Saturday, April 28, 2012

THE NATIONAL DEBT IS $15.6 TRILLION

THAT'S $138,000 + PER TAX PAYER

IS THAT ALRIGHT WITH YOU?

WHY?

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

A simple visual regression analysis seems to reveal that the debt increased at a greater rate during Republican administrations.

That's all right with me.

One must examine the debt as a percent of GDP to realise a meaningful measure of 'harm'.

If you earn $50k and you buy a house for $200k, your debt as a percent of your GDP is 400% - easily managed (assuming continued employment of course).
The US Debt as a percent of GDP is substantially less than that.
ourro
Japan is at 200% +/-
Greece is at 173% +/-
Ireland is at 120% +/-
US is at 70% +/-

This is all right with me.

Ducky's here said...

Joe, I will continue to ask you to remember that the COST of the debt is the critical number.

Now when Saint Ronnie Raygun was running up huge debt at 12% interest where were the Baggers? It was fine with the right.

Obama is running a larger deficit but at about 2%. Quite a difference from the Raygun era.

So your insistence on being partisan obstructs a comprehensive discussion of the topic.

Anonymous said...

Bojangles said,

"......So your(Joe's) insistence on being partisan obstructs a comprehensive discussion of the topic....."

Perhaps I am thick, but as far as I can deduce, Joe merely asked two questions:

IS THAT ALRIGHT WITH YOU?

and

WHY?

The partisanship?
The obstruction?
The comprehensive discussion?
Even the topic?
I see none of this in his post.
Is it possible you might be framing externalities reflecting your own entangled connotations for the purposes of provocation?

Jarhead said...

Who the hell is Bojangles?

Obama?

Anonymous said...

Bojangles is 'Ducky's here'.

Saepe Fi, Jarhead

Anonymous said...

"....You claim to be in finance or some related field...."

I do not recall making such an asseveration.
Joe, I'm sure, has deduced what I might do for a living if I were to bother with such trivialities as making it - I'm like Blanche Dubois, you know, the kindness of strangers and all.

"....Joe needs to realize that his question is not posed improperly....."

And you need to realise that your statement is not posed properly. And who are you to adjudge the proper or improper posing of questions? You're not a sufficiently pedantic and boring accountant are you?

Accountants are boring though.

sue hanes said...

Nice lookin' graph - Joe.

Ducky's here said...

Well ALTF look at it this way.

It's like one of those college board questions with one of the possible answers being:

E: Insufficient informaton

No unless Joe supplies the cost of debt service and the use of the funds we have - E.

Anonymous said...

Isn't it racist of Biden to assume Obama has a big stick, or does he have access to information of a sensitive nature, other than the size of his shoes!

Craig said...


One must examine the debt as a percent of GDP to realise a meaningful measure of 'harm'.


Excellent point and on topic for a change.

Perhaps I am thick, but as far as I can deduce, Joe merely asked two questions:

I'd say, given what I know about Joe's political philosophy, this is a loaded question. The graph Joe posted has the note that attributes Clinton's balanced budget solely to the tech bubble. Nonsense. It says, At one point fully 1/3 of govt revenue was from capital gains taxation. Really? In 2000, the height of the bubble, total tax revenue was $1.7T. Revenue from capital gains was $127B, about 7.5%. Another lie.

A brief history lesson for the wingers who think history started in 1981, and still get it wrong.

In 1944 the debt to GDP was 120%. Roosevelt spent (invested), with bi-partisan support, in the GI Bill. It gave 2.2M vets low interest, no down mortgages, paid for tuition, books and living expenses for college and trade school education and one year unemployment ins. Truman came along and resisted the Republicans who took over Congress in '46 on promises of cutting taxes. The top marginal rates were around 90% and cap. gains at 28%. It worked and the Repubs were swept out. Ike, who was to the left of Obama, kept tax rates high and even borrowed to fund a massive govt project, the Interstate Highways.

Growth exploded and the debt was reduced to under 30% of GDP where it stayed until Reagan came along. Now Repubs want to emulate European style Austerity and the results in Europe have been a disaster. Anemic or negative growth and higher unemployment. The UK is officially in a double dip.

To answer Joe's question, no, it's not alright. Repubs want to make it worse.

or does he have access to information of a sensitive nature, other than the size of his shoes!

Everyone knows, just look at the fingers. One reason I don't comment much is it's not easy fumbling over a keyboard with my prodigious digits of unusual girth.

Settle down, Cuddles.

Krystal said...

You know, it doesn't matter one iota how much someone else spent. That's just right up there with, "Timmy jumped off a bridge so I was just as big of a dumb ass as he was and jumped off too!"

I am so sick and frigging tired of the finger pointing. *I* am responsible for *ME* and what *I* do. *OBAMA* is responsible for *HIS* spending and *HIS* debt!

The fact that he called Bush irresponsible and unpatriotic, if memory serves, for the spending that happened during his watch just proves what a damned hypocrite Obama is.

Fact is, there is only ONE president that has ever done what needed to be done to make our national debt ZERO. That was Andrew Jackson. How long ago was that?!

Our government has an issue with spending money they, and we, don't have. It's time they all grow up and stop buying elections with tax payers dollars.

smartass said...

To all my Republicans and Conservative friends. Think of this! Republicans and Conservatives CANNOT afford to "stay away" from the polls come November, or
The Dog-Eater WILL be President AGAIN!

Think about the SCOTUS!

You shouldn't have any arguments, no reasons, not even a half-witted attempt at rationalization to disagree with this.
REMEMBER hjow Obama got into office in the first place!

Anonymous said...

The Coruscating One said,

"......I'd say, given what I know about Joe's political philosophy, this is a loaded question....."

Joe's errant philosophy notwithstanding, in this blog post at least, it is YOU, like Bojangles before you, who has 'loaded' the question.

To which, I reiterate:

Is it possible you might be framing externalities reflecting your own entangled connotations for the purposes of provocation?

".....or does he have access to information of a sensitive nature, other than the size of his shoes!..."

Where did this originate? Certainly not from my slender and delicate phalanges!