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Cygnus X1
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Taking this snippet into consideration ...
Presdent Obama puts astronomical $4 trillion price tag on new budget..(We move from B's to T's)
DAILY NEWS ^ | Thursday, February 26th 2009 | Kenneth R. Bazinet And Michael Mcauliff
Posted on Thursday, February 26, 2009 11:11 AM by IrishMike
President Obama unveiled a staggeringly huge budget this morning, telling the country it will take almost $4 trillion to run the U.S. next year.
That will be a whopping $1.75 trillion more than the President expects the government to raise in revenue, creating the largest federal deficit in real dollars since the country was fighting World War II.
The giant numbers are due in part to Obama administration's decision to print all of the red ink, including the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and national emergencies, which the Bush administration left out.
"This budget is an honest accounting of where we are and where we intend to go," Obama said in releasing the outline of his massive spending plan. "For too long our budget has not told the whole truth about how precious tax dollars are spent."
In spite of the gusher of spending, Obama insisted he's being tight-fisted. He said he's scouring the budget for waste and targeting popular but unnecessary programs for elimination.
"You know, there are times where you can afford to redecorate your house, and there are times where you need to focus on rebuilding its foundation," Obama said. "Today we have to focus on foundations."
(Excerpt) Read more at nydailynews.com ...
Source: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2194619/posts
Are we still happy that he won the election? 
---
"There is nothing impossible to him who will try."
~Alexander The Great~
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3/21/2009, 11:46 pm
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ButMadNNW
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Re: Taking this snippet into consideration ...
quote:
Cygnus X1 wrote:
Are we still happy that he won the election?
Yes.
The alternative would not have been an improvement.
And this quote says a lot to me:
quote:
The giant numbers are due in part to Obama administration's decision to print all of the red ink, including the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and national emergencies, which the Bush administration left out.
Obama is choosing to be honest. Our previous administration was deceptive.
We can't expect miracles. The problems with the economy were not created overnight, and they will not be solved overnight. They may not even be solved in Obama's first term.
But I still believe he is better for this country than anyone the Republicans have on offer.
I'm off to  .
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3/22/2009, 1:36 am
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friendlysolarflare
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Re: Taking this snippet into consideration ...
quote:
Cygnus X1 wrote:
Are we still happy that he won the election?
Yes! and for the same reasons as ButMad's.
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3/22/2009, 3:33 am
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ButMadNNW
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Re: Taking this snippet into consideration ...
Cyg, I received your e-mail this morning.
Just in case you were thinking of posting the link here, know that petitions based on lies are not welcome here.
Opinions are fine.
Lies are not.
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3/22/2009, 9:23 am
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Doctor Delia
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Re: Taking this snippet into consideration ...
Dear Cyg,
It's great to hear from you again! Too bad it's under such dire economic circumstances, though.
What can Mr. Obama do? The situation we find ourselves in is like the "Kobayashi Maru" problem that they give to graduates of Starfleet Academy. (If memory serves me, there IS NO correct answer to the Kobayashi Maru problem; James Tiberius Kirk solved the problem and passed his exam by cheating.)
We are in deep do-do basically, but I prefer a president who is reality-based to one who's living in the la-la land of tax cuts for the wealthy/strangle the middle class/kick the can down the road to future generations.
Look, this problem didn't arise overnight. We've known that this day of reckoning would come someday, we just didn't know when. The effects of massive trade and government budget deficits, as well as our own personal profligacy, have been weighing on us for some time, in fact there's a book written back in the 1980's that predicted this mess. It was called "The Great Reckoning." A friend who was a broker at T. Rowe Price gave me a copy and it really prepared me personally. Too bad our leaders never bothered to pick up a copy. Even, capitalist icon Pete Peterson wrote a huge article in the Atlantic Magazine in October 1987 to warn us about what would happen eventually. You can read it at The Atalntic Online:
http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/budget/afterf.htm
I have been carrying around a copy of that article for over 20 years.
The American standard of living has been eroding for some time, but like lobsters in the slowly heated pot the change has been so gradual that we didn't notice. Falling wages and rising prices in the 1970's meant women HAD to go to work to help support their families. We forget that this was once a choice.
Then the rise of credit cards to finance our lifestyles in the 80's. Now at the turn of the century Americans find that even for the basics it was necessary to tap the equity in their homes. What did we expect?
Meanwhile the investor class and the business owners got richer and richer (at our expense.) We are at the breaking point! Surprised?
On election night I was greatly relieved that Mr. Obama won, but unlike my fellow lefties, I was not out in the streets dancing, I was praying for him (well, as much as an agnostic can pray.) Because I knew what was in store for him. And this financial mess is only ONE of his problems.
Obama is smart and his heart is in the right place. It just seems that the media and the right wing do not want to face reality. They think that we can just shuffle a few chairs around on the deck of the Titanic and things will go back to the way they were in 1992.
Wrong! This is not entirely a problem of our making. We had too much debt and there was too much foreign money sloshing around in our economy. This created a debt bubble, a housing bubble and coming soon a credit bubble. And when that last bubble bursts there will really be blood in the streets. If there are major defaults in corporate bonds, municipal bonds and God forbid (!) treasuries, we are truly doomed.
THAT is why Mr. Obama has to do these crazy things to prevent the credit bubble from bursting. We need to let the air out of this bubble slowly.
In the 1990's Japan faced a similar banking and real estate bubble. It took the equivalent of 10 trillion of our dollars in todays' money to shore up those sectors, and Japan is still not the Asian Tiger that it once was.
We need to face the reality that we may never be as solvent and as powerful as we once were. But what we can hope for is avoiding the scenario so cogently stated by Lewis Prothero:
"The Ulcered Sphincter of Asserica. I mean, what else can you say? Here was a country that had everything, absolutely everything, and now twenty years later, is what? The world's biggest leper colony."
Last edited by Doctor Delia, 3/22/2009, 10:39 am
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3/22/2009, 10:37 am
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ButMadNNW
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Re: Taking this snippet into consideration ...
quote:
Doctor Delia wrote:
The situation we find ourselves in is like the "Kobayashi Maru" problem that they give to graduates of Starfleet Academy. (If memory serves me, there IS NO correct answer to the Kobayashi Maru problem; James Tiberius Kirk solved the problem and passed his exam by cheating.)
Nice analogy, Dr.!  And memory does serve you.
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3/22/2009, 12:17 pm
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friendlysolarflare
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Re: Taking this snippet into consideration ...
 , Delia
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3/22/2009, 1:57 pm
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Doctor Delia
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Re: Taking this snippet into consideration ...
Thank you very much, Iseult, ButMad, and Flare.
Now, everybody go out and check out a copy of "The Great Reckoning." Although a lot of stuff they predicted was clearly wrong (race riots and such) the economic trends were on target.
If we truly are headed towards deflation or inflation (especially with regards to imported goods) the authors recommend:
1. Trim your spending (which I'm sure we all are doing.)
2. Get out of debt. (Ditto.)
3. Get involved with your community and your neighbors. (I don't think the Vixens need to be reminded to keep informed.)
4. If you have children, talk to them...about money.
5. If you have a fondness for some imported goods, lay in a stock that will last you for a few years NOW.
For example, I like to draw and paint. The cost of French and Italian watercolor paper has skyrocketed, 30% in the last year. I bought a bunch last year because I heard a rumor that my favorite paper would not be available at any price. Hasn't happened yet, but who knows?
But an even better solution than hoarding is...
6. Buy American! (The finest American-made watercolor paints are 30-50% less than comparable British, French and German brands.) I started to switch over last year, and if this keeps someone employed, all the better.
7. Take advantage of currency fluctuations. The pound was down below $1.45 a few days ago; it was worth $2.20 when we were in London!
Last edited by Doctor Delia, 3/22/2009, 3:54 pm
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3/22/2009, 3:49 pm
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ButMadNNW
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Re: Taking this snippet into consideration ...
quote:
Doctor Delia wrote:
7. Take advantage of currency fluctuations. The pound was down below $1.45 a few days ago; it was worth $2.20 when we were in London!
The website run by the company co-founded by my UK friend Mark recently adjusted their prices to reflect the strengthening (on our side) relationship between the $ and £. Their CDs, DVDs, and online training are suddenly a lot more affordable if you live outside the UK! (And dammit, I'm still unemployed and broke.  )
Also, my parents and I are going to the UK in November. A couple months ago, when the £ was approx. $1.50, Dad went to the bank and got £1000 in cash! And that was before we'd purchased the airfare - both Dad's currency purchase and our airfare purchase reassured me that they actually were going to go Home with me. 
In other words, I agree!
Last edited by ButMadNNW, 3/24/2009, 4:21 pm
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3/22/2009, 4:42 pm
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