The Question of All time....

[DaBurglar]

Who (or HOW) is going to pay the 22 Trillion DOLLAR (and CLIMBING FASTER THAN any rational person could EVER imagine) National Debt of the United States of America??

NO single individual person, nor even the LARGEST Corporate Entity, is allowed to do (year after year after year) what the USA has been doing and continues to do, which is spend money it does not have on a scale that no one else could....

Someone out there please explain WHO is going to pay this off (or at least pay some of it DOWN) in the future to allow the USA (and the world) to continue to function?

Because, as sure as there are Cold Nights in Quebec in January, here is what is coming VERY VERY SOON (possibly as early as NEXT YEAR if the Republicans manage to hang on in Both houses of Congress): The Recent MASSIVE tax cuts to the richest 1% and Huge corporations, enacted in the midst of what was THEN an already booming economy, have BALLOONED the deficit between what the Government takes in versus what it spends. It is INSANE and ABSURD that the US Government should be BORROWING this much money during THIS type of ECONOMY. Because Interest rates have to increased during a booming economy, ANY money the government borrows now will cost future generations MUCH more than the money borrowed during the previous decade when Interest rates were ZERO!

The party in power, the Republicans, ALWAYS attempted to portray themselves as the party of fiscal responsibility, to the point where it's most ignorant and partisan members attempted to bring the USA into a situation of DEFAULT back in 2011, when President Obama's popularity was soaring after the Bin LAden raid, by petulantly and INSANELY refusing to raise the debt limit. Now, here we are in 2018 and such sentiment is not heard at all from the Republicans; in fact, NO ONE IS even discussing the deficit on either political side due to this absurd feature of US politics that during election season, NO ONE TALKS ABOUT THE REALLY "REAL" issues of importance! But that is about to change DRAMATICALLY if the Republicans HOLD onto their advantage in Congress in November next month.....if that happens, almost IMMEDIATELY, Senator Mitch "No I'm not a mole, that's my real face" McConnell, along with whichever faux-conservative Republican hypocrite stands up in the House to take Paul Ryan's place, will hold a press conference just before the Holiday break and say "When we begin with the NEW Congress Next year, 2019, our first order of business will be tackling the deficit and the Debt, and quite frankly that means reigning in the ENTITLEMENT programs of Social Security, Medicare & Medicaid." I GUARANTEE YOU this is coming, and EVERYONE who is not part of the 1% in this country, who currently receives or is about to apply for Social Security & Medicare/caid should be crapping.

I'll start with the obvious: SSI, Medicare & Medicaid are not....NOT entitlements...they are programs funded BY the eventual recipients (for the most part.) Again, Social Security is NOT and entitlement, except of course, in the eyes of Republican lawmakers who represent the 1%. They are going to cut and (where possible) ELIMINATE any and all social safety net programs while NOT raising incoming revenue one single penny. Again, this assumes Republicans MAINTAIN their majority this coming election (which I frankly believe they will, all things considered.)

[onemoretry]

If it makes you feel any better (it probably doesn't), the United States is not the only government that thinks spending yourself into oblivion is the way to go.

[DaBurglar]

I know....this all flows back to my view of mankind and the world and where it's heading and WHAT is going to happen. Humanity is no longer capable of acting even in its own SHORT TERM interest, people cannot or will not tolerate or put up with ANY level of privation or discomfort, and NO ONE will sacrifice anything for something down the road, especially if that something is an ideal or a benefit that they themselves WILL not see (like a better world for their children in terms of the economy or pollution, etc.)

Starting with The NIxon Administration, both parties and all economic strata of society have focused ONLY on their own personal selfish goals and interests, with this behavior becoming worse and worse and more stark as time went on.....Today, NO POLITICIAN is willing to do anything except kick cans down the road hoping the issue/time bomb does not come due until they are no longer around or alive.


So brace yourselves, it's coming and you heard it here either first (or second, or third.....maybe fourth....fifth? Ah Definitely in the TOP ten for sure......!): The Republicans, if and when they emerge victorious On November 6, 2019 will start REALLY REALLY harping again about the DEFICIT an DEBT (which they are now 100% responsible for since they ARE the party in power with BOTH Houses of Congress and The Executive in their grasp, and since it is their idiotic lopsided shameless Tax Cuts on behalf of the precise people and companies WHO NEED it the least that has BLOWN UP the budget deficit during a BOOMING economy....The American People are so complacent, so dumb, so simple that they really truly do not CARE, nor are they really AWARE of what is happening on the fiscal level!!! Soon, however, they will care.....) The HYPOCRISY and CYNICISM of the Republicans when it comes to the economy and government fiscal policy is sickening,and you will see it full blast when they start pushing and campaigning for CUTS (not reform or revisions but....CUTS) to Social Security and Medicare/Medicaid......they already are laying the groundwork by FALSELY and Misleadingly calling these programs "Entitlements", which is a calculated ploy on their part to get their ignorant middle-to-lower-middle-class "base" (made up primarily of the exact people who will be harmed by these CUTS to these programs, namely white middle Americans who have worked or are working and who have PAID into these programs all their life, as well as retirees who either are collecting or are about to.....)

Then once the CUTS are done and accomplished, people will go APE for a few months, then get used to the new "normal" and will be distracted by the next NON-issue, unimportant "bogeyman" the party throws out there to focus peoples' anger upon, probably more stories about how immigrants and "brown" people are to blame for everything. The truly worst part though will come when, AFTER they cut SSI and Medicare, the deficit and debt will STILL BE growing significantly.....that's when it will really hit the fan.

[Tedlark]

DaBurglar has your current view of mankind always been like it is now? If not: can you share just when the for better or worse turning point was?

[Chicagoan]

Ask yourself: who was the last President of the United States who had a balanced budget?

[FAA]

2001, President Clinton's budget.

[New2vp]

For those too young to remember, you might want to try Googling "Who balanced the budget, Clinton or Gingrich?" There will be enough there for partisans of each party. You may want to divide your reading on Clinton to be part 1 (the 103rd Congress, when both houses were run by Democrats) and part 2 (on and after the 104th Congress, when both houses were run by Republicans for the first time since the early 1950s). Form your own conclusions. You also should pay attention to who wrote the accounts and whether it was written by contemporaneous media or it was an historical backwards looking account. The various media perhaps were just as biased in the early 90s as they are now, but it was not so blatant and apparent prior to Clinton's second term and the advent of 24-hour political news programs.

[DaBurglar]

DaBurglar has your current view of mankind always been like it is now? If not: can you share just when the for better or worse turning point was?

Since you asked, I realized in earnest that the Bible is not just "a book detailing a certain form of faith and religion to follow" but is actually a Realistic, 100% accurate account of the past (including the history of creation and of humanity's beginning), a perfect guide to living life in the present, and a blueprint of the future. In my study of it, which began decades ago when I was in college, I ( gradually at first, then more urgently as of late) came to understand that the "world" of secular humanity is broken and that mankind's only hope is in God's kingdom under Jesus Christ.

I tried very hard, at various points in my life, to ignore what I knew in my heart was the truth. Many times I tried to forget the Bible and its message and advice, to stick my head in the sand, to deny it's veracity, etc. Finally, about three years ago, I stopped this silly denial and accepted what is now painfully obvious, that the Bible is the true word of God and it's message of Love and Hope is precisely what the world needs, but most likely will largely reject.

So the answer is, about three years ago, give or take, I started slowly, for real, trying to bring my life completely in line with what God and Christ desire for people who want to benefit when the Kingdom arrives. It's my hope you find the time to read the Bible, pray (earnestly) for God to give you understanding, and act on what you learn.

[Tedlark]

DaBurglar, now a picture of you becomes a bit less fuzzy: you are born again. You therefore, think no Christian is worthy of heaven because they: have not been born again. Even though they MAY be of Christian faith, they still are not getting into heaven.

I will tell you the same thing I told a born again Christian who used to workout at one of the gyms I went to back in the 80's and early 90's - just because I do not go around preaching and quoting biblical passages as they suit me does not mean that Jesus Christ isn't an active part in my everyday life.

[Galeygoo]

just because I do not go around preaching and quoting biblical passages as they suit me does not mean that Jesus Christ isn't an active part in my everyday life.

I hope the current "chatters" who practice the same read these words that I couldn't have described quoted better myself...