The whole critical mass thing is what scares me. I understand that this is America, and I understand that Americans really do not believe anything truly bad can happen to them for they think they can vote next time around and keep arguing later. The problem is, the real world does not work that way. Bad things do happen.
Whats my point? Mathematics.
I have no problem debating the political issues but people treat the money problem as if it were a political issue. By the time the arguing is getting heated up really well this whole show is going to come to a crashing stop. While I believe there is so much that we need to accomplish I sincerely question if there is any time left. My background comes from two major places and it is why I focus on these areas so much. First my experience working in intel and all that went with that game such as counter insurgency, secondly my experience with markets.
What I see shaping is a very serious conflict. Years ago I would have never imagined this possible, now its in my face and so obvious.
My question is, does anyone here who is far more political savey than I am and that also FULLY understands the mathematics behind this nightmare believe that a tragic end can be avoided? By the end of Obamas term, based upon the spending ability he has already enacted, we will be reaching a 100% debt to GDP threshold and that is only 1/10 of the problem. This is beyond critical mass, its going to be a nightmare.
Hi,
I get about six newlsetters daily from various parts of the world. They all agree, the doo-doo is going to hit the fan. The conventional thinking is that the government is trying to inflate the economy to pay off the massive debt with worthless dollars. Of course that will devastate the baby boomers when they see their life savings will barely buy a loaf of bread.
Also, there are a lot of folks that compare the impending crisis to the 1929 crash, food could easily be in short supply. The major difference is in that time, most Americans were either living on a farm or one generation away from the farm, they could live of the land and many did. Particularly the welfare population in the inner cities will have no clue....which could lead to some real issues. We could easily get into some really ugly stuff........and that is when our nation is most vulnerable to a communist take over. More than one publication I read has mentioned that people will give up freedom for security.
Now I would never say they are doing this, but just suppose Acorn was behind all kinds of stuff, I mean really bad stuff causing our population to feel more threatened than any of us could imagine. Then a miracle worker, Lord Zero slips in and says if you the population do this and do that, I can bring it all under control. Worked for Hitler, Castro and Chavez........
I have a bit more positive outlook however. I think that in the mid term elections much of their bullet proof majority will go away. Good chance Pelosi will ride into the sunset. Democrats are Americans too, which is sometimes hard to believe, and they see themselves being led off a cliff. Truthfully, I hope we get a leader with the real moral authority to lead, like a Schwartzkov or a Tommie Frank, who is beholden to no political party and has the skill to cut through the crap and get things fixed.
It was many years ago when my daughter and her husband went through a course about families managing their money. At the time they were up to their eyeballs in debt, had more credit cards than I could imagine, paying the minimum each month of most all of them. Now their youngest child, my grandson, has cerebral palsy so it was easy to justify spending because you need this, that or the other thing. She called me and told me about the workshop they attended and fessed up to her dad just how far in the hole they were. I was not so sure she was not asking dear old dad to bail her out....and I took a deep breath and said, "Wow, what are you going to do about it?' I was shocked. Basically she and her husband had sat down together and put together a financial plan and it would take them seven long years but they could do it. Each time they would cut up another credit card she would call and I would cheer with her on the phone. Now with inflation, and their self imposed spending reductions, they actually did it in five years and oh how their lives have changed.
I tell you that story because the worst thing I could have done would have been to send them money because their behavior would have just continued. At the same time a frank assessment of where you are, determining the difference between needs and wants when it comes to spending can come a long way to getting on the right track. I am a believer that many folks never learn how to manage money until they do not have any.
Politicians who pride themselves on bringing home the bacon for the folks back home need to be ridiculed and replaced with those who realize they have better chances of getting reelected if they do the opposite, cut every unnecessary expenditure out of the budget they can. I seriously doubt that Murtha, a pork king with his stupid airport that has no flights thought that all that spending in his distirct got him back in office. My guess is where he comes from Mickey Mouse with a (D) next to his name would have got elected.
OK, my point is this. It can be done, yes over a long period of time our fiscal problems can get back under control. We must first start with a congress with the
will to get it done.....and perhaps term limits for congress might help a lot. WWII was credited as ending the great depression but folks fail to realize the budget was balanced when that happened. Borrowing another trillion for a war this time makes things worse.
On a personal note, be prepared for survival, invest in assets that will rise with inflation because your dollars will be worthless. If you can get a good bit of your money out of the country, yes even your IRA, (which is totally legal to do by the way, government just does not want folks to know it), so it is more difficult for the government to get their hands on it. There are now folks who specialize in getting IRA's offshore, then using some of the money to invest in rental property (you cannot live there). Very hard for Pelosi and friends to repatriate real estate.
Just some thoughts, it can be done and the conservatives must have the will power to force our elected leaders to do so.
regards,
5412
