 10 percent of taxpayers than does any nation and our poor people have the lowest tax burden of those in any nation."
Who will we soak now?
Says The Economist:
"At the start of this month the once golden state started paying creditors, including those owed tax refunds, business suppliers and students expecting grants, in IOUs. California’s governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, also said that the gap between projected outgoings and income for the current fiscal year has leapt to a horrible $26 billion. With no sign of a new budget to close this chasm, one credit agency has already downgraded California’s debt. As budgets are cut, universities will let in fewer students, prisoners will be released early and schemes to protect the vulnerable will be rolled back."
That headline's not talking about me, but the real "Domain King," Rick Schwartz, who posted his first gloom and doom rant today. The millionaire domainer, known for telling people to get out there and make opportunities, is really good at math. So good at math that he knows the USA is headed into the abyss. (His words, not mine.)
Folks, start paying attention. The standard of living throughout the USA is going down for the first time in my life. The government now owns the auto industry. Now owns the banking industry. Now owns and controls the mortgage industry. Has their eyes on the Insurance industry. The government has basically destroyed the corporate bond market when they told the GM bondholders they would not get their money.
Madoff’s 65 billion is a drop in the bucket to the trillions the government is taking. You won’t see an immediate impact. But I can tell you that the NUMBERS prove that everyone’s taxes will be raised significantly and in all types of different areas.
Sorry my friends, but once a government takes more than 50% of your earning as taxes, you are no longer free. You are a slave or an indentured servant at best. If you had the NERVE to sit down and do the NUMBERS, you would already see we are just a hair under 50%. That will change in the coming years and the standard of living likely won’t recover for many decades.
The evidence is mounting. This is my FIRST doom and gloom post. The seeds that are being planted are poisonous. The fall will be a disaster. The question becomes what is their answer in January 2010 when things have deteriorated and are much worse than they were in January 2009?
btw, the North Koreans have been hacking into the State Departments computers for the past 5 days. This is where we keep many of our most closely held secrets. The government said yesterday that the department with the job of protecting our national security only has the budget for 100 people. Are they kidding??!! Maybe some of that $18 million could have hired another 100.
As Rick always says, have a great day!
Only in America... or California:
Dozens of protesters, some of them in wheelchairs, blocked the hallway outside Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's Capitol office for hours Tuesday to protest proposed cuts to health and social service programs.
Spokeswoman Denika Boardman said that 15 to 20 of the participants were willing to be arrested, if necessary, to press their case that the state needs new revenue to help balance its $26.3 billion budget hole.
The protest, called People's Day of Reckoning, began about 1 p.m. and was still going strong about 5 p.m. Organizers said the event drew about 120 people at its height, dropping to about 75 within a couple hours.
California Highway Patrol Capt. Bob Ghiglieri said the demonstration was peaceful, public safety was not endangered, and that no decision had been made late Tuesday afternoon on dispersing the group.
The protest was organized by a coalition that included various Independent Living Centers, disability-rights groups, health-care advocates, in-home support service providers, and the state council of Service Employees International Union, participants said.
"Without this service," I'd be in a nursing home or an institution," Nick Feldman, a wheelchair-bound, 33-year-old Berkeley resident said of in-home support services for frail Californians that are targeted for budget cuts.
Some demonstrators carried signs with slogans such as "No More Cuts" and "Tax Big Oil." Nearly 20 of the protesters parked their wheelchairs in a giant semicircle to help block the first-floor hallway.
We can expect to see lots more of this... think of it as an anti-tea party. When literally half or close to half of the population is receiving government aid and the other half says "no mas" we are in trouble.
No one seems to know, but I think it's a lot more than anyone thinks. The National Center for Policy Analysis says that Social Security and Medicare "lost" $5 trillion just last year in the sense that $5T was added to the unfunded liability of those programs.
Basically there isn't enough money in the universe to pay for these future claims. See the attached 2-page PDF report.
