Obama says fiscal situation "untenable"

[Francesca9]

Source: Reuters

President Barack Obama on Monday said the United States was facing an "untenable fiscal situation" and would have to get serious about tackling its federal deficit.

The U.S. budget deficit is forecast at a record $1.47 trillion in the fiscal year that ended on September 30, 2010.

Obama said that emergency government spending measures he took to support growth and hiring when he took office last year had temporarily added to the funding gap, but the deficit had to be tackled going forward.

"I realize that we are facing an untenable fiscal situation," he told a meeting of his economic recovery advisory board to discuss strengthening the partnership between community colleges and the private sector. "What I won't do is cut back on investments like education."

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6934PV20101004

[Bigmack]

1. Hmmmm... where to cut?.... hmmmm....

Wait! I know! We can cut back on funding the fucking Empire!

We just can't afford it any more.

[truedelphi]

5. A bankrupt nation cannot afford any wars.

Too bad the MIC holds so much power over our Political Class.

[Francesca9]

7. The US economy remains the most powerful of all

The problems are debt and unemployment.

The economy however is still strong

[truedelphi]

10. What? Are? You? Talking? About?

Over thirty five states now have deficits that are seriously complicating the lives and safety of the citizens inside those states.

Unemployment is anywhere between 13 and 35% of the population - depending on the neighborhood you examine.

yes, a certain segment of the economy is doing SO FABULOUS AS AFTER ALL THEY SNOOKERED OVER TWELVE TRILLION BUCKS from the Main Street Side of the equation. This includes the Military Industrial complex, The Bigger Financial Players, lobbyists, private mercenary contractors like XE, Halliburton and Blackwater and the Big Pharma, Big Insurers whose Health Care "Reforms" just were handed an inflating balloon of mandated payments.

However the average middle class person is watching their households slide backwards into a style of Dickensonian poverty. And the kids and grand kids will be even poorer.

[Socal31]

11. The US economy is still larger than the next two combined.

The debt is a problem. There are several places we can cut. I'm sure we can all agree on a few.

[Aristophrenia]

17. What a statement - the EU is bigger than the US

Here we are talking about GDP - lets see - GDP per CAPITA puts you at almost tenth. Wow - awesome.
When you take into consideration debt - which we are discussing here - AND EXTERNAL DEBT - then America simply falls straight over a cliff.
If again - you take into account liabilities, AND remove the US as a base currency - then the US would sit somewhere around Yemen.

But you use GDP all you like - its soooooooooooooooooooooooo representative of reality. I can't even think of an economist worth a pinch who would look to it as a reliable stat-
it is a political figure - not an economic indicator.

[truedelphi]

40. Thank you for that, Aristophenia. And also,

Welcome to DU.

[bossy22]

47. and look at the those countries with higher GDP per cap

....do any of them have a population anywhere close to 300+ million? Are you really comparing the GDP per cap of Luxemberg (a country whose population is less than half of what my county population is) to the U.S. and call it a fair comparison. I think if you added up all the population in the 1-9th countries on that list they would maybe make up the combined population of California and Texas-maybe

here is a better way of putting this whole thing- THE U.S. HAS THE HIGHEST GDP PER CAPITA OF ALL MAJOR COUNTRIES

Also if you look at debt, external debt and all that stuff in relative terms we arent that bad....remember Japan's debt is 220% of GDP and no one talks about them being bankrupt

[Socal31]

50. The EU is a country now?

External debt as a representative?

http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/eco_deb_ext_pergdp-economy-debt-external-per-gdp


I'm sure Nigeria is much better off than the Netherlands!

[muriel_volestrangler]

61. Net external debt might be interesting, but those figures are gross external debt

and so they can look very large for countries that do a lot of both lending and borrowing. I suppose it's a rough indication of how much international banking goes on.

[northernlights]

29. not exactly.

Without full employment and better wealth distribution, there is no economy. Concentration of wealth in a shrinking percentage of the population means a downward spiral in demand. No demand equals no reason for businesses to hire. Shrinking demand equals incentive for business to fire. Shrinking demand equals a shrinking economy and no demand equals no economy.

However, healthcare IS a huge drain on our system and private resources -- and we needed health CARE reform, not a health INSURANCE bailout.
The health INSURANCE reform is exerting additional downward pressure on demand as health insurers crank their prices and companies increasingly pass the burden onto the former middle class.

However, the wars are a HUGE drain on our economy as well. Money that could better spent on re-building our infrastructure (which would make us more competitive) and educating our citizens (which also would make us more competitive) is instead being spent destroying other countries' infrastructures and murdering their citizens. Stupid move of stupid thugs.

And where are you coming up with the 1% figure? I've *never* seen either military spending or war spending showing up as 1% of any budget. That number looks pulled out of a hat to me....please do link to a source.

Why do I find it hard to believe you are a female from the UK?

[JDPriestly]

43. Taxes have to be raised on the wealthy.

The Bush tax cuts for top income brackets need to be repealed. It's quite simple. Also, bonuses for bankers should be taxed like any other income.

[Hardrada]

2. Hey! Stop the wars, why not?

[Francesca9]

14. Small change, less than 1% goes to wars

Health care costs are where the cuts will be, it is where most of the money is going.

Eliminating the DoD would save a lot, but stopping the wars, not so much.

[avaistheone1]

15. actually>>> Your Tax Dollars At War: More Than Half Your Tax Bill Goes To The Military

Just to give one an idea of how small $4.8 billion is in comparison to the $1.6 trillion that the US is spending each year on war and planning for war, that number is roughly what the Pentagon plans to spend over the next year on child care and youth programs, morale and recreation programs and commissaries on its bases! It’s about what the Pentagon will spend acquiring replacement Seahawk, Chinook and Blackhawk helicopters this year.

For the average American, what all this means is that of every dollar you send to the IRS, 53 cents will be going to pay for blowing stuff up, fattening the wallets of colonels, admirals and generals, bloating the portfolios of investors in military industries, and of course funding bonuses paid to executives of those companies, and the campaign chests and expense accounts of members of Congress who vote for these outlandish budgets. Your money will also be going to pay for the salaries and the bullets of those brave heroes over in Afghanistan who are executing kids, killing pregnant women (and then digging out the bullets and claiming they were stabbed by their families), and for the anti-personnel weapons that are creating legions of legless Afghani kids.

Next time you hear that the government needs to cut funds for providing medical care to the children of laid-off workers, or that supplemental unemployment funds are running out, next time you hear that federal funds that are needed to fund extra teachers at your school are being cut, or that Social Security benefits need to be cut back, or the retirement age needs to be increased to 70, next time you hear that your local post office has to be shut down for lack of funds, next time you hear that Medicare benefits need to be reduced, think about that 53 percent of your tax payment that’s going to finance the most enormous war machine the world has ever known.

And ask yourself: Is this really necessary? Is this really where I want my money going?


http://pubrecord.org/commentary/7412/dollars-military/

[Francesca9]

18. Defense spending is about 23%

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_budget_of_the_United_States

[Francesca9]

19. Health care and defense cost about the same

* Defense and security: In 2010, some 20 percent of the budget, or $715 billion, will pay for defense and security-related international activities. The bulk of the spending in this category reflects the underlying costs of the Department of Defense and other security-related activities. The total also includes the cost of supporting operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, which is expected to total $172 billion in 2010.


* Medicare, Medicaid, and CHIP: Three health insurance programs — Medicare, Medicaid, and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) — will together account for 21 percent of the budget in 2010, or $753 billion. Nearly two-thirds of this amount, or $468 billion, will go to Medicare, which provides health coverage to around 46 million people who are over the age of 65 or have disabilities. The remainder of this category funds Medicaid and CHIP, which in a typical month in 2010 will provide health care or long-term care to about 64 million low-income children, parents, elderly people, and people with disabilities. Both Medicaid and CHIP require matching payments from the states.

http://www.cbpp.org/cms/index.cfm?fa=view&id=1258

[ozymandius]

26. Spending is not equivalent to tax revenue.

Spending is also inclusive of borrowing. That skews your 23% figure relative to taxes.

Look at this slide show for information about how much tax money goes to expenses. If you need more information that is particular to your locale - then I suggest you try National Priorities where you can see how much of your money is going to to state and local expenses.

Most common figures from a general search are for FY2007 with most recent analysis from 2008. The projected appropriation for Defense for the next fiscal year is expected to shrink. from their highs - with a target around 30% of every tax dollar collected.

[JDPriestly]

44. Social Security should be off budget. It is supported by a separate

tax. If you take it away, the whole budget shifts. Medicare also should be separated because it should be self-funding even if it isn't. Working people should pay a percentage of their salary which employers should match to cover Social Security and Medicare. Baby-boomers paid extra into Social Security to cover the cost of their retirement. Defense is much more than 29% of the budget. I have seen charts showing it at 50%.

The problem may be that a lot of military expenditures were made off-budget during the Bush era.

[unhappycamper]

20. Are you serious?

One trillion dollars a year down a useless shithole is chump change?

One trillion dollars a year represents 58% of all discretionary spending in the national budget.

[Francesca9]

21. Yup, the wars direct cost for 8 years is about 800 billion

The soldiers get paid in war or peace.

DoD costs a lot. The wars not so much.

The indirect costs are higher.

[unhappycamper]

22. The annual DoD budget is one trillion dollars a year if you

count black and nuclear programs. Afghanistan costs us around $150~$180 billion dollars a year if you factor in things like payola, gas and contractors.

If you count the heath care and GI Bill costs of Iraq veterans, the Iraq adventure will end up costing us around $3~$3.5 trillion dollars.

IMO, Iraq and Afghanistan are adventures we should not be in.

All it takes is 218 people in the House of Representatives with balls to pull the money plug.

[Francesca9]

25. Sounds about right

The real money is in the DoD overhead - war or no war.

The truth is that ending a war probably costs more than fighting it. Weird logic though.

Another weird fact, active duty mortality went down because of the war. No beer or fast motorcycles in Iraq.

[Angleae]

23. Total federal spending for 2009 was $3.5 trillion.

$738.6 billion for Pensions (social security, federal retirees, etc)
$764.4 billion for Health Care (medicare, medicaid)
$90.8 billion for Education
$794 billion for Defense (DoD & veterans)
$406.9 billion for Welfare (food and nutrition assistance, unemployment, housing, etc)
$51.5 billion for Law Enforcement/Courts/Prisons
$84.3 billion for Transportation
$23 billion for General Government
$186.9 billion for Interest
$377.2 billion for Other Spending


http://www.usgovernmentspending.com/year2009_0.html

[Francesca9]

27. Not to worry, it isn't even in the budget ...

[TBF]

33. Please link to sources - what you are saying makes no sense. nt

[mbperrin]

42. Better check your numbers here.

http://www.usdebtclock.org/

[sudopod]

59. The defense budget is 700 billion dollars.

If it is one percent of the budget, then the total budget is on the order of 70 trillion dollars. That is bullshit.

[truedelphi]

3. Well with the Social Security funds holding over two trillion in surplus,

I am pretty sure I know what his advisers are telling him he needs to do!

And privatizing some of that would sure help Wall Street some more. I mean Gosh oh Gee, it has been several minutes since Bernanke last created a new financial account for any of them. (Using Federal Reserve abilities, and the Big "IOU" from future generations.)

[laconicsax]

4. No mention of rolling back tax cuts for the wealthiest... n/t

[kenny blankenship]

6. And when I say INVESTMENT in education,

of course, what I mean is paying private corporations to come in and take these shitty schools off our hands.

[zogofzorkon]

30. The destruction of public education is very much a goal.

Privately run schools assure that only those deserving of an education receive one. An educated rabble leads to labor discontent in particular and the questioning of social and class structure in general. In addition why should the sons and daughters of those parents who have money be schooled with those who work for a living? Lastly let us not forget those with no children are presently being forced pay to educate the offspring of others under some misguided notion of general welfare applying to the citizens of this country.

It is heartening to see that the Democratic Party is beginning to realize that it is the corporation and not the individual that has made this the great country that it is. I am so inspired that if I owned a flag I would wave it a fervently.

[Atman]

8. Step 1: STOP THE FUCKING WARS

No end in sight. No purpose (except to line the pockets of the BushCo holdover military-industrial-media giants). No possible benefit to anyone. END THE WARS and we'll immediately save a trillion dollars.

This ain't rocket science.

.

[flyarm]

9. Don't even think of touching my paid for social security!!!!!!!

I paid for it for 44 years..dont even!!!!!!!!!!!!

end the damn wars! now!

[closeupready]

39. Agree with every point.

+1000

[clixtox]

12. Easy solutions abound...

1. End the two ongoing war crimes and close all of the USA's overseas military bases.

2. Tax the wealthy & super wealthy at 90% of gross income w/o deductions.

3. Universal single-payer health care.

4. End all corporate welfare and subsidies.

Easy as that... What a wonderful world it would be!

[rschop]

13. NO JOBS = NO MONEY, NO WONDER WE ARE BROKE

What the hell did we expect when the big muti-nationals shipped all of their factories to China, and all of their jobs to India.

HOW GOD DAMN DUMB CAN YOU GET FOR THE CHRIST'S SAKE!

[avaistheone1]

16. +1

[Scuba]

24. Nuclear subs and aircraft carriers are expensive. Billions and billions.

[Francesca9]

28. Yes they are. Defense is expensive

If we were to shut down defense, a LOT of money would be freed up.

Not so easy to trim though. Everything is linked.

[Scuba]

31. Should be simple to trim.

Our military is larger than the next eleven combined, ten of which are allies.

[Bigmack]

34. Defense is expensive...

but Offense is really expensive.

Spending money on Intel to protect us... fine. Spending money on a small, well equipped, well trained force to act on that intel... fine. Navy to protect against pirates... fine.

Spending on a 700 bases overseas, a fleet in every ocean and sea, countless brushfire wars, a couple of major ones halfway around the world - with long supply lines... not so much.

Easy to trim.

[bossy22]

46. being able to fight pirates who are 3000 miles away requires a large fleet due to support assets

you need fleet oilers, repleneshers, ammunition ships, cargo ships, MPF ships.

I'm all for reviewing our overseas bases but we must understand that a sizable amount of them serve a useful strategic purpose. Having a major naval base in japan saves us a trouble of having to transport a vessel that was damaged operating near australia all the way to HI.

the world needs a few strong navies...for awhile it was the british and the french, than the soviet union and the U.S. and now just the U.S. Without a strong navy in the world it will be high-seas anarchy. If anything we should be making sure we have a large fleet in every ocean in the world- one that could bring overwhelming force to anywhere in the globe.

[Bigmack]

49. Well put....

My argument trumps yours, tho.

We can't afford it.

[Psephos]

54. If the entire defense budget were canceled, we'd still have the largest deficit ever.

Which is another way of saying, keep looking. I agree that the defense budget can be slashed a lot, but it's not going to fix the problem.

The country is currently borrowing $5 billion every DAY.

[Francesca9]

56. The point of the Stimulus was to help last year and hurt this year

[Psephos]

57. At least the hurting part seems to have worked. n/t

[Enthusiast]

58. Much of this is because

of the bad economy. Revenues will increase when the economy recovers.

[Blandocyte]

32. This one goes to unelevenable.

10% worse.

[wickerwoman]

51. +11

:toast:

[independent_voter]

35. ...and unprecidented nt

[xchrom]

36. start with the pentagon? just a thought.

and if we don't renegotiate out rade agreements and look to bringing back jobs and KEEPING those jobs here -- what diffrenece is going to make to
'fight' the debt, etc?

we are just perpetually going down the tube without economic growth in the poorer and middle classes.

[mike_c]

37. GUT the military....

eom

[closeupready]

38. Well then, bring 'em home.

n/t

[Cal Carpenter]

41. Tax the rich

and then tax em some more.

End of fucking story.

[Poll_Blind]

45. Tell it to the President, Mr. Obama. Maybe he'll listen to YOU.

:eyes:

PB

[Blue_Tires]

48. end the wars AND the downsize the intelligence community

It's been Christmas morning for the MIC ever since 9-11 (which is why its our #1 growth industy now and private contractors are popping up overnight to get their piece of the pentagon pie)

[ProfessionalLeftist]

52. End the stupid wars, tax the rich, tax the churches

done.

[jgraz]

53. Exactly. We face some tough problems. This is not one of them.

All it takes is Democratic principles and a little backbone.

Oh wait...

[pa28]

55. Absolutely. We need an austerity program.

Naturally our austerity knives will first fall on places that have received unbalanced benefit in the past 3 decades. Defense will be cut, capital gains will be taxed, estates will be taxes and we'll have a one time wealth surcharge on the richest .05%.

We'll do this because nobody in their right mind would think of recouping our shortfall from the former middle class and those who are already dangling over a financial abyss. Nobody would even consider cutting into public SS savings to pay the bill or shifting income tax burdens into a terribly regressive Value Added Tax. Nobody in their right minds would consider using these tax savings to reduce capital gains and corporate taxes.

Right?

[Myrina]

60. Good, downsize the Pentagon to a crew of about 10 ...

... and they all have to job share, including maintenance work.