Our country is in deep trouble

@oldman11 "...something to happen to the President and Vice President, then the bitch Pelosi would be President."
I never stopped and thought about that until you wrote. Damn, you're right! Wow. Wouldn't that be something, wake up in the morning and find out Nancy is the new president...talk about a nightmare.

I think you are going through what hit me a while back. I've been out of the country most of my life, close to 40 years, and got back 4 years ago. It didn't take me long to figure out that we are truly and completely screwed. Once you realize that nothing can be done, that your vote really has no impact - well - we have been fed a complete line of horse manure since we were children. And, it cannot be changed. Don't believe me? Watch what is happening with Trump. Did he get the support of Republicans? Did they immediately jump on the major problems when they held both houses?

It's a game of lies. Nothing is going to change so stop worrying. F### the Republicans and the Democrats because they are, in truth, the same. When American finally collapses due to economics then something might change but I doubt it. They hold all the cards, all of them. We get crumbs - maybe - and maybe we only get 1 phony war every 20 years...

 

I figure I cannot change the world but I can improve my own little piece of it. For me that included helping out my community, voting, and being prepared for disasters so I am not stuck depending on help that may or may not come. If any one of a number of natural or man made disasters end up happening during my life time then I will see if I have done enough. Being so stirred up about possible doom and gloom doesn’t help anyone’s blood pressure. Hope for the best but prepare for the worst and leave the rest in God’s hands.

 

LOST in CANUKLAND

 

Get and watch , not just USA

Your battle is ours also , KIddys

Queen got YUR BALLS ??
S

 

With God's help and protection Sloth, we will get through this, but I fear that it's going to get really messy, sooner rather than later. Keep your powder dry if they still allow that in Canada.

 

When she said " She doesn't know how to fix this " , I know exactly what she means . I feel , and I think many here feel the same way . And it amazes me how the left , and their followers , are embracing the very thing that will destroy them .

 

Islam just isn't like Christianity, where people can have their beliefs and even though you may not share them. You will be left alone.

 

When posting an error message appeared and a strange meter thing appeared. I have never seen that here before. a bug?

 

Thanks @Big Ron for the heads up.

@sec_monkey FYI

 

Nobody is addressing the $22T national debt. I would love to sit down with Mitch McConnell and just ask him about the long term plan. He is a thinker, there is know way he does not have some idea of what is coming down the pike.

 

Here we have a woman (and another 'refugee' living in her home) who actually have first-hand knowledge and experience of what can happen. She seems to be speaking straight from her heart and I believe her, maybe I am wrong to do so, but I can see no way she would personally benefit by saying these things. I think she simply is trying to speak the truth and no one is listening or she is verbally beat down. I did not realize it was this bad in Canada, I truly didn't. And, I certainly didn't realize it was this bad in London. I was hoping to take my wife there as it has been her dream but, sad to say, that is off the table now. Yeah, I believe her and I am listening. I don't know what her name is but I would like to thank her. Furthermore, she is brave, unlike the cowardly University Professor that had to get his students to help threaten her... Experience is the greatest teacher and this woman knows what she is talking about.

 

For starters, what do we do with 22 trillion in national debt. Here is a real perplexing problem. The government borrowed 2.9 trillion from social security. How does the government pay its bills? Taxes right? So we let them borrow the money then we pay it back for them? so we pay twice with interest. That is just a small portion of it. So how does the government resolve 22 trillion dollars in debt when it only takes in 300 billion more than it pays in interest? Per year.

 

Seems to me that the tree of liberty needs a little water.

 

Yes and no.....

The last time the govt paid all it's debts with tax/fee income was in the Eisenhower administration. There was still a national debt, since debt was used by previous administrations, the biggest ticket item being WW2, but under Eisenhower, spending and taxes ran about the same...even a slight surplus in 1957. 1956, the debt was 272 billion and in 1957 it was 270 billion....we managed to pay down the debt by 2 billion.....and that hasn't happened since.

Andrew Jackson inherited a 48 million dollar public debt, and by the time he left office, had managed to pay it down to 33,000 dollars !! (back when the dollar was a dollar).....almost paying off the debt. Combined with kicking out the "National Bank" by vetoing a renewal of their charter, he goes down in history as the most fiscally responsible president we've ever had.

The 'great conservative' Ronald Reagan by comparison, was among the worst. Came into office with 272 billion in debt, left 8 years later with a debt of 1.2 trillion....almost tripled the debt in 8 years !! Reaganomics was cut taxes, increase spending and put the difference on the national credit card....and Republicans to this day still honor him as some kind of conservative.....amazing.....

To see the history of the US public debt, go to this Treasury website: Government - Historical Debt Outstanding – Annual

Since then, the govt has had to borrow to pay it's bills. In the past couple decades, it has gotten as bad a borrowing 50% of spending. (We spent 38% more this year than income.....income 3.4 trillion, spending 4.7 trillion) Not possible to actually 'borrow' that kind of sum....the world simply doesn't have it available to lend....so the FED simply creates some portion of it and 'lends' it to the Treasury.

While it will never reach 100% as long as a buck is paid in some kind of tax, it certainly WILL go over, probably well over at some point, 50% in future years, as interest can't be outrun unless spending goes way down. If you'll refer to my previous comment on how a dollar is created (by borrowing into existence), more debt is simply inevitable and built into a debt based money system.

 

Once a person understands that public debt will continue to increase, the value of the US dollar will continue to decrease (due to having to print more of them to "pay" the debt + new spending) and that some kind of financial collapse/reset/something is merely a matter of when, you can develop a strategy to position yourself in the best place possible (and it will still be a crappy place....just hopefully less crappy than your fellow citizens that haven't a clue what is coming).

1. DO SAVE...by all means....BUT DON'T DO IT LONG TERM IN A DOLLAR DENOMINATED INSTRUMENT. Forget IRA's, 401k's, anything like this....they are a sucker's game they use to help keep the system afloat until it sinks, along with your life savings. If you want a liquid savings, use silver and gold. A less liquid form is land, preferably productive land.

2. Develop yourself a small homestead where you can produce as much as possible of your own food, energy, fiber, etc. You'll never reach, or probably even come close, 100%, but every % you can reach is that much less you'll need in liquid savings now, and down the road, to pay for stuff you can't make or do.

3. Be prepared to defend your savings, because at some point everyone that didn't follow the above advice is going to try to get yours. This is simply the history of mankind, and it will never, ever change.

 

I have been to the national debt by year pages and the debt clock which shows our interest paid versus tax revenue. What I see is at or very near 24 trillion there is no tax revenue left to pay for programs , today we have a tad over 300 billion . No one added more debt (total dollars) than Obama. Reagan actually left us in much better shape with the economy growing Clinton /Bush or Bush Clinton did the most damage to the tax revenue base by redistributing near 120,000 corporations off shore.

 

U.S. National Debt Clock : Real Time

 

Interest paid is also at 3 trillion just under 300 billion between income and interest paid. Spending like you say over 4 trillion budget deficit 800 billion. So tell me who gets the 3 trillion in interest ? per year , the fed?

 

IRA's & 401K, I have them. And those are my retirement.I know it is a big risk, hoping it will be there for when I retire. I could liquidate it but that would be a huge penalty. Depending on what tax bracket, one could be taxed up to 35%. I have been wondering if I should start taking thousands out each year and putting the money towards mortgage and precious metals. To liquidate all at once would be to big of a loss. I just do not know. I know my financial advisor would be 100% against the idea.

 

Our government hasn't worked for us for a very long time, only for themselves at our expense.