All Posts Tagged With: "When"

The federal government announced today that the national deficit next year will surpass half a trillion dollars. That figure doesn’t include the tens of billions of dollars in additional war funding for Iraq and Afghanistan. This in itself will force the presidential nominees to focus on the economy as the number one issue.

According to Edward Altman, a finance professor at New York University’s Stern School of Business, GM and Ford Motor Co. stand a 46% chance of going bankrupt within five years. Citigroup has laid off 11,000 employees in 2008, the largest in its history for the same time frame. Starbucks is planning to close 600 stores nation wide. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac require an emergency bail-out by the US Treasury and so far this year seven banks have defaulted, forcing the federal government to step in and make deposits good. Mutual of Omaha has taken over the First National Bank of Arizona and a myriad of other companies are having serious financial difficulties or on the verge of bankruptcy. America is in dire financial straits with no profound or laudable leadership at hand.

Obviously, with it being an election year nothing will be done. The left fights the right and we, the American people, are caught in the middle. Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid are putting a halt on the congressional vote for offshore drilling while the Republicans spend twelve billion a year in a tiresome war. Oh Mr. Roosevelt, where are you when we need you?

The deficit, slated to hit $482 billion in the 2009, is being financed by China, Japan and India in the form of US bonds. Is America selling out? What happens if one or more of these countries decides to pull the plug and cash in their holdings? It’s no different than a broker or bank calling a margin or a note, if you owe you have to pony up. Our country is on the brink of economic destruction. Whether it be a corporation, individual or government, the same economic law applies to all — you don’t outflow more than you inflow.

The national deficit is set to exceed nine and a half trillion dollars at the end of the year, the largest in history. If Senator Obama is elected we can count on more spending, tax cuts for the middle class, $150 billion of economic stimulus aimed at the “green energy sector”, Universal Health Care and an additional $60 billion in national infrastructure projects on top of dishing out more loans and financial assistance for higher education. Can America really afford all that?

On the other side, McCain is now pledging to balance the budget by the end of his first term. But previously, Senator McCain proposed a series of costly tax cuts to stimulate the ailing economy. Which is it sir?

At a campaign stop he said, “American workers and families pay their bills and balance their budgets, and I will demand the same of the government.” Sounds good, but at this point it is unclear how he plans to do so. If he intends to extend the Bush tax cuts while cutting corporate and other taxes it seems highly likely that it would increase the federal budget deficit. He has always been hawkish on balancing tax incentives by cutting spending, but in this economic climate it seems his ideas are far more chimerical than real.

All in all, I believe Mr. McCain’s ideas are better for America than the tax and spend proposition of Senator Obama, but make no mistake about it America, the next few years are going to be tenuous at best.

Finally heard from SSG Dizzy. He made it back to Iraq, safe and sound. I wasn’t expecting to hear from him for a couple more days, so it was nice chatting with him on the internet.

Shortly after the war in Iraq started, I heard about the Greek play, Lysistrata. It was being put on in a theater in Denver. I didn’t go, but I recall, while reading the review, my curiosity about the idea behind this feminist story.