The US doesn't have a 115T debt - just another author getting eyeballs with shock-value and guestimation.
It's mind-boggling where people come up with these ridiculous numbers. Saying the US is 115T in debt is the same as saying I'm 100k in debt when you add up my CC debt of, say $10k, and adding my future electric and gas bill to the 10k to get to the 100k. Indeed, the debt levels of the US are insanely high but I would think many of the future obligations would be paid for thru taxes, yes? Debt in the US need to be aggressively reduced -- period! But it's complete nonsense to say the US is 115T in debt.
I agree about the saving. The American consumer sees that, despite rhetoric to the contrary, the "rich fat cats" are the only ones being lavished with bailouts, bonuses, and jobs while everyone else is left to fend for themselves. So they save, which slows economic growth since we are still a consumer economy. At first I was surprised by how badly the stimulus has flopped so far. But, it is the same old tired story: give all the money to the top of the bureaucratic ladder, and, by the time it trickles down to the point where it could do some good by creating jobs, there is very little left.
Not so fast.... Our Govt has shown itself, no matter who's in the WH or Congress, to be unable to rein in spending. Now, it's not so much the bailouts like TARP and TALF that are the problem. It's the spending inside those bills (millions for wooden arrows?!?!?!WTF??), plus our new Health Care Bill, that are driving up our debt to GDP ratio like never before. The cost of administering ANY National Health Plan is going to increase our national debt geometrically. Add in the bureaucracy to administer this disaster, and within a decade you're looking at an exponential rise in federal debt. Ladies & Gentlemen, it's all about gaining, and then controlling, a voting base of teat suckers.
A simple solution ???? No one can run for a political office that does not have a SUCCESSFUL REAL CAPITALISM job working background.... This would eliminate 99.9% of the current crop of Polys....ESPECIALLY INCLUDING THE PRESIDENT.... They are like children.... Who do not like to admit that they have a "REAL" working father.... THAT GIVES THEM A MONTHLY ALLOWANCE
The real teat suckers are the ones that drink this op-ed crap down without questioning the assumptions made by the author.
Whatever the actual debt totals are we can both agree the US is on a course that ends in a debt default. I'm a pretty good student of history and I've spent some time studying how empires have fallen and the US is on a one-way street to collapse but I think we have a few more decades yet to go. The standard of living will fall much farther before the US defaults.
I would take it at least one step further.... and that is have it also be a requirement that any presidential candidate must have served in the military... full time, active duty. "Reservists only" would not qualify. As a military man myself (and with significant service from other family members)... I want my Commander In Chief to have genuine military experience... (I heard Montel Williams once state, "You never forget those with whom you've served". That is 100% true. And if that has also been in combat, it's a whole 'nother level of comradeship. The Commander In Chief should FEEL that before he orders our young men into battle where they might be killed and their families severely impacted...) If you have served on foreign soil, you understand where I'm coming from....
........................................................................................ This would eliminate 99.99995% OF THOSE CURRENTLY IN OFFICE..... THE SOONER...THE BETTER....