...to add to the ultimate sentence, "or when Beijing is no longer willing to
continue investing in US Treasury bonds".
jh
----- Original Message -----
From: "Charles Geilfuss" <charles.geilfuss@xxxxxxxxx>
To: "Olympus Camera Discussion" <olympus@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Tuesday, February 15, 2011 12:29 PM
Subject: Re: [OM] [OT] Budget Debates
> Boris,
> I'm reluctant to respond fearing a flame war so throwing caution to the
> wind I'll put in my $0.02. This whole budget thing will devolve into
> politics as usual. The items you mention all fall within the discretionary
> spending portion of the US budget and makes up about 15%. Undoubtedly
> there
> are wasteful things in it but there are also important things too. As far
> as
> balancing the budget, even if they took a 50 pound red pen and crossed out
> everything in the discretionary portion of the budget, it would only
> eliminate about half of the budget deficit. And that doesn't even include
> the accounting trick of "borrowing" Social Security excess funds each
> year
> to make the budget shortfall look less bad. They have turned it into a
> classic Ponzi scheme that makes Bernie Madoff look like a piker. The
> elephant in the room that they all ignore and are afraid to touch is
> Entitlement spending. Social Security along with Medicare, Medicaid and
> payment on the National Debt comprise 65% of the US budget. Defense
> spending
> makes up the remaining 20% (and that 20% is the military's usual expenses;
> it doesn't include the excess needed to fund Iraq/ Afghanistan). Now I'm
> all
> for an effective, strong military but clearly ours has gotten out of hand
> and is unsustainable. The US spends six times more than the next most
> expensive military (China) and spends at least as much as the combined
> military budgets of the rest of the world (or so I'm told). Look at
> carrier
> groups: the US has eleven. The Russians have one, the Chinese have one (or
> were trying to buy one last I heard) and I think the British still have
> one.
> As for Social Security, a number of things need to be done and they are
> hard choices. The rate of growth of payments needs to be slowed; it also
> needs to be means tested i.e. if your non-SS retirement income is over a
> certain level your SS payment should be taxed at 100%. Medicare & Medicaid
> are likely to go bust before SS. Fixing them will be a herculean task.
> They
> are both rife with wasted spending. I know, I see it every day. Nothing
> short of a complete sea change in how they operate will suffice: a change
> in
> how doctors and hospitals are paid, a complete revamping of the
> malpractice
> system, and a complete change in how we view end-of-life care.
> I don't think there is a snowflakes chance in hell of any of these
> third-rail items be effectively changed. The only thing that will force
> politicians hands is the bond market: when the US government bond rating
> is
> reduced and the cost of US borrowing soars they will have no choice.
>
> Have a nice day,
> Charlie
>
> On Tue, Feb 15, 2011 at 9:41 AM, Willie Wonka
> <alienspecimen@xxxxxxxxx>wrote:
>
>> Without politicising the subject, the targets are:
>>
>> PBS/NPR, Smithsonian/National parks.
>>
>> Please, let your representatives know there is still need for an unbiased
>> information source and how important is to keep park fees low.
>>
>> Best
>>
>> Boris
>>
>>
>>
>> --
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>>
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