US national debt hits $16 trillion

[Very_Bad_Man]

http://news.yahoo.com/us-national-debt-hits-16-trillion-republicans-blast-031301848.html

WASHINGTON - The Treasury Department said Tuesday that the national debt has topped $16 trillion, the result of chronic government deficits that have poured more than $50,000 worth of red ink onto federal ledgers for every man, woman and child in the United States.
The news was greeted with a round of press releases from Barack Obama's Republican rivals, who used the grim-but-expected news to criticize the president for the government's fiscal performance over his 3 1/2 years in office. Obama has presided over four straight years of trillion dollar-plus deficits after inheriting a weak economy from his predecessor, George W. Bush.

It is time we pull out of Iraq and Afghanistan. Cut off all funding to both of those ungrateful shit holes and redirect that cash to pay off our debt.

 

[Busybody]

will never happen


next topic

 

[Lancecastor]

(Reuters) - When President Barack Obama cited cost as a reason to bring troops home from Afghanistan, he referred to a $1 trillion price tag for America's wars.

Staggering as it is, that figure grossly underestimates the total cost of wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan to the U.S. Treasury and ignores more imposing costs yet to come, according to a study released on Wednesday.

The final bill will run at least $3.7 trillion and could reach as high as $4.4 trillion, according to the research project "Costs of War" by Brown University's Watson Institute for International Studies. (www.costsofwar.org)

I still think that promoting the American Way of Life abroad is a far more cost-effective way of creating international alignment with American security, political and economic objectives.

American entertainment, consumer goods and culture have always been the big pull for people in less prosperous parts of the world.

 

[hogjack]

America is fucked.

Both Parties are at the trough when in power. That won't change and Americans are too lazy to change it.

 

[kbate]

I still think that promoting the American Way of Life abroad is a far more cost-effective way of creating international alignment with American security, political and economic objectives.

American entertainment, consumer goods and culture have always been the big pull for people in less prosperous parts of the world.

The one case where it will not work (and never has in the history of mankind) is the case of religious terrorism. The religious fanatic who is willing to fight for ta version of God - can never be stopped by the idea of trade, good will and culture.

It was true with Rome and the Jewish Zealot, and it is true today with America and the Islamist.

What they want, we cannot give.


(for a good read on the subject: Thomas Madden - Empires of Trust)

 

[Very_Bad_Man]

I still think that promoting the American Way of Life abroad is a far more cost-effective way of creating international alignment with American security, political and economic objectives.

American entertainment, consumer goods and culture have always been the big pull for people in less prosperous parts of the world.

Whole heatedly agree but for one sticking point.

Those fuckers all want we got but they still would like to see us dead.

I know this.

I been there.

 

[Very_Bad_Man]

The one case where it will not work (and never has in the history of mankind) is the case of religious terrorism. The religious fanatic who is willing to fight for ta version of God - can never be stopped by the idea of trade, good will and culture.

It was true with Rome and the Jewish Zealot, and it is true today with America and the Islamist.

What they want, we cannot give.


(for a good read on the subject: Thomas Madden - Empires of Trust)

Lady you are not as dumb as you look.

 

[Lancecastor]

My friends in Iran all want to drive American cars, watch American movies and drink American liquor...Muslims are like Baptists that way.

Fanatics, by their very definition, are like bullies.

They make up a small percentage of the whole and at some point, the majority stops being afraid of them and turfs them out.

Those fuckers all want we got but they still would like to see us dead.

I suggest that if the USA stopped taking over countries, that would change.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

The yearly interest on the national debt is 323 Billion Dollars. Thats about 1000 Dollars from every man, woman, and child in America.

 

[Very_Bad_Man]

My friends in Iran all want to drive American cars, watch American movies and drink American liquor...Muslims are like Baptists that way.

Fanatics, by their very definition, are like bullies.

They make up a small percentage of the whole and at some point, the majority stops being afraid of them and turfs them out.



I suggest that if the USA stopped taking over countries, that would change.

Oh they hated us long before that. It is very common for the have nots to hate on those that have.

The problem is we have a long history of meddling in other countries affairs. Case in point South America. They overwhelmingly hate and mistrust us. Destabilized countries is a good way to exploit their resources.

 

[Liar]

The one case where it will not work (and never has in the history of mankind) is the case of religious terrorism. The religious fanatic who is willing to fight for ta version of God - can never be stopped by the idea of trade, good will and culture.

While true, they cannot be stopped with full scale force either. Or else the best war machine in the history of the world would have. The best thing that can be done is to marginalize them. But that is a generation spanning project of mostly passive approach, and crazy slow, incremental progress. It's way more satisfying to fly in another drone.

 

[Lancecastor]

The problem is we have a long history of meddling in other countries affairs.

1945-2012 is not a "long history"...it's barely a blip.

And is easy enough to change.

 

[kbate]

While true, they cannot be stopped with full scale force either. Or else the best war machine in the history of the world would have. The best thing that can be done is to marginalize them. But that is a generation spanning project of mostly passive approach, and crazy slow, incremental progress. It's way more satisfying to fly in another drone.

Rome bottled them up and let them degenerate to fighting with each other over whose version of the Judean people's right was the correct one.

You cannot marginalize fanatics to other fanatics who believe. That is what makes them fanatic.

Our best bet is to contain the fanatics as best as possible, prevent them from developing or obtaining a WMD force and continuing to build trade, military and political alliances that in time will make it beneficial for those who tacitly support the fanatics to cease the support. It has to wither and die from internal disease rather than from external pressure.

Of course by that time those northern barbarians might just have taken Washington and we'll have to move the new capital to London and call it Avalon or something equally stupid.

 

[Very_Bad_Man]

1945-2012 is not a "long history"...it's barely a blip.

And is easy enough to change.

It takes a few generations to forget the sins of the father.

Some cultures their memory of past transgressions seem to be genetically encoded and they never forgive.

The mideast is like that. It is why they been killing each other for over 2000 years.

 

[berry juice]

America is fucked.

Both Parties are at the trough when in power. That won't change and Americans are too lazy to change it.

a third party, which is fiscally conservative and socially liberal, would be a breath of fresh air.

 

[Very_Bad_Man]

a third party, which is fiscally conservative and socially liberal, would be a breath of fresh air.

This is the platform I will be running under in 2016.

Vote for Anthony Goombah.

 

[berry juice]

This is the platform I will be running under in 2016.

Vote for Anthony Goombah.

right behind you

 

[Very_Bad_Man]

right behind you

I'm just glad I never linked my penis on Lit.

I bet those pics of that girl fucking my gearshift will cum back to haunt me.

 

[berry juice]

I bet those pics of that girl fucking my gearshift will cum back to haunt me.

it's already happening...

 

[about_average]

1945-2012 is not a "long history"...it's barely a blip.

We started meddling well before 1945.
An incomplete list of military interventions alone.
ARGENTINA - 1890
CHILE - 1891
HAITI - 1891
NICARAGUA - 1894
CHINA - 1894-95
KOREA - 1894-96
PANAMA - 1895
NICARAGUA - 1896
CHINA - 1898-1900
PHILIPPINES - 1898-1910
CUBA - 1898-1902
PUERTO RICO - 1898
GUAM - 1898
NICARAGUA - 1898
SAMOA - 1899
NICARAGUA - 1899
PANAMA - 1901-14
HONDURAS - 1903
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
KOREA - 1904-05
CUBA - 1906-09
NICARAGUA - 1907
HONDURAS - 1907
PANAMA - 1908
NICARAGUA - 1910
HONDURAS - 1911
CHINA - 1911-41
PANAMA - 1912
HONDURAS - 1912
NICARAGUA - 1912-33
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC 1914
MEXICO - 1914-18
HAITI - 1914-34
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC - 1914
CUBA - 1917-33
RUSSIA - 1918-22
PANAMA - 1918-20
HONDURAS - 1919
YUGOSLAVIA - 1919
GUATEMALA - 1920
TURKEY - 1922
CHINA - 1922-27
MEXICO 1923
HONDURAS 1924-25
PANAMA - 1925
CHINA - 1927-34
EL SALVADOR - 1932

 

[Lancecastor]

It takes a few generations to forget the sins of the father.

Some cultures their memory of past transgressions seem to be genetically encoded and they never forgive.

The mideast is like that. It is why they been killing each other for over 2000 years.

Hey, you started this thread by saying the USA should get out of Iraq and Afghanistan.

I agree, but if you want to bitch about why people don't like you without doing anything about it, you're on your own.

 

[Very_Bad_Man]

Hey, you started this thread by saying the USA should get out of Iraq and Afghanistan.

I agree, but if you want to bitch about why people don't like you without doing anything about it, you're on your own.

I think the theme is stop sticking our noses where it doesn't belong.

 

[VaticanAssassin]

“today I’m pledging to cut the deficit we inherited in half by the end of my first term in office. This will not be easy. It will require us to make difficult decisions and face challenges we’ve long neglected. But I refuse to leave our children with a debt that they cannot repay — and that means taking responsibility right now, in this administration, for getting our spending under control.”

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

Our grandkids wont inherit the debt. We pay huge amounts of interest to carry the debt forever. But the interest on the debt will engulf us before too many years, and then the partys over.

 

[Squibbs]

Who cares?

I hope america sinks.