So Many Questions

So few answers

A few days ago I heard someone on television ask the question; How long will it be before America goes broke? It appears to me that the question should have been; When did America go broke? At this time we are operating, to a great extent, on borrowed money and in my opinion (for whatever it is worth) it will only get worse.

At ten minutes after ten o'clock on the tenth day of the tenth month of the year twenty-ten our National Debt Clock was showing our debt to be about thirteen trillion, five hundred and seventy billion, seventy-five million, six hundred and forty-two thousand, seven hundred and seventy-five dollars. The reason I said about is that our debt is rising so rapidly it is hard for my eyes and my brain to calculate an exact number at any given time.

The above figures may include what is usually referred to as the "Social Security Trust Fund" and the "Medicare Trust Fund" which, at this time, are probably more than three trillion dollars when combined. If congress passed a law to take those trust fund's money out of the general fund and put it in "Al Gore's lock box" (that is a seperate account) our government would have to borrow that much more money. I don't know if that would add to our national debt or not because I don't know if the Social Security and Medicare payments that have been used in the general fund to pay as we go was counted in our thirteen plus trillion dollar debt. May know more on that later. Today, not surprisingly, Social Security announced that there would not be a cost of living raise for Social Security recipients for the second year in a row. That would be okay if Medicare wouldn't raise the deductables so as to give the insurance companies cover to raise their rates. Obamacare will get us one way or another.

Going back to the National Debt, as calculated by Washington, of a little more than thirteen and a half trillion dollars and dividing it between all citizens of the United States, it would burden each one with a debt of forty-three thousand, seven hundred and eleven dollars or each taxpayer with a debt of one hundred twenty-one thousand, nine hundred and one dollars.

Another big question is; Should the Bush tax cuts be extended for everyone or should the very rich pay more taxes? I have never been a fan of multi-million dollar contracts for ballplayers (that's why I don't watch many ball games) or the bonuses some CEO's get for running a business into the ground but I must say that there is no doubt that those people with lots of money are the ones who create most of the jobs, one way or another, and there is absolutely no doubt in my mind that they can spend their money more wisely than the government, either democrat or republican. As for those who say; make them pay more taxes so we can get more good paying jobs here in America, there is only one way to do that. Don't buy everything from China and other Asian countries. We need to balance our buying between imports and American made. That is what will bring back jobs.

The last few days has been a very trying time for my household and I had been thinking about skipping this posting because when I started I didn't have too much of an idea what I would write about. I hope it hasn't been too boring. Thanks and stay tuned - William