Captain Obvious Moment of the Day: Debt Unsustainable, We Must Stop Borrowing From China
Thank you Captain Obvious… err… I mean Obama!
Ironically enough the debt and the borrowing that Obama is concerned about will mostly come from his irresponsible spending habits within his first 100 days. When Dick Morris mentioned that Obama’s first 100 days would come back to haunt him, he was right!
President Barack Obama, calling current deficit spending “unsustainable,” warned of skyrocketing interest rates for consumers if the U.S. continues to finance government by borrowing from other countries.
“We can’t keep on just borrowing from China,” Obama said at a town-hall meeting in Rio Rancho, New Mexico, outside Albuquerque. “We have to pay interest on that debt, and that means we are mortgaging our children’s future with more and more debt.”
Holders of U.S. debt will eventually “get tired” of buying it, causing interest rates on everything from auto loans to home mortgages to increase, Obama said. “It will have a dampening effect on our economy.”
That calls for a big “DUH!” but that is simple common sense, something that is much like an endangered species in the halls of D.C.
The amusing part of all of this is the fact that Obama is just simply unwilling to look in the mirror and realize that he has quadrupled the debt and increased our deficit more than any other president in history. He has spent more in his first 100 days than all presidents throughout history combined – and that includes Bush to all you liberals.
Obama continuously uses the blame Bush rhetoric for having to take “drastic” measures, but as any intelligent human being should realize, when the government and politicians make things out to be a crisis, yet you don’t really feel that way (unlike a physical attack against your country), you should be incredibly wary. Politicians lie, they lie to pass an agenda, and Obama is a genius when it comes to manipulation, deceit, and drama.
Earlier this week, the Obama administration revised its own budget estimates and raised the projected deficit for this year to a record $1.84 trillion, up 5 percent from the February estimate. The revision for the 2010 fiscal year estimated the deficit at $1.26 trillion, up 7.4 percent from the February figure. The White House Office of Management and Budget also projected next year’s budget will end up at $3.59 trillion, compared with the $3.55 trillion it estimated previously.
Two weeks ago, the president proposed $17 billion in budget cuts, with plans to eliminate or reduce 121 federal programs. Republicans ridiculed the amount, saying that it represented one-half of 1 percent of the entire budget. They noted that Obama is seeking an $81 billion increase in other spending.
We are now learning that the supplemental spending for war funding and emergency funding that is sitting in the House and Senate are both over $90 billion at this point. There will most likely be a compromise of some sort between the House and Senate but I believe that the real amount of additional appropriations will most likely stay above the $90 billion threshold.
Let’s not forget that under the Obama administration and this radical left Congress that government is growing and the private sector is shrinking. Entitlement programs are growing because liberals know that the more you can put your thumb over people and oppress them by getting them “hooked” on entitlements and the government, the more they will win votes… that’s just cruel.
The issue is that we are going to go bankrupt quicker by upping the ante on entitlements. Entitlements themselves are already unsustainable.
Baby boomers — that 70-million-strong population lump — begin officially retiring this year. That means the government’s bill for retirees’ pensions and health care has no where to go but up, for decades to come.
Everyone knew this day would come. And virtually every economist and actuary who had run the numbers could tell you, within a few years’ certainty, the system was going bankrupt.
But all this seemed to happen in the distant future. Last year, both political parties virtually ignored the topic during their presidential campaigns. It became a non-issue issue.
Well, thanks to a profligate federal government, which will double the national debt to $11.5 trillion in just four years, and a recession that has weakened federal tax revenues, we can no longer ignore the problem. The day of reckoning is at hand.
The Social Security Board of Trustees reported Tuesday that costs will exceed revenues in 2016 — a full year sooner than expected just last year. And total assets — including more than 70 years of “surpluses” built up in the “trust fund” — will be completely gone by 2037 — four years earlier than in last year’s report.
The deficit over the next 50 years is expected to be about 2% of taxable payrolls — up from 1.7% last year. By the way, changes in the last year alone have added $5.3 trillion in costs to the program.
Long-term, unfunded liabilities for Social Security and Medicare top $53 trillion — about four times the size of current GDP. Taxes must either rise or benefits shrink by that amount to close that gap.
Maybe we could try to work on some issues that really matter, those that could possibly destroy people’s lives? Instead of criticizing private social security accounts, maybe we should revisit the idea and work from there. Many economists argue that private accounts of some sort would be more cost effective and better for everyone.
We also cannot forget that Obama and his lefty contemporaries want to reform health care and create a possible single payer system. Many do not believe that the single payer legislation will get passed, but something that makes the private sector compete with the public sector by providing a choice. The issue that I have/see with this “competition” is how the government can become so forceful and, as it has done in the past, force out of business anything competing with it. Either way, any additional programs provided by the government must come out of taxpayers’ pockets, so medical care will never technically be free – it will only be free to those who don’t work or pay taxes. This is the crux of the problem. Health care provided by the government will just increase our debt to China even more…
Obama is concerned with China? He’s concerned with owing the Chinese more and more? Well, maybe if we took a look at the recent auto industry news regarding GM it would be evident that all we do is take China’s money, give China jobs, and all in all are in the pocket of China.
As thousands of General Motors workers await word on more U.S. plant closures, reports that the company plans to import Chinese-made vehicles to the U.S. have created a political problem for the automaker and the White House.
The reports, which GM will neither confirm nor deny, could mean trouble because GM is supported by $15.4 billion in U.S. government loans, largely due to the Obama administration’s desire to preserve the company’s 90,000 U.S. jobs.
The United Auto Workers charged last week that the Detroit automaker intends to almost double over the next five years the number of vehicles it imports to the U.S. from Mexico, South Korea, China and Japan.
“GM should not be taking taxpayers’ money simply to finance the outsourcing of jobs to other countries,” Alan Reuther, the union’s Washington lobbyist, wrote in a letter to U.S. lawmakers.
Maybe if the Unions were not allowed to lobby on Capitol Hill to force the hands of Democrats and completely crush the auto industry, this would not have been a problem and the outsourcing of jobs would not have been so enticing to the ailing auto giants. But why would Democrats ever put the good of the country or an industry over that of a big donor?
I have an idea for all who read this – let’s attempt to elect someone who is for the people, by the people – not bought and paid for. Let’s elect somebody who is honest and integrity means more to them than politics and agenda… Stop electing these corrupt, pathological liars and maybe we can get our country back on track.
Don’t Democrats Care About Human Rights?
With so much turmoil in the Middle East and the recent reports of the horrible infringements upon human rights and common decency it makes me wonder if Democrats even care about human rights anymore?
Obama thus far, believes that Iran is full of gumdrop mountains and chocolate falls, but yet they make statements like the one earlier today in which they say that “it will take 11 days to wipe Israel out of existence!?”
Afghanistan has violated various human rights protocols and most recently shot and killed a man and a woman whom they felt were committing adultery and flogged another woman for some other sexist law.
Saudi Arabians don’t allow women to make eye contact or even drive cars, but we still conduct plenty of business with them and feminist liberals don’t seem to have as much outrage when it comes to crimes that are committed by these regimes.
There are other countries that also have human rights issues (China, North Korea, Cuba, Venezuela, etc.) and lately it seems like the majority of these cruel dictatorships are now on Obama’s ally list.
The latest act that violates human rights took place in Iran over the weekend, where a 23 year old girl, convicted of murder as a juvenile, was hanged. Authorities executed the 23-year-old woman Friday in northern Iran without informing her lawyer or allowing the family to be present, said the lawyer, Mohammad Mostafaei. She was 17 at the time the crime was committed, in 2003.
Which leads me to this op-ed written in the Boston Globe of all places:
ARE HUMAN RIGHTS still a Democrat priority?
To Democrats of a certain age, such a question might seem incomprehensible. After all, it was a Democrat, John F. Kennedy, whose inaugural address proclaimed “to friend and foe alike” that Americans would resist “the slow undoing of those human rights to which this nation has always been committed.” It was another Democrat, Jimmy Carter, who made support for human rights an explicit foreign-policy concern, declaring at his inauguration: “Because we are free we can never be indifferent to the fate of freedom elsewhere.” It was Senator Henry Jackson and Representative Charles Vanik – Democrats both – whose landmark Jackson-Vanik amendment helped win freedom for tens of thousands of Soviet dissidents and refuseniks.
But somewhere along the way, Democratic priorities seem to have changed.
For example: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton could have used her recent trip to China to vigorously defend human rights – to make it clear to those who rule the world’s largest dictatorship that the new administration in Washington cares about the liberty and dignity of China’s people. Instead, she more or less announced in advance that talking to Beijing about human rights was pointless, since “we pretty much know what they’re going to say.” Besides, she told reporters, human rights must not “interfere” with more important issues, such as the economic crisis or climate change.
China got the message. As Clinton arrived in Beijing, dozens of pro-democracy dissidents were placed under virtual house arrest. True to her word, the secretary of state made no fuss about the regime’s brutality.
[...]
Closer to home, President Obama last week relaxed US policy toward Cuba, making it easier for Cuban-Americans to travel and send money to relatives living there. The president’s order was titled “Promoting Democracy and Human Rights in Cuba,” but in fact it said nothing at all about democracy and human rights in Cuba. Nowhere did it mention the Communist tyranny of the last 50 years – there was nothing about the denial of free speech; the abuse and murder of political dissidents; the persecution of journalists, librarians, and human-rights activists; the relentless surveillance and secret police; the regime’s stranglehold on property and employment.
Unfortunately, I think that over the years the priorities of the Democrat Party have become power and control. This in turn has lead to less freedoms, liberties and more infringement upon our basic values like freedom of speech.
The party of JFK, it is not.
Breaking: Obama Administration Overrides DHS, CIA, etc. Will Release Chinese Terrorists
Human Events reports:
Moving quickly to release Chinese Uighur terrorists into the United States, Obama administration officials have — for the second time — overridden objections of federal agencies responsible for national security.
The first time — as I reported on April 20 — the White House overrode the inter-agency panel it created from all the national security agencies to review all the cases of the Guantanamo Bay prisoners. That panel found that the seventeen Uighurs — members of the East Turkestan Islamic Movement captured at an al-Qaeda training camp in Pakistan — were too dangerous to release in the United States.
I reported in more detail here.
U.S. to Release Chinese Terrorists Into the Country!?
The Obama administration is preparing to admit into the United States as many as seven Chinese Muslims who have been imprisoned at Guantanamo Bay in the first release of any of the detainees into this country, according to current and former U.S. officials.
I have put classifieds into all the local papers: Wanted: Caring Families Needed to House Unfortunate Terrorists From Gitmo: 1-800-I-VOTED-4-OBAMA
Their release is seen as a crucial step to plans, announced by President Obama during his first week in office, to close the prison and relocate the detainees. Administration officials also believe that settling some of them in American communities will set an example, helping to persuade other nations to accept Guantanamo detainees too.
Any detainees released into the country will most likely vote Democrat in the next elections, especially after receiving welfare payments from taxpayers. I’m sure they will pose no threat to the country since there was probably no reason whatsoever they were detained at Gitmo in the first place/sarc.
But the decision to release the Chinese Muslims, known as Uighurs, is not final and faces challenges from within the government, as well as likely public opposition. Among government agencies, the Homeland Security Department has registered concerns about the plan.
The move would also incense Chinese officials, who consider the Uighurs domestic terrorists and want those held at Guantanamo handed over for investigation. U.S. officials no longer consider the Chinese Muslims to be enemy combatants and fear they would be mistreated in China.
The Chinese will not let them back into the country and if they do re-enter they will prosecute the Uighurs as domestic terrorists, but the United States doesn’t get the hint and is admitting them into the country.
There are 17 Uighurs (pronounced WEE-gers) at Guantanamo. A U.S. official familiar with the discussions over their release said that as many as seven could be resettled in the U.S., possibly in two or more small groups.
Officials have not said where in the United States they might live. But many Uighur immigrants from China live in Washington’s Virginia suburbs, and advocates have urged that the detainees be resettled near people who speak their language and are familiar with their customs.
I hope all my under 30 friends who voted for Obama are amenable to the fact that they could be their next-door neighbors in Northern Virginia. The suburbs of Northern Virginia went blue and many in the area are having second thoughts about their vote. I say too bad – you reap what you sow.
The Uighurs were sent to Guantanamo in 2002 after being captured in Pakistan. Before that, they had gravitated to Afghanistan, where they received firearms training at a camp apparently run by a Uighur separatist.
Some former U.S. officials have said government information indicates that the Uighurs may pose a danger if released. But other officials and human rights organizations insist they pose no threat to Americans.
These men were trained and caught in camps that promote jihad. These men are not threats to our society and the citizens of America? Human Rights groups or U.S. Intel officials – which one would you be willing to listen to and believe when discussing the possible threats posed.
“It is kind of hard to tell other countries you would like them to accept some of these guys from Guantanamo if you are not willing to accept them,” said the U.S. official, who described the internal discussions on condition of anonymity.
So through the act of appeasement we need to set an example to change the minds of other countries. It’s like the old saying: “If someone told you to jump off a bridge, would you?” The whole idea of making a decision that could possibly put the citizens of the United States at risk, due to the fact that there is more concern over the lives of terrorists than the lives of U.S. citizens, just reeks of idiocy and insanity! Why would any country accept terrorists just because the U.S. does. Is that not a little arrogant and presumptuous on our part? If I were any other country I would look at the U.S. and say, “Good for you… but I’m not taking that chance and putting the lives of my countrymen at stake.”
The acceptance of these terrorists are also hurting foreign relations with China. Appeasement does more harm for relations than anything else. The more you try to please everyone, the more you upset and hurt everyone. Evidence of this is as simple as looking at your own personal life. Did you ever try to please all your friends when you were younger? I was in a group of friends and one of my girlfriends was an appeaser. She would say one thing to one person and promise the opposite to another. When word got back that she was two faced and pinning others against one another, she was the one who got in trouble, not the group. If you don’t stand for anything you will fall for everything.
The release is a slap in the face to Beijing, which has requested that the Uighur prisoners be repatriated to China to stand trial for separatist activities. In their testimony before the Guantanamo tribunal, the Uighurs admitted that their purpose in going to Afghanistan was to receive military training to fight Chinese rule over Xinjiang.
“If these people are terrorists, they should be punished. If they are not terrorists, the United States should apologize to China for holding them so long and make compensation,” said Zhang Jiadong, an expert in terrorism at Fudan University’s Center for American Studies. Zhang said, however, that he did not expect the Chinese government to retaliate because it was already widely anticipated in Beijing that the United States would not return the Uighurs to China.
Within the prison, Uighurs are not considered a grave threat and are allowed greater freedom, such as television privileges, than other detainees.
But the TV privileges underscored potential difficulties to come, according to one current and one former U.S. official. Not long after being granted access to TV, some of the Uighurs were watching a soccer game. When a woman with bare arms was shown on the screen, one of the group grabbed the television and threw it to the ground, according to the officials.
They aren’t a grave threat, but when they see a woman with bare arms they throw a television screen – I’m sure that will go over real well in Northern Virginia. “Beware of Tank Tops!”
The Uighurs are not as dangerous as other detainees or terrorist groups, but they still do pose possible threats and problems to our society. There are other societies that are more accepting of these individuals, but I fear that not only will there be problems for the Uighurs assimilating into American culture, but vice versa for Americans encountering the Uighurs if they are released. Knowing already that they were against the Chinese government and aligned themselves with aspects of radical Islam, there is good reason to believe that they may come to dislike or despise the culture in the states after a matter of time. Based on their behavior in Gitmo with the television incident, they may not like seeing women with equal rights to men, wearing revealing clothing, showing their hair, seeing homosexual couples in public, the practicing of various religions, etc.
China Dumps Dollar for Copper and Spies on Our Planes
“China has woken up. The West is a black hole with all this money being printed. The Chinese are buying raw materials because it is a much better way to use their $1.9 trillion of reserves. They get ten times the impact, and can cover their infrastructure for 50 years.”
“The next industrial revolution is going to be led by hybrid cars, and that needs copper. You can see the subtle way that China is moving into 30 or 40 countries with resources,” he said.
The SRB has also been accumulating aluminium, zinc, nickel, and rarer metals such as titanium, indium (thin-film technology), rhodium (catalytic converters) and praseodymium (glass).
While it makes sense for China to take advantage of last year’s commodity crash to restock cheaply, there is clearly more behind the move. “They are definitely buying metals to diversify out of US Treasuries and dollar holdings,” said Jim Lennon, head of commodities at Macquarie Bank.
John Reade, metals chief at UBS, said Beijing may have a made strategic decision to stockpile metal as an alternative to foreign bonds. “We’re very surprised by Chinese demand. They are buying much more copper than they will need this year. If this is strategic, there may be no effective limit on the purchases as China’s pockets are deep.”
I’m thinking about stockpiling metals myself. I just need to come up with the money and maybe a pool of it with some other to throw behind some metal ETF’s or smaller ounce investments that are actually in my price range.
One thing is clear: Beijing suspects that the US Federal Reserve is engineering a covert default on America’s debt by printing money. Premier Wen Jiabao issued a blunt warning last month that China was tiring of US bonds. “We have lent a huge amount of money to the US, so of course we are concerned about the safety of our assets,” he said.
Do any liberals want to call out China and say they are wearing a tin-foil hat? China can see it so why can’t you? Wake up from your ideogolical drunken stupor and stop covering for your guy who is just a typical spend-happy progressive – it’s time to realize in certain circumstances what is best for your own country not your political agenda!
China is tiring of our bonds and more recently said they would slow up on purchasing them. Any investor worth their salt would be wary if they researched and observed the poor management practices of the U.S. government and the massive amount of deficit spending and creation of debt. There is a reason why there are financial analysts who look at specific “health” ratios of companies – the same could be true for the government. Debt to Equity ratio isn’t looking all that hot, especially in the coming years if we continue to spend the same way.
The beauty of recycling China’s surplus into metals instead of US bonds is that it kills so many birds with one stone: it stops the yuan rising, without provoking complaints of currency manipulation by Washington; metals are easily stored in warehouses, unlike oil; the holdings are likely to rise in value over time since the earth’s crust is gradually depleting its accessible ores. Above all, such a policy safeguards China’s industrial revolution, while the West may one day face a supply crisis.
China currently has 1.95T USD in its reserves and this was also done to manipulate the power of the yuan which they are trying to hold down. There were complaints about how they were “manipulating” their currency in past months.
China has not started buying up more gold as some would tend to believe, they say that there is just as much chance of having a “Copper Standard” backing the currency as there is the old standby, “Gold Standard.”
China and Russia have both been outspoken on dumping the dollar and moving back to a global currency such as the Bancor which is backed by 30-40 commodities to alleviate risk and provide more diversity for the “basket” currency.
Additional news on the China front has disclosed that there is a possiblity that China has placed spy chips in some U.S. planes.
The Chinese cyber spies have penetrated so deep into the US system — ranging from its secure defence network, banking system,electricity grid to putting spy chips into its defence planes — that it can cause serious damage to the US any time, a top US official on counter-intelligence has said.
“Chinese penetrations of unclassified DoD networks have also been widely reported. Those are more sophisticated, though hardly state of the art,” said National Counterintelligence Executive, Joel Brenner, at the Austin University Texas last week, according to a transcript made available on Wednesday.
Listing out some of the examples of Chinese cyber spy penetration, he said: “We’re also seeing counterfeit routers and chips, and some of those chips have made their way into US military fighter aircraft.. You don’t sneak counterfeit chips into another nation’s aircraft to steal data. When it’s done intentionally, it’s done to degrade systems, or to have the ability to do so at a time of one’s choosing.”
Referring to the Chinese networks penetrating the cyber grids, he said: “Do I worry about those grids, and about air traffic control systems, water supply systems, and so on? You bet I do. America’s networks are being mapped. There has also been experience of both Chinese and criminal network operations in the networks of some of the banks”.
Am I the only one worried? I hope not!
