Is Obama the Worst President Ever?

[Nbadan]

http://us-presidents.insidegov.com/q...ccomplishments

the economy was tanking, so he didn't get a 2nd term. "It's The Economy, Stupid"

...but he Kept the NeoCons in check....I wonder how this dynamic will play out with Trump and NATO..

[CosmicCowboy]

I think it's funny that anyone thinks either party will ever do anything about the deficit...

We are damn sure hooked on that crack now.

Just gotta keep borrowing and spending till either we can't sell debt anymore or the interest demanded busts the budget wide open.

Lets say Trump runs the debt to 30 trillion in 4 years...that's very possible. Now plug in 10% interest if that's what it takes to roll over the existing debt.

That's three trillion a year in interest without paying any principal.

That's about what the US took in last year in combined corporate and personal taxes.

ALL taxes. Total revenue. We still spent almost a half trillion more than we took in paying for interest.

It's pretty simple math.

[Nbadan]

I think it's funny that anyone thinks either party will ever do anything about the deficit...

We are damn sure hooked on that crack now.

Just gotta keep borrowing and spending till either we can't sell debt anymore or the interest demanded busts the budget wide open.

Lets say Trump runs the debt to 30 trillion in 4 years...that's very possible. Now plug in 10% interest if that's what it takes to roll over the existing debt.

That's three trillion a year in interest without paying any principal.

That's about what the US took in last year in combined corporate and personal taxes.

ALL taxes. Total revenue.

As long as it grows the economy, debt doesn't matter, trouble is, it's almost impossible to get economic growth over 2% annually or you'll have to raise interest, and interest payments, on the debt making it a bigger part of the annual budget

[Nbadan]

Lets say Trump runs the debt to 30 trillion in 4 years...that's very possible. Now plug in 10% interest if that's what it takes to roll over the existing debt.

Not in a world where people are willing to earn 0 or even negative interest IMO...

[CosmicCowboy]

As long as it grows the economy, debt doesn't matter, trouble is, it's almost impossible to get economic growth over 2% annually or you'll have to raise interest, and interest payments, on the debt making it a bigger part of the annual budget

We aren't gonna grow our way out of a 20 Trillion Dollar hole, much less 25 or 30 which is where we are quickly headed no matter which party is in power. Just wait till the fat center of the baby boomers hit SS and Medicare and the US has to have the revenue to pay off all those IOU's they wrote to SS and Medicare years ago.

[Nbadan]

Besides, who's the biggest Buyer of American debt (hint: Not China)?

[CosmicCowboy]

Not in a world where people are willing to earn 0 or even negative interest IMO...

You really think that's gonna last forever?

[CosmicCowboy]

Besides, who's the biggest Buyer of American debt (hint: Not China)?

Social Security and Medicare, of course. The money we all paid in and that got pissed away years ago.

[Nbadan]

We aren't gonna grow our way out of a 20 Trillion Dollar hole, much less 25 or 30 which is where we are quickly headed no matter which party is in power.

Your right, there is no intention of ever paying off the debt...but the US can't default on its obligations or the whole monetary system will collapse...

[Nbadan]

Social Security and Medicare, of course. The money we all paid in and that got pissed away years ago.

Would you rather it sat around earning no interest?

[Nbadan]

Social Security and Medicare, of course. The money we all paid in and that got pissed away years ago.

IMO your over 50....why won't Medicare be there for you?

[boutons_deux]

Social Security and Medicare, of course. The money we all paid in and that got pissed away years ago.

that's bull . that the SS money got put into the general fund and spent is irrelevant.

People on SS are getting their checks. SS is not defaulting and no sending checks. Privatizing is all VRWC/BigFinance propaganda.

[Nbadan]

The 2016 report of Medicare’s trustees finds that Medicare’s Hospital Insurance (HI) trust fund will remain solvent — that is, able to pay 100 percent of the costs of the hospital insurance coverage that Medicare provides — through 2028. Even in 2028, when the HI trust fund is projected for exhaustion, incoming payroll taxes and other revenue will still be sufficient to pay 87 percent of Medicare hospital insurance costs.[1] The share of costs covered by dedicated revenues will decline slowly to 79 percent in 2040 and then rise gradually to 86 percent in 2090.

http://www.cbpp.org/research/health/...s-not-bankrupt

While there maybe a future need to slow cost growth or raise the tax there is little reason to believe Medicare is going broke...

[boutons_deux]

http://www.cbpp.org/research/health/...s-not-bankrupt

While there maybe a future need to slow cost growth or raise the tax there is little reason to believe Medicare is going broke...

ACA has extended Medicare solvency by 11 years.

Let's see how thw Repugs job ACA replacement does in that area.

[CosmicCowboy]

IMO your over 50....why won't Medicare be there for you?

I didn't say I wouldn't get Medicare. Its you guys that are ed.

And yes boo...we can always print more money and write more checks. We can print lots more money and write a lot more checks. Endlessly, right?

[rmt]

It's amazing to me that people believe any report/stat put out by x government agency. I suppose we swallowed the CBO projections on ACA, or the 4.9% unemployment numbers (but ignore labor participation rate and more people on food stamps), or that there's virtually no inflation (only $4 per month more SS but supermarket prices doesn't agree).

SS, Medicare, Medicaid (ballooned cost AND enrollment projection courtesy of ACA expansion) and servicing the debt are HUMONGOUS.

[rmt]

It's people 55 and under (like most of us) who will be affected. CC is sitting pretty.

[CosmicCowboy]

It's people 55 and under (like most of us) who will be affected. CC is sitting pretty.

It's like this giant train wreck heading straight for us that only very few can see and acknowledge. The blind faith of the boutons crowd just amazes me.

[boutons_deux]

It's like this giant train wreck heading straight for us that only very few can see and acknowledge. The blind faith of the boutons crowd just amazes me.

The train wreck is totally fabricated and easily avoidable.

VRWC/BigFinance and their Repug s, all of them operating in vicious bad faith, don't want to fix it, and will block all attempts to fix it.

They want $Ts in SS funds paid to Wall St to suck out $100Bs of fees per year. Would be as big a failure as 401s.

[CosmicCowboy]

http://www.cbpp.org/research/health/...s-not-bankrupt

While there maybe a future need to slow cost growth or raise the tax there is little reason to believe Medicare is going broke...

You trying to call it a "trust fund" is a hilarious joke. There is no trust fund. It's a bag full of IOU's that future governments will have to replace with real money when it's due. That real money will either have to come from tax revenue at the time, more money borrowed adding to the debt, or from printing money. That's the only ways those bills get paid.

Which do you think will be most politically expedient at the time?

[CosmicCowboy]

The train wreck is fabricated and easily avoidable.

VRWC/BigFinance and their Repug s, all of them operating in vicious bad faith, don't want to fix it.

They want $Ts in SS funds paid to Wall St to suck out $100Bs of fees per year. Would be a big a failure as 401s.

Did I advocate privatizing it dumb ?

[boutons_deux]

Did I advocate privatizing it dumb ?

I didn't say you did, parasite.

[rmt]

The train wreck is totally fabricated and easily avoidable.

VRWC/BigFinance and their Repug s, all of them operating in vicious bad faith, don't want to fix it, and will block all attempts to fix it.

They want $Ts in SS funds paid to Wall St to suck out $100Bs of fees per year. Would be as big a failure as 401s.

It's not avoidable, boutons. People think of it as ONLY $20 trillion in debt but it's the unfunded liabilities (SS, Medicare, Medicaid, pensions) that are "owed" that'll crush us. Try suggesting that we make any change to any of those 4 and see what happens.

[CosmicCowboy]

I didn't say you did, parasite.

That train has already left the station. Social Security and Medicare will inevitably either collapse in your lifetimes or taxes will have to go up so much on everyone that even deadbeats like Boutons will have to pay taxes.

[rmt]

That GOP plan in the Medicare thread would affect me greatly - instead of half of hubby's SS, I'd get half of whatever the average person gets (I guess they think we're all trophy wives collecting half of CEOs benefits) but I'm for trying to fix it NOW - the earlier the better and less painful.