Holy Crow!!!

[PsychoSy]

This is absolutely crazy...

NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Many economists worry that the U.S. federal budget deficit could approach a record $500 billion this year.

Few, however, have grasped that the fiscal problems facing the United States could make an itty bitty $500 billion deficit look like pocket change.

Try $44.2 trillion on for size...

Read the rest here...

http://money.cnn.com/2003/05/29/news/economy/social_security_pain/index.htm

[1stFlight]

Hey mon, *takes a long drag on some choice weed*, too worries, deficit spending is gooooooddd :)

Originally posted by PsychoSy
This is absolutely crazy...



Read the rest here...

http://money.cnn.com/2003/05/29/news/economy/social_security_pain/index.htm

[Sazar]

bah who cares about the future... lets spend it all now and let the babies to be have to worry about it... not like its going to be our problem in the future :D

[UDawg]

Ya my Republicans are turning into Democrats. :( I guess the term Republicrats is true then. :mad:

I hate em all. :mad:

[Sazar]

Originally posted by UDawg71
Ya my Republicans are turning into Democrats. :( I guess the term Republicrats is true then. :mad:

I hate em all. :mad:

I prefer the term Demopliblican

[LORD-eX-Bu]

Democraps:rofl

[DaveW]

Originally posted by 1stFlight
Hey mon, *takes a long drag on some choice weed*, too worries, deficit spending is gooooooddd :)

Yeah... the main problem is that the deficit isn't large enough... If we had even MORE tax cuts, and the deficit was 100 trillion, THEN the economy would boom ... right.

I'm glad I have dual citizenship, coz once the start sticking me with a 50% income tax i'm moving :)

[netviper13]

Hmm, looks like I'm right in worrying that my generation gets screwed once again. We'll be stuck paying for the moronic mistakes of today as well as getting kicked by the lack of social security. Stupid, stupid politicians.

[fastguy94416]

We need people in office who are not politicians, but real people that live in the real world. Anybody read Executive Orders by Tom Clancy? Thats what I'm talken about

[PsychoSy]

Tom Clancy is an ass...

Great story writer and all, but he's just plan ass as a person.

Once year at GenCon, I personally noticed something that was quite odd - Tracy Hickman (fantasy author) and Tom Clancy abruptly left the stage for a moment and came back. I noticed that Tracy looked rather embarassed, saddened, and perhaps even a bit put off. Not long after, Tom Clancy stunned everyone. He faced a large line of people hoping to get their books signed by him and simply declared, "I am NOT doing this," and walked away.

I never knew what the exchange was between Tracy Hickman and Clancy until just recently when I got the latest issue of his online newsletter.

Tracy said that he learned everything he needed to know on how NOT to be famous from Tom Clancy and give his perspective on what took place. During a lull, Tracy approached Clancy with a pen and a copy of one of his books and humbly asked Tom if he would sign it.

Clancy at first ignored him and when Tracy didn't walk away, Tom whirled on him. He stood up and motioned Tracy to follow him off stage. Once off stage, he turned to Tracy and, with seething anger, said to him something like, "What in the HELL is the matter with you?!? If I sign this book, everyone else will want their damned books signed..." Tracy babbled back something incorherant (I've met Tracy and he's a very humble, meek sort of guy - soft spoken and stuff) and Tom hurriedly signed the book.

This sparked everyone else wanting their books signed and Tom Clancy pretty much blew them off. Tracy said in the newsletter that when you're a best-selling author, you are famous. Millions of people are purchasing and reading your books, making you what you are today. He also tells that whenever he and his co-author Margaret Weis does book signing tours, sometimes they are really, really slow (hardly anyone in line) and often times, you're so busy signing a book every 15 seconds that it is maddening. However, Tracy and Margaret have always stayed hours over their scheduled appearance to make sure everyone in line gets their book signed. It's the most precious 15 seconds of one-on-one interaction between the author and ordinary folks that help pay his bills - it's the LEAST a best-selling author can do. That 15 seconds can inspire other people to become writers themselves or shatter their hopes and dreams - all depending on how you - the author - conduct yourself.

Tracy admits that the busy signing events can and usually are nerve wracking but says every single time he sees those long lines that trail from the bookstore out into the parking lots or food courts of the malls filled with people, he's always overwhelmed by it - not because signing all thier books will take 3-4 hours or so but because it's a loud and clear indication of how mant lives you've personally touched over the years. It's intimidating and exciting all at the same time. If these people can stand in line for hours patiently waiting on you (some of them cradling their children in the arm not cradling your novels), the least you can give them in return is 15 seconds of personal interaction. It's not that big of a deal.

In the eyes of Tom Clancy, however, it is a big deal.

[digitalwanderer]

Originally posted by Sazar
I prefer the term Demopliblican

Y'know what? Screw 'em all, I'm becoming a Flibblecrat! :mad:

[DaveW]

Originally posted by netviper13
Hmm, looks like I'm right in worrying that my generation gets screwed once again. We'll be stuck paying for the moronic mistakes of today as well as getting kicked by the lack of social security. Stupid, stupid politicians.

The main problem started when the troops returned home after the end of world war two. They all jumped into bed with the wifes and sweethearts and started breeding like rabbits. Now all the people born from that baby boom are old and retired. Add to that the increase in life expectancy due to newer medicines etc. There are simply too many old people in the country and not enough people of working age to support them. There is no easy solution, except a cull ;)

[320mb]

Originally posted by UDawg71
Ya my Republicans are turning into Democrats. :( I guess the term Republicrats is true then. :mad:
I hate em all. :mad:

Hey, you just coined a new talking point phrase! Republicrats.....it might just be true:eek:

[1stFlight]

One thing they've done is to raise the age limit on when you can draw from the pot. If you're in you're 20's now, don't expect to see anything until your late 70's... *checks his 401K*, *sighs* nope no sign of relief there either.

Originally posted by DaveW
The main problem started when the troops returned home after the end of world war two. They all jumped into bed with the wifes and sweethearts and started breeding like rabbits. Now all the people born from that baby boom are old and retired. Add to that the increase in life expectancy due to newer medicines etc. There are simply too many old people in the country and not enough people of working age to support them. There is no easy solution, except a cull ;)

[fastguy94416]

I never offered up Clancy as a person, only his ideas as presented in the book.

[legion88]

Originally posted by PsychoSy
This is absolutely crazy...



Read the rest here...

http://money.cnn.com/2003/05/29/news/economy/social_security_pain/index.htm

But those are projected figures. They may not come true. Best to stick with what we know now...That is, fix problems that we know that is occuring.

But unfortunately, we have too many religiously motivated white trash folks calling for "tax cuts" and more public spending on religious education, not to mention pushing deceit into science class (which I assume has no cost to it, other than the price of removing honesty from schools).

And, of couse, these folks also lie about the deficit, the debt, and how to get rid of the debt.

As of May 29, 2003, the US debt stands at $6,556,905,547,599.90. That's 6.6 trillion dollars (http://www.publicdebt.treas.gov/opd/opdpenny.htm). As of end of April, we taxpayers coughed up $174,695,193,948.71 to pay just the interest on the debt (http://www.publicdebt.treas.gov/opd/opdint.htm). That's 174 billion dollars paid out in 7 months (going by FISCAL years, not calendar years). The money is not used to pay for the defense. It does not pay for education, medicare, medicaid, or anything like that. It is just to pay the interest on the debt.

To put the interest payments in persepective, 174 billion dollars is equivalent to about 620 dollars for every man, woman, and child in the US. An average household has 2.7 people. That's about 1700 dollars extra spending money per household. That's not a one time thing like the $300 "pay for your vote" buyout that I got from George Jr. That's 1700 extra dollars every year. Keep in mind that this is only for the 7 months worth of interest payments.

Over the course of an entire fiscal year, we will be bleeding out 300 billion dollars a year on interest payments. Or nearly 2900 extra spending money per household if it wasn't for the debt.

To put it in simple terms, our taxes would have been lower if it wasn't for the debt.