Economic collapse does not only effect the United States alone but also the world economy as a whole
From: Canada Free Press
by - Robert Rohlfing - Saturday, December 1, 2012
We hear all about the $16 Trillion dollars in debt that our country is in, but the much larger problem and the one that our politicians and citizens do not want to talk about honestly is the $80 Trillion Dollars in Unfunded Liabilities at the federal level.
We all know about how the states and local governments are being swamped by these obligations, but we cannot even have an honest discussion about the true nature of the long term problems that we face because for one reason or another it always turns into a Left - vs -Right you-are-wrong-and-stupid argument. We have those in congress such as Dick Durbin and Chuck Schumer who will not even let this be discussed in all the negotiations that we currently hear about going on with the debt crisis that this government created. It is easy to understand that they do not want to do so as it exposes the blatant mistakes that those in government have made over the years and this includes those from both sides. They are well aware of the true nature of the fact that if we do not address this head on and across the board that we are only just kicking the can down the road further. Eventually that can comes to rest and what you get is an economic collapse.
The hard thing to understand is that the economic collapse does not only effect the United States alone but also the world economy as a whole. There are different ways that people think that we can start climbing out of this from raising taxes to creating the mechanisms for inflation to increase. All of these things sadly are going to occur regardless under the current path that we seem to be going down. We hear so much about raising the taxes on the upper percent, but what so many fail to understand is that we are obligated to around $7 Trillion dollars a year on average just to cover our obligations from pensions to Medicare and Social Security and that is just going up as the baby boomer generation hits full stride in retiring. Raising taxes is not the only way to get out of this problem long term, we have to reduce our obligation to these liabilities and reduce the coverage over all in the end. It will not happen today because no one in politics has the guts to do so because they are all too worried about getting reelected, but at some point economics catches up to politics and we are on the verge of crossing the Rubicon now and in the near future.
On raising taxes we have all heard that even if you increased the rates on the top 2% you will only be able to fund the running of our federal government for an estimated 19 days, so let’s be honest about this and understand that everyone really need so called skin in the game and that includes those in the middle and lower income levels. That is truly the political football right now that no one honestly wants to take on. Either way it is coming that taxes in one form or another are going to increase on theses income levels as well, so, people, it is time to stop playing the class warfare game, all that does is further divide people. The government could raise taxes 100% on those making $66,000 and up and still not cover the unfunded obligations, that is something that we have to understand!
The petty games that we have allowed the politicians and pundits from both side have used to divide us has only allowed for the fact that we cannot have honest and constructive discussions about these very real and looming problems that are facing us. We have allowed them to pit us against one another so that we attack personal character over differences in political and financial leanings, but has it allowed one bit of honest debate or has it only allowed for us to become more spiteful? I think it really is the later as I visit the political forums or talk to folks in the public. You can go back in history and see that this has been used in the past, but will we ever learn from those mistakes or will we only allow for it to control us in the end?
When you look at what our government is doing right now from devaluating the dollar with the printing press, to increasing spending in the hopes that it will lift us out of the financial mess that we are in it becomes clear that they do not have the real fortitude to address the real problems that we face and neither does the general public because as a whole we have put aside common sense to keep the gravy train rolling along to the personal pet issues that we all may have from one issue to the next.
The course that we are on right now has been tried many times throughout history and each time it has failed. You can look at how Weimar Germany attempted to print and inflate their way out of the morass it faced and how it led to totalitarianism, or you could look here at home how FDR tried to spend his way out of the problems he faced at the time. Both examples did not work, they only delayed the inevitable as in the case of FDR in his second term he faced a second recession instead of recovery just as we are facing today. They found out that spending did not help employment levels and left them further in debt as a result. Many of the things started under that administration and later under LBJ has led us to the real cliff of $80 trillion dollars in unfunded liabilities. Congressman Paul Ryan is on record if we do not address Medicare in an honest and constructive way in the next two years it will become unviable. The same can be said about Social Security. Governments own estimates already show that it becomes unviable before 2025, but will this government really address it and can the people really stomach the bitter pill that is coming?
I do not think that we can because we are really the greedy not just those that the pundits, media, unions, and politicians want you to think are. Just like in our personal lives we would rather keep signing our names to credit card bills instead of having to reduce or do without. We have become conditioned that we can put off tomorrow for the need today and never think that it will not have lasting consequences. That is catching up to us though and people just do not want to except it one bit! Those in their 40’s and younger already know that all those promises may not be there for us, if they do not they are only lying to themselves. Those who do not think that taxes will be going up on everyone are only lying to themselves, and those that have committed their faith in this government to always be there and have the means to carry their water are only lying to themselves as well. So we can keep being divided and let the petty games go on between us, after all that is what they want so that we can never really hold them to account and we can never be honest with one another. Or we can start demanding that yes we will have to take the haircut or better yet the shave of all the things that we want today so that we do not in the end collapse.
I have this feeling though that we are going to keep heading down the road of collapse regardless because no one wants to be honest or even realistic any longer. But remember one thing; it is not just the $16 Trillion that we face it is really the $80 plus Trillion in unfunded liabilities that we face that are going to bring us to that collapse and until we start addressing that and taking that head on and doing the things that will effect each and every one of us regardless of how painful it may be we are only fooling ourselves and allowing ourselves to become further divided. In the end though folks it will affect all of us and we cannot escape that fact.
Pawns always pay the heaviest price. Today common sense as well as understanding of history and the lesson it has to teach allows for the ignorance in many to fully understand the bigger picture that is playing out around them. Allowing those who would rather keep us divided for their own personal gain, has only allowed us to become the pawns that lose the most in the larger game being played.
Ignorance is bliss for many, just as not wanting to own up to the reality that we cannot have all that we want each and every time we demand it. To continue down these paths of demand today at the expense of tomorrow lets the game players continue to use you as the pawns they want you to be. In the long term it is through ignorance and personal self greed along with not understanding to not do the hard things no matter how painful now in the end that leads to loss of each and every liberty that you have ever known and places you as the pawn that suffers the most in the end.
God bless,
JohnnyD
No comments:
Post a Comment