| Submit your comments on this article |
| Home Front: Politix |
| Steyn on our decline |
| 2010-10-26 |
| Within a decade, the United States will be spending more of the federal budget on its interest payments than on its military-and thatÂ’s not because the Pentagon is such a great bargain. In 2009, the US spent about $665 billion on its military, the Chinese about $99 billion. If Beijing continues to buy American debt at the rate it has in recent times, then within a few years US interest payments on that debt will be covering the entire cost of the Chinese military. By 2015, the PeopleÂ’s Liberation Army, which is the largest employer on the planet, will be entirely funded by US taxpayers. When the Commies take Taiwan, suburban families in Connecticut and small businesses in Idaho will have paid for it. The existential questions for America loom not decades hence but right now. We face not genteel Euro-style decline cushioned by America, but something faster, wrenching and far more convulsive - with nobody to cushion it. In America, one party is openly committed to driving the nation off the cliff, and the other party is full of guys content to go along for the ride as long as we shift down to third gear. ThatÂ’s no longer enough of a choice. If your candidate isnÂ’t committed to fewer government agencies with fewer employees on lower rates of pay, heÂ’s part of the problem. This is the last chance for the GOP to restore its credentials. If it blows it, all bets are off for 2012. |
| Posted by:Nimble Spemble |
| #12 There 'ya go, and each child in this holy union could have a pony. |
| Posted by: Zombie Hillary Lover 2010-10-26 20:16 |
| #11 Said it before - I'll say it again - repudiate the debt - declare bankruptcy and start over - we'll have all the infrastructure instantly paid off, every other nation holding worthless paper and the opportunity to renegotiate our treaty status worldwide . . . |
| Posted by: Pancho Angise6853 2010-10-26 18:40 |
| #10 Yeah sure, fire up the ole chronoshere. How about getting the House in order, pull an audit and find out where and why that $2T went to fix the carpets when the roof still leaks. |
| Posted by: swksvolFF 2010-10-26 14:58 |
| #9 Tipping point. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2010-10-26 13:30 |
| #8 I still think that the Dems are going to get slaughtered in the upcoming election. Here in Canada and back in 1993 (1994?), people were sick of Mulroney and his crew (although he jumped ship a few months before the election and left Campbell holding the bag). Everybody knew they'd lose the election but very few foresaw the slaughter. The Progressive Conservative party went from something near 200 seats down to 2. Methinks something like this will happen on Nov 2. |
| Posted by: Chemist 2010-10-26 13:00 |
| #7 He was written off as a fool when he said Newt drew district boundaries. Wouldn't matter how well he wrote it. |
| Posted by: Nimble Spemble 2010-10-26 11:26 |
| #6 746: "Just sayin..." You have said nothing intelligible. Do you think you are cute writing this way? Write properly or be written off as a fool. |
| Posted by: Whiskey Mike 2010-10-26 11:09 |
| #5 both parties or far more polorized since "the Newt" decided to rearrange the districts, therby eliminating any moderate dems or repub.s they no longer have to work with both party constituencies and therefor can be as radical, partisan and extreme as they like. GREAT. what about the rest of us, THE PEOPLE" politicians of both cuts have been ignoring the fate of the USA for a couple decades now with the result being that we have sold the golden goose to the highest bidder : CHINA. should have let MacAurthur do his job and mow over ASIA, but hindsight is always 20-20. just sayin........... |
| Posted by: 746 2010-10-26 09:32 |
| #4 Things will not be better in two years. We may have not yet even reached the trough in the housing disaster. There are over 10 months of housing inventory on hand. Prices are declining now that the cash for closets program has ended and will continue to decline for at least 6 months. Bernanke is getting ready to unleash QE2 after the election which will result in uncontrolled inflation or skyrocketing interest rates later. The only good thing that will happen in the next two years is gridlock. We are borrowing money from the Chinese to fool ourselves into believing problems don't have to be accompanied by pain. China will probably continue to accept our debased debt to keep their bubble from bursting, but no one else will. When we have another failed Treasury auction, say next summer, the wheels may fall off the train. We have dug a deep hole over the last 60 years. A lifetime of profligacy. Things may be decent in 4-6 years, but not much sooner, and not without a lot more pain. Before it is over, each of us will have serious doubts about the viability of the country. That's what it took to end slavery and fascism and that is what it will take to put the stake through the heart of the nanny state and her dependents. |
| Posted by: Nimble Spemble 2010-10-26 09:29 |
| #3 I think the Pubs are going to take next week's election -- though the dead, the non-existent, and the Undocumented Democrats will cut the margin. A proportion of the new congressmen will be co-opted by the system, but things will still improve over the next two years. B.O. will take the credit for that and in 2012 the Pubs will lose seats. The co-opted will be weeded, unless the Tea Party movement dies of boredom. By 2020 the Pubs will be much more ideologically uniform -- which'll probably be a bad thing -- and the candidates fielded will be much more electable. My guess, however, is that the Barney Franks will continue wielding more power than is good for the country and that the plummet off the cliff will at best be slowed to a downhill slide. |
| Posted by: Fred 2010-10-26 09:10 |
| #2 I don't think 2 years is long enough for the GOP to restore its credentials ??????????????? |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2010-10-26 06:05 |
| #1 I don't think 2 years is long enough for the GOP to restore its credentials, and there will be more trials & tribulations yet to come in the interval. We are in a pickle. |
| Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 2010-10-26 00:19 |