Will the Government shut down on the 27th of March?

[Valmy]

We seemed to be fairly on track in the late 90s. I know some of that was inflated revenues due to the dotcom boom but still.

That combined with the end of the Cold War was a window we could have gotten everything back on track.  I desperately wanted aggressive action on this front but we threw it away.

[Admiral Yi]

The problem is we have been doing things this way for 30 years.  The debt crisis has been looming for awhile now, not sure why it is only the latest guy who gets the blame

Yes and no.  We have been running deficits for a long, long time.  But 8% deficits for 6 years running are unprecedented.  Bush Jr., the textbook profligate president, ran deficits of 3-5% of GDP while GDP was growing at 3%.  We're borrowing half of the federal budget annually and not that many people seem to be concerned.

...oh and call me silly but doesn't Congress control things like the budget?

That's a little beside the point.  Both houses have to agree for a budget to pass.  And Barry is flooding the airwaves telling everybody how calamitous it will be if the sequester goes through.  The sequester which, if you remember, was a last minute compromise brokered by Joe Biden and was about half what the GOP House was asking for in terms of spending cuts and about half of the spending cuts that Obama purportedly offered to Boehner in his heroic deficit reduction proposal.

Anyway the plan seems pretty clear to me, we will tank the currency eventually to handle the debt.  No paying back will ever be done seriously, if we were interested in being serious about the debt crisis we would have handled back in the 90s and early 2000's when we had the chance.

You're probably right.  Either that or we default. We're on the path to being a banana republic.  And no one seems to care.

[Grey Fox]

Of course no one cares. Big Money has done a marvelous job of controlling the message.

Everyone knows the solution, no one is willing to pay the political price for it.

[Admiral Yi]

Of course no one cares. Big Money has done a marvelous job of controlling the message.

wut?

[Grey Fox]

Of course no one cares. Big Money has done a marvelous job of controlling the message.

wut?

Super PACs.

[Razgovory]

The problem is, is that the way Obama has done it over the last four years is to take out a credit card from the Bank of China in the name of our children, driving up our national debt so that we now have over $16 trillion of debt that we are going to have to pay back — $52,000 for every man, woman and child. That's irresponsible. It's unpatriotic.

And it's unprecedented!

[derspiess]

The problem is, is that the way Obama has done it over the last four years is to take out a credit card from the Bank of China in the name of our children, driving up our national debt so that we now have over $16 trillion of debt that we are going to have to pay back — $52,000 for every man, woman and child. That's irresponsible. It's unpatriotic.

And it's unprecedented!

[CountDeMoney]

The problem is, is that the way Obama has done it over the last four years is to take out a credit card from the Bank of China in the name of our children, driving up our national debt so that we now have over $16 trillion of debt that we are going to have to pay back — $52,000 for every man, woman and child. That's irresponsible. It's unpatriotic.

And it's unprecedented!

[Admiral Yi]

Super PACs.

Super PACs have had nothing to do with it.  The only lobbying group that has touched the issue is AARP and their "don't touch my hard earned Social Security" ad campaigns.

I blame the mainstream media for buying into the gloom and doom hype about fiscal cliffs and sequesters.

[derspiess]

The problem is, is that the way Obama has done it over the last four years is to take out a credit card from the Bank of China in the name of our children, driving up our national debt so that we now have over $16 trillion of debt that we are going to have to pay back — $52,000 for every man, woman and child. That's irresponsible. It's unpatriotic.

And it's unprecedented!

Yeah, it's almost as if we've heard someone say that before.  Like maybe back in 2008?

[Razgovory]

Or 2009, 2010, 2011, and 2012.

[Valmy]

Yeah, it's almost as if we've heard someone say that before.  Like maybe back in 2008?

Ah that's an Obama quote eh?

Eh it just goes to show the BS around this issue.

[Neil]

Super PACs have had nothing to do with it.  The only lobbying group that has touched the issue is AARP and their "don't touch my hard earned Social Security" ad campaigns.

Wait, is somebody actually talking about cutting Social Security?

[Admiral Yi]

Wait, is somebody actually talking about cutting Social Security?

Mostly in the form of flags run up poles.  The GOP has asked for "entitlement reform," and Barry has made soft murmuring noises about raising the eligibility age.

[Valmy]

Wait, is somebody actually talking about cutting Social Security?

Mostly in the form of flags run up poles.  The GOP has asked for "entitlement reform," and Barry has made soft murmuring noises about raising the eligibility age.

Well we have to raise the eligibility age.  It is the only way to keep it solvent.  Medicare, on the other hand, cannot be rescued.