backnblack wrote:
Our role as world policeman is sort of like being the local thug at times who does maintain some order bu tmainly so much as he sees fit to help himself run his operation. A lot of the issue with invading Iraq involved maintaining the dollar as the world currency and the measure by which the world prices oil. Forcing coutries to pay us for being police is also known as extortion. Look no further than Germany in the 20s and 30s to see what can happen when a currency collapses and militarism is the solution. I've always said that we'd keep borrowing until no one lend to us any more and then we'd say, "Ok, try an dcollect it." It is a scary notion.
As far as this particular thing goes, he is fanning the flames of fear and trying to personally profit from it so one must take it all with a grain of salt. I have other alarmist friends who talk of shanty towns and rioting and it is not entirely unthinkable if the probability of it having int he next 12 months as this guy seems to suggest is unlikely. Not sure when this was originally "posted" but the clcok is ticking. As to protecting our own personal wealth, yes, it is vexing. In classic Southern agrarian mindset I have typically believed that ultimate worth is in land because it is a finite commodity to be divided betwixt a populace that continues t grow, however, you cannot squeeze blood from a turnip, i.e., pay for a gallon of milk with two square feet of property and the recent real estate collapse shows that land as a garantee of safe wealth is not assured. If a nation becomes unsettled the deed you have is basically worthless. There has bee a real estate grab in the former Soviet block in recent years that shows you that a deed can be created if you need one or can grease the proper palms. i wish I knew what th eanswer was besides waking up and putting one foot in front of the other each day. The "American Way of Life" is fairly reprehensible give the sitrep of the rest of the world but, like them, we are just "trapped" in the place our soul happens to reside and when in Rome one generally does as the Romans.
Good post Bnb. I initially thought the answer for each of us would be land also. I also thoguht well try and collect from us. Neither does us any good but the guy did mention former Yugoslovia as the most recent country that went through massive debt. I also agree with you that this ad was scare tactics but the national debt is a huge huge issue that our politicians hsve to get serious about. I don't know how the governemnt is going to raise money to cut the debt. Seems like everyone gets offended if you raise their taxes. Businesses our doing better than they have in a long time.Why not raise taxes on them? If you want the american way of life to continue those who prosper the most should pay the most? Then again businesses might threaten to take their business offshore.We already have the world's second highest tax rate for business.
Cutting entitlements which seems to be a Republican thing is also another huge issue. Cut social security,medicaid or medicare you have many more homeless, more people sick going to emergency rooms and ultimately the tax payer pays for that. Maybe delay social security would seem to be a reseaonable answer? Maybe states could legalize gambling,prostitution,marijuana which would helps states gain revenue. These are just ideas but the hard questions must be answered soon. We simply can't turn an eye on this issue. We seem to rob Paul to pay Piper.Politicians don't want to seem to handle the mess for fear of not be voted back in. Anyway some hard choices need to be made and the debt mst come down.
