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发帖数: 901 | 1 Today, our national federal debt far exceeds $15 trillion. This alone is not
a serious problem. The interest we pay on these debts is small – thanks to
the trust of our creditors, who, for the moment, continue to believe
America is a safe bet.
So… what's the problem? The main problem is the amount of debt we owe
continues to increase at a faster and faster pace. This is exceptionally
dangerous for two simple reasons. First, there's simple math. When numbers
compound, the result is geometric expansion. And that's happening right now
with our national debt because we continue to borrow money to pay the
interest. And we have done so for about 40 years. Think about it this way:
How big would your debts be today if you'd been using credit cards to pay
your mortgage for the last several decades?
Even worse, our debts are compounding at an accelerating pace because we
lack the political ability to limit the federal government's spending.
Please understand… I'm not pointing the finger at any politician or either
political party. I'm simply pointing out a fact: This year's $3.6 trillion
federal budget is 20% larger than the entire 2008 budget. And while our
government has grown at a record pace, our economy hasn't. It has hardly
grown at all. Thus, this will be the fourth year in a row we set a record
for deficit spending. Never before in peacetime has our government borrowed
this much money. And now, it's borrowing record amounts every year.
This combination of borrowing record amounts of money (during peacetime)
and continuing to borrow the money we need to pay the interest is setting
the stage for a massive increase in total federal debt levels. Why is this
happening? Don't our leaders realize they can't continue on this path?
Well… the problem isn't so simple to fix. What we face isn't a $15
trillion problem. It's actually much, much bigger…
The $15.3 trillion we owe today is really only a minor down payment on
promises the federal government made to its most important creditors – the
American people. Not yet included in our debt totals are the $15 trillion
shortfall in Social Security (thanks to the Democrats), the $20 trillion
unfunded prescription drug benefit (thanks to the Republicans), or the $115
trillion unfunded Medicare liability (thanks to the Democrats and
Republicans).
Most people ignore these looming liabilities because they obviously will
never be paid. In fact, the federal government's total obligations today –
including all future obligations – is more than $1 million per taxpayer.
And that's if you assume all 112 million taxpayers really count. (They don't
. Only about 50 million people in the U.S. pay any substantial amount of
federal income taxes.)
But here's the funny part… While everyone seems ready to ignore these
obligations, we've already begun to pay them. Our spending on Medicare and
Social Security already greatly exceeds the $800 billion in payroll taxes we
're collecting to pay these benefits. (Total spending on Social Security and
Medicare last year was more than $1.5 trillion.) And that means our actual
debts will continue to compound faster and faster every year, assuming
nothing is done to curtail these benefits.
I want to make sure you understand this fact: It doesn't matter how much (
or how little) Congress chooses to cut its discretionary budget. The
promises we've already made to Americans in the form of Social Security and
Medicare guarantee that our debts will continue to compound faster and
faster, every year. How do I know?
Once again… let's return to basic math. Right now, we're spending (at the
federal level) $2.4 trillion per year on transfer payments and interest on
our national debt. That doesn't include any of the other functions of the
government – nothing else. Meanwhile, we are only collecting $2.3 trillion
a year in income, payroll, and corporate taxes.
Let me make sure you understand this: Even if we cut every other government
program – including the entire military budget – the federal revenue
collected still wouldn't be enough to merely cover the costs of our direct
transfer payments. Not even close. And every year, these payments will
automatically grow.
Here's another way to look at the same basic numbers, but on a macro scale.
Right now, total government spending in the U.S. equals $7 trillion per
year. (That's federal, state, and local.) Total interest paid in the U.S.
economy on all debts, public and private, equals $3.7 trillion. The size of
our total economy is only $15 trillion. Thus, we are currently spending $10
trillion (out of $15 trillion) on our government and debt. This is
unprecedented in all of American history. This financial structure is
unsustainable – and extremely unstable, given our debt levels.
There's the bigger problem (yes, it gets worse). The political solution to
our soaring deficits will most likely be higher taxes. Yes, technically that
's a prediction… And I promised no predictions in this piece. But let's
face it. You will never see the federal government make dramatic, meaningful
cuts to its promised benefits – not when half the country pays no federal
taxes and more than 40 million people are on food stamps. So it's not really
a prediction – it's a political reality. Will higher taxes save us?
No. You cannot squeeze blood from a stone. The federal debt isn't the
largest obligation we suffer under. Americans hold nearly $1 trillion in
credit card debt. We hold nearly $1 trillion in student loans. Total
personal debt in America is larger ($15.9 trillion) than all of the federal
debt. In total – adding up all of our debts, public and private –
Americans owe close to $700,000 per family. It is not possible to finance
our federal government's spending via taxes because the American people are
broke. Total debt levels in America are the highest – by far – of any
developed nation.
Tax the rich, you say. Well, of course. But marginal rates in many places
are already greater than 50%. Tax rates this high don't work… They actually
reduce tax revenues as people move their economic activities elsewhere to
avoid taxes… or even simply forgo working. | s*********8
发帖数: 901 | 2 Total
personal debt in America is larger ($15.9 trillion) than all of the federal
debt. | s*********8
发帖数: 901 | 3 The largest, tallest skyscraper in the Southeast U.S. – the 55-story Bank
of America Plaza in Atlanta – is going to auction on the courthouse steps
tomorrow. The $363 million BofA Plaza loan became delinquent in December
2011 after the owner, commercial real estate firm BentleyForbes, stopped
making payments.
In Atlanta's largest real estate deal, BentleyForbes bought the 1.25 million
-square-foot building in 2006 for $436 million from Bank of America and real
estate investment trust Cousins Properties. Since the 2007 peak, the Plaza
has lost 54% of its value… The Plaza was appraised in March at $202 million.
While the Plaza is the highest-profile Atlanta building in delinquency, it's
far from the only one… Atlanta has the highest rate of late payments on
commercial mortgage-backed securities (loans on commercial property that
have been bundled into securities) at 25.3%. That's up from 10.4% a year ago
and more than triple the national average of 7%.
BentleyForbes paid $348.80 per square foot for Bank of America Plaza in
2006. Replacement cost is around $320 per square foot. The new buyer could
conceivably buy this trophy property for half of replacement costs. That's a
great deal. You just have to have enough cash to cover the note while
improving the building and attracting new tenants. Its biggest tenant, Bank
of America, said it would reduce the space it leases from 30% to 15%… and
the rate will drop by half, Fitch Ratings said in a December report. Ernst &
Young, which had leased 196,000 square feet, left for a new building in
2007.
The 1,023-foot-tall tower would be the tallest in the U.S to go into
foreclosure since 2007. In March 2009, Boston's John Hancock Tower – New
England's tallest skyscraper at 790 feet – was sold at auction for $660
million to Normandy Real Estate Partners. (The building was appraised at $1.
3 billion in 2006.)
Then, Normandy sold the Hancock Tower one year later to Boston Properties
for $930 million, a 41% gain. | s*********8
发帖数: 901 | 4 but money-printing by the European Central Bank (ECB) will undoubtedly bring
inflation to our shores. And according to the European Union's biggest
banks, it will happen soon.
Last month, the ECB "loaned" banks nearly 500 billion euros. (The loans were
basically free.) The ECB will hold a three-year auction for more funds on
February 29. And many of Europe's biggest banks told the Financial Times
they could easily double or triple their request for funds.
"They could do another one trillion euros easily in February," one senior
banker told the FT. "It could be way more than that if things get worse in
the markets."
Our bet is UniCredit, Italy's biggest bank, is first in line… | s*********8
发帖数: 901 | 5 here I explained why they are so excited, lol in Syria, Tibet etc.... | s*********8
发帖数: 901 | 6 read this part:
The $15.3 trillion we owe today is really only a minor down payment on
promises the federal government made to its most important creditors – the
American people. Not yet included in our debt totals are the $15 trillion
shortfall in Social Security (thanks to the Democrats), the $20 trillion
unfunded prescription drug benefit (thanks to the Republicans), or the $115
trillion unfunded Medicare liability (thanks to the Democrats and
Republicans). | s*********8
发帖数: 901 | 7 European nations are expected to sell more than $43 billion in debt this
week as optimism has returned to the region. (Read: the European Central
Bank is all but promising a bailout.) Italy sold $9.8 billion of debt, near
the maximum, at auction today… The troubled nation paid 6.08% for 2 billion
euros of 10-year debt, down from 6.98% at the last auction on December 29.
It also sold 3.57 billion euros of five-year bonds at 5.39%, down from 6.47%
on December 14. Italy also sold 1.9 billion euros of bonds due in 2016 and
2021.
Belgium will auction 3 billion euros of bills tomorrow. Spain will sell
notes due in July 2015, October 2016, and January 2017 on February 2.
Germany, France, and Portugal also have upcoming auctions. Guess which of
those three countries will pay the most for its debt?
Portuguese five-year bonds hit a euro-era high today of 22.5%, the same
level at which Greek debt traded in the midst of the crisis. And that's with
Bloomberg reporting the European Central Bank (ECB) is buying Portuguese
paper today. Even with the $500 billion "loan" the ECB gave to European
banks, the system is failing. But the ECB won't let its sovereigns fail… It
will continue to print, print, print… | s*********8
发帖数: 901 | 8 a typical state
Maryland. As if Maryland's tax regime wasn't already oppressive enough (
prompting both Porter and Brian Hunt to move to Florida in the past year),
Gov. Martin O'Malley is upping the ante.
As part of his 2013 fiscal year budget proposal, O'Malley will reduce tax
deductions and exemptions for the approximately 440,000 Maryland residents
earning $100,000 or more each year. The plan would cut in half the $2,400
personal exemption for individuals making $100,000 to $125,000 and families
making $150,000 to $175,000. And personal deductions for those same
residents are capped at 90% of total income. Deductions would be capped at
80% for those earning more than $200,000 a year.
O'Malley says the efforts will generate an additional $182 million to
squander on the city's booming welfare population. O'Malley cavalierly noted
, "This is not an exercise in popularity, it's not a matter of greasing the
weather vane. It's a matter of figuring out what are the best decisions that
we can make on behalf of the families we serve."
We'll see if the wealthy stick around for this latest round of taxes.
Perhaps O'Malley doesn't remember what happened when he raised taxes on
those earning more than $1 million a year to 6.25% in 2008… In 2007,
Maryland residents filed 3,000 million-dollar tax returns. The next year,
they filed only 2,000. | s*********8
发帖数: 901 | 9 these are much much more interesting than the rumor...... | s*********8
发帖数: 901 | 10 No wonder we need so many Cn students here...cash income
We hold nearly $1 trillion in student loans. | s*********8
发帖数: 901 | 11 addicted to the printing machines like opium...so easy, so rewarding |
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