Alan Blinder sees the light, but it turns out to be a train coming right at the US.At average fiscal 2011 rates, receipts cover only about 60% of expenditures. So if we hit the borrowing wall traveling at full speed, the U.S. government's total outlaysa complex amalgam that includes everything from Social Security benefits to soldiers' pay to interest on the national debtwill have to drop by about 40% immediately. How in the world do you do that? No one really knows...That translates to roughly $1.5 trillion at annual rates, or about 10% of GDP. That's an enormous fiscal contraction for any economy to withstand, never mind one in a sluggish recovery with 9% unemployment. Even contemplating such a possibility is evidence of a dark, self-destructive impulse. No, it would not be a dark impulse, but simply dealing with reality. The US has been on an unsustainable course for years. What can't continue forever, won't.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
05/19/2011 19:03 Comments ||
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#3
"How in the world do you do that? No one really knows..."
You can start by ELIMINATING the EPA, DOE, DOE, and many other "programs", Reduce all government employees pay to what the Soldiers earn,and get rid of "public" pension systems all together in favor of privatized matching retirement funds.
Former US vice-president says media giant is forcing his liberal Current TV service off air in Italy for hiring Keith Olbermann
Former US vice-president Al Gore has hit out at Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation, accusing it of "an abuse of power" by forcing his liberal TV station off air in Italy because it did not fit in with the media giant's "ideological agenda".
In an interview with the Guardian, Gore said the Current TV news and documentary channel was told unexpectedly three weeks ago that it could no longer be carried by Sky Italia because of its decision to hire a US left-leaning commentator often critical of Murdoch's company.
He added that the decision reflected how News Corporation operated worldwide. "News Corporation is an international conglomerate with an ideological agenda. It seeks political power in every nation they operate. They wield that power to shut down voices that disagree with the agenda of Rupert Murdoch," Gore said.
The decision, he added, was "a complete shock" but Current TV executives were told "off the record that the decision was taken on News Corp instructions from New York". The primary reason, he said, was "because Current is launching Keith Olbermann next month".
Olbermann who styles himself as a leftwing alternative to the rightwing shock jock journalism of Fox News worked at rival cable news network MSNBC until he left abruptly in January. This came after he was briefly suspended by MSNBC in November for making donations to three Democratic candidates in the midterm elections without seeking prior approval, in breach of company rules. "Olbermann has often been critical of News Corporation," Gore added.
I think it was the best choice. But the rumors still circulate that teh 0ne didn't want this done and tried to pull the plug at the end. I still belive this as it is his MO.
#8
RFM: A "gutsy move" would be a decision requiring "guts" ie. courage.
I'd be startled to find that 50% of Americans knew/cared enough about the relationship with Pakistan to consider it a complication to the decision. I fear Bobby is on the right track.
Posted by: James ||
05/19/2011 13:30 Comments ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
