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Topic: Learn from the Fall of Rome, US Warned
| Author | Message |
| UGoGirl | Posted – 8/16/2007 9:54:39 AM | show profile OK, I'm really not crazy and living in the Twilight Zone (and neither is Zelda, Mailbag Keltoi, others, etc.) who clearly see that unless we change courses dramtically and quickly, we have big problems. And in particular, the middle and lower-income classess do. ***** Financial Times: Learn from the fall of Rome, US warned Published: August 14 2007 00:06 The US government is on a "burning platform" of unsustainable policies and practices with fiscal deficits, chronic healthcare underfunding, immigration and overseas military commitments threatening a crisis if action is not taken soon, the country's top government inspector has warned. David Walker, comptroller general of the US, issued the unusually downbeat assessment of his country's future in a report that lays out what he called "chilling long-term simulations". These include "dramatic" tax rises, slashed government services and the large-scale dumping by foreign governments of holdings of US debt. ...Mr Walker?s views carry weight because he is a non-partisan figure in charge of the Government Accountability Office, often described as the investigative arm of the US Congress. ..."With the looming retirement of baby boomers, spiralling healthcare costs, plummeting savings rates and increasing reliance on foreign lenders, we face unprecedented fiscal risks," said Mr Walker, a former senior executive at PwC auditing firm. Current US policy on education, energy, the environment, immigration and Iraq also was on an "unsustainable path". ..."They need to make fiscal responsibility and inter-generational equity one of their top priorities. If they do, I think we have a chance to turn this around but if they don't, I think the risk of a serious crisis rises considerably". http://www.ft.com/cms/s/80fa0a2c-49ef-11dc-9ffe-0000779fd2ac.html |
| UGoGirl | Posted – 8/16/2007 9:57:12 AM | show profile And from a GAO report itself: ****** As in previous updates , GAO?s current long-term simulations show ever-larger deficits resulting in a federal debt burden that ultimately spirals out of control. ? ?To close the fiscal gap under Baseline extended would require revenue increases or programmatic spending cuts (i.e., in all discretionary spending and spending on federal entitlement programs) equal to about 20 percent each and every year over the next 75 years. Under GAO?s alternative simulation, the required action would be even more dramatic?about 40 percent. These annual tax increases and spending cuts would exceed the fiscal year 2006 deficit of 1.9 percent of GDP. Delaying action would make things worse. Under our alternative simulation, waiting even 10 years would require a revenue increase of about 50 percent or non-interest spending cuts of about 45 percent. This gap is too large for us to grow our way out of the problem. It would require decades of double-digit real economic growth, but the U.S. has not had a single year of double-digit real economic growth since World War II. http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d07983r.pdf |
| keltoi2 | Posted – 8/16/2007 10:40:08 AM | show profile We could solve the Social Security crisis AND add hundreds of billions to the US coffers annually with 3 very simple steps: 1) Remove the $92,000 cap on income for social security taxes (what it means now is that someone making $20 million this year pays the same Social Security tax as a couple of firemen or school teachers). 2) Return capital gains to real income and not this BS 15% rate. 3) Refuse to recognize any corporation based primarily in the US (say, 51% or more of its executive employees or some other formula) that is headquartered outside the US to dodge taxes (Caymans, etc.) and tax it accordingly. This would be one of the least painful and most democratic methods to resolve some of the mess the GOP has gotten us into, but since the wealthy rule America, it won't happen. |
| Iron Eagle | Posted – 8/16/2007 10:42:02 AM | show profile Speaking of Rome the second season is in the stores. Love the series. |
| UGoGirl | Posted – 8/16/2007 11:18:36 AM | show profile Absolutely Keltoi. The wealthy and corporations have been gorging for decades now, at the expense of the rest of us. Time for them to bear the burden of this disaster. |
| wineaux | Posted – 8/16/2007 1:47:00 PM | show profile keltoi, you just keep getting sexier and sexier. LOVED the series Rome. I was so pissed when it ended. |
| UGoGirl | Posted – 8/16/2007 1:57:44 PM | show profile Woah, Keltoi, looks like you're getting a little fan club! I think I'm going to try for the dark, Russian, smoking, vodka drinking doomsaying... |
| ZeldaMedia | Posted – 8/16/2007 2:15:11 PM | show profile Hedge Fund "Oops" Here comes the "trickle downward spiral" .. .. Gee, and I thought hedge funds were the saving grace of U.S. economy AND the world economy. . . This clown played "pocket pool" with people's pension funds. . as if Mass. needed anymore financial trouble. . . I sort of see this as the start of many other hedgies going the same route... PS - What's going on with the Japanese "de-investing" in huge amounts over the last few days. .. hmmmm. .maybe they know something the U.S. Denial Club of Richies don't? http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2007/08/16/money_man_bet_wrong____and_lost_16b?mode=PF |
| ZeldaMedia | Posted – 8/16/2007 2:26:54 PM | show profile Gorging Well gang let's hope the decades of gorging lead to many richies choking! Do not resuscitate! I'd like to also add to Keltoi's list the following: Those who hire illegal immigrants and are caught MUST pay all the back taxes of the said undocumented workers. That should land a handsome sum and discourage people from hiring "cheap" labor. After they are done with paying that handsome sum, then they can go over to Iraq and militarily pitch in and ?support our troops?! |
| ZeldaMedia | Posted – 8/16/2007 2:30:36 PM | show profile ROME Is the Rome series done or on hiatus? Some of those men on the show were.. ooouu la la la. . . There is something about a man in a leather pleated "skirt" and a broom stick helmet that gets me all excited!! |
| sue ellen mischke | Posted – 8/16/2007 3:08:59 PM | show profile Zelda...the series is finished. And so is the US. I think it's too late to solve our problems. We've become too comfortable and have left our strong work ethic behind in the 50s. We're screwed. |
| UGoGirl | Posted – 8/16/2007 3:12:46 PM | show profile Interesting about that Boston hedge fund dude... and he was apparently the conservative one! |
| Iron Eagle | Posted – 8/16/2007 3:24:27 PM | show profile Zelda - the series was shelved due to high production costs. The producers were sticklers for detail. Cleopatra's palace cost zillions to make. Rome was one of the best productions in years - in my book the best of the best is still The Wire. Now, there's brilliant writing. |
| wineaux | Posted – 8/16/2007 3:42:32 PM | show profile Ditto on the cheap labor issue. It broke my heart when Rome ended. All of that fastidious attention to detail is what made that show so spectacular. That and the smokin' hot man candy. |
| Iron Eagle | Posted – 8/16/2007 4:03:51 PM | show profile Man candy? I love it when big boy returns home after a couple months of hacking and jousting and humps for the public. I guess slaves back then were meant to be voyuers. |
| ZeldaMedia | Posted – 8/16/2007 4:24:42 PM | show profile My Bank Account Call me crazy but I feel like I should withdraw all my pitiful money from my bank and keep it in a fireproof safe. I say this because I was around in the late 80s when the Savings and Loan scandals happened and the FDIC just couldn't bail out all the banks that went bust. . . I don't want them dipping into my account to cover some other person's misfortunes.. . I struggled to set aside that money. I earned the money fair and square. I dutifully paid my quarterly estimates. I lived without many of the amenities that these poor risk people were engaging in from 2000-07 to no abandon and I don't feel I should have to pay for their mistakes . . . .only for them to turn around in the next decade and do the same. . . It's not much but it's something that I cling to and pray one day to increase. ON ROME: I am devastated that Rome is over! I loved that show. In the end, I actually started to feel very bad for Atia watching Mark Anthony's corpse parading by. . . MAD MEN (AMC, Thursdays at 10pm, next day avail on "on demand") Anybody watched this stupendous show!!! It is magnificent and scary to see just what men got away with doing and saying in the office circa 1960. It makes me salute and appreciate the sacrifices and tolerance they had to summon up daily to deal with sophomoric humor of male colleagues. |
| Iron Eagle | Posted – 8/16/2007 4:48:06 PM | show profile Atia was a survivor! Never quite connected with her. Thought Mark Anthony was a hoot in mascara and opium haze. |
| wineaux | Posted – 8/16/2007 5:19:00 PM | show profile I really did feel sorry for Atia in the end. I think the thing that made me like her the most was that she made some pretty horrendous mistakes with her children, but really only wanted what she thought was best for him. The actor who played Anthony did so brilliantly. He really was the perfect mixture of brute and buffoon. Whoever casted that show was positively brilliant. |
| UGoGirl | Posted – 8/16/2007 5:55:06 PM | show profile This is the first time I've heard of this show Rome. I have no idea what you're talking about, but it sounds pretty good. Zelda, on taking your cash out. I'm not sure I want to have a lot of cash hanging around, but there are some people who have purchased some gold coins (or silver) to have on hand "just in case." I haven't done that, but I'm kind of tempted by the idea. Plus the idea of having real gold is kind of thrilling for some odd reason. |
| Bleak Spouse | Posted – 8/16/2007 6:32:26 PM | show profile I don't see there's a whole hell of a lot we can do even if we see a parallel between the U.S. and the fall of rome since politicians are the ones making the decisions and they're corrupt to the core. Look at the millions of people who took to the streets to protest the Iraq war -- what good has that done when Bush just does what he wants? Also, would it be such a terrible thing if the U.S. did collapse like the Roman Empire? It's gotta happen eventually, so what difference does it make if it's today or 100 years from now? I'd rather have been born into a non-super power country anyway, someplace like Ireland or France. |
| UGoGirl | Posted – 8/16/2007 9:03:47 PM | show profile Bleak, I'm not so sure it would be so terrible, I just think the wealthy should bear more of the burden than the rest of us. I'd hate to see a huge increase in walled-off neighborhoods with security staff for the upper class to keep the rest of us (the riff raff) out. I'd like to see a little more parity. In the end, I'll be glad to be done with the whole empire thing. Just let us do our own thing and leave us alone. I think we'll rise to the occasion as a non-empire country. |
| wineaux | Posted – 8/16/2007 9:14:35 PM | show profile Bleak, I'm not so sure it would be so terrible, I just think the wealthy should bear more of the burden than the rest of us. I'd hate to see a huge increase in walled-off neighborhoods with security staff for the upper class to keep the rest of us (the riff raff) out. I'd like to see a little more parity. Ha!!! C'mon over to coastal CT. That's EXACTLY what it's like here where I live. You should see the laundry list of rules at the beach. The lifeguard are more like security guards. Oh, and don't even get me started on how hard it is for an out of towner to even park his/her car with a half mile of the beach unless you want to shell out 30 bucks a car. Sorry, totally off topic, but I needed to get that little rant out of my system. I've been feeling particularly fed up with the attitude around here lately. |
| Iron Eagle | Posted – 8/16/2007 10:25:18 PM | show profile Public financing of campaigns. No donations or sponsorships. Level the playing field to make it possible the best and brightest get an opportunity to participate in the process. Guys like Romney/ Cheney/Bloomberg and others should have to stand against brilliant minds and innovative ideas. I hate seeing men with hundreds of million buying a place on the ticket. It corrupts and diminishes the process. Demand equal time on all networks for all candidates. Outlaw attack avertising that's false an deceptive. |
| UGoGirl | Posted – 8/18/2007 12:08:34 PM | show profile Zelda, you may have a point there on getting your cash out. Sounds like a scene from "It's a Wonderful Life." *** Countrywide tries to calm bank customers Mortgage lender responds after reports of customers withdrawing cash By Alistair Barr & Murray Coleman, MarketWatch Countrywide Financial tried to calm customers of its bank Friday after reports that some are withdrawing their money and depositing it with rival banks. ... People jammed the phone lines and Web site of the bank on Thursday and crowded into branches to pull out their savings, the Los Angeles Times reported on Friday. ...another struggling mortgage firm, pulled $500,000 from a Countrywide Bank branch on Thursday to put it in an account at Bank of America Corp. "It's because of the fear of the bankruptcy," Ashmore told the L.A. Times. "I don't care if it's FDIC-insured -- I just want out." Countrywide tried to head off more withdrawals on Friday by highlighting that problems in the mortgage market don't impact the safety of deposits at its bank. Those deposits are insured by the government-run Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. A recording left on the FDIC's call center on Friday immediately redirected people with questions about Countrywide Bank to a specific message. The FDIC said in the phone message that the bank has been an FDIC-insured institution since Aug. 30, 1990, and noted that deposits are insured to at least $100,000. ..."Earlier in the day, there were rumors of a run on the bank," said Erin Swanson, an equity analyst at Morningstar. Countrywide's statement "was an effort to calm fears and settle things down." |
| Janetblueyes | Posted – 8/18/2007 2:05:33 PM | show profile My parents just withdrew 90-percent of their cash from the bank. My dad worked on Wall Street for years and while he can be a fatalist at times, I think they made the right move. The shit is about to hit the fan. I'm stocking up on mason jars to stash my paltry savings in the back yard. |
