…The US must borrow more than $2 billion per day from foreigners to finance its huge trade deficits. In 2005, for example, there was a record deficit of $805 billion. And now global economists tell us that Medicare will go broke by 2019, and Social Security will go broke by 2042….
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The Office of Management and Budget Director, Mitch Daniels, recently told The Wall Street Journal that the motto of congressional appropriators is, “Don’t just stand there, spend something.’ That’s the only way they feel relevant.”
When George W. Bush and his political friends need to feel ‘relevant’ they get on television and talk about spending ten billion dollars here, or a hundred billion dollars there. Sounds impressive coming from a Texas oil man, and when he says it on television, it doesn’t sound like too much…
So, let’s review what I call ‘Uncle Scam’s Economic Report.’
Quote: “Friday, March 17, 2006 – Washington – The Senate approved a $2.8 trillion election-year budget Thursday that broke spending limits only hours after it increased the federal debt limit by $781 billion, bringing the debt ceiling to nearly $9 trillion, or $30,000 for each US citizen, to avert an immediate government debt default. Spending for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan will increase from $6.9 billion a month to $9.8 billion, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service. “It is very disturbing, and it gives me a whole lot of heartburn,” said Senator Jim DeMint, Republican of South Carolina, who attributed the additional spending to political anxiety. “They want to go and say they are helping people, but we are not helping people when we are selling out their future.”
Quote: “2005 Financial Report of the United States Government – Government Accountability Office (GAO) Auditor’s Report – David M. Walker – Comptroller General of the United States – December 2, 2005 – http://www.fms.treas.gov/fr/ – page two – The Nation’s Fiscal Imbalance
And, of course, there’s more:
“The federal government’s reported net operating cost, which included expenses incurred during the year, increased to $760 billion in fiscal year 2005 from $616 billion in fiscal year 2004. The US government’s total reported liabilities, net social insurance commitments and other fiscal exposures continue to grow and now total more than $46 trillion, representing close to four times current GDP and up from about $20 trillion or two times GDP in 2000.
Finally, while the nation’s long-term fiscal imbalance continues to grow, the retirement of the “baby boom” generation is closer to becoming a reality with the first wave of boomers eligible for early retirement under Social Security in 2008. Given these and other factors, it seems clear that the nations current fiscal path is unsustainable.”
The US government ran a monthly budget deficit of $119.20 billion in February 2006, an all-time monthly record, according to a Treasury report Friday. The February federal government deficit was 5% greater than a year earlier, according to the Treasury Department’s monthly budget statement.
In 2000, 1.1% of the federal government’s cash flow (revenue plus the annual increase in debt) came from ‘new debt’. This reliance on debt grew to 20.4% in 2005.
In other words, for every $100 spent by the federal government in 2005, $20.40 came from borrowed money, as compared to only $1.10 in 2000.
The US must borrow more than $2 billion per day from foreigners to finance its huge trade deficits. In 2005, for example, there was a record deficit of $805 billion. And now global economists tell us that Medicare will go broke by 2019, and Social Security will go broke by 2042.
Mr. Bush makes $46 trillion – in the hole – sound like pretty small change. But maybe that’s how ‘globalized’ GOP oil people think.
So I wondered, how many lifetimes of work would it take to give George W. Bush just One Billion Dollars to have a nice – maybe four days – at his war?
The CIA, the Labor Department and the economic websites tell us that the average US citizen will earn about $1,452,000 in a 40 year working life. And the average US citizen will pay about a third of his or her total wages (about $483,900) in taxes.
The only socioeconomic system under which a person’s total lifetime earnings are confiscated for use by another is called: slavery. Of course that’s a politically incorrect term to use to describe a current US citizen. But let’s use some bonafide demographics to measure how many current US citizens are – in fact – working as slaves.
Let’s start by seeing what One Billion Dollars really means, as measured by the total lifetime earnings, and that means every dime, earned by an average US citizen, employed full time for 40 years, in a career within these groups:
US Ph.D.’s earn on average $3.4 million in a lifetime. One Billion Dollars equals the entire 40 year lifetime earnings of 294 average college professors, scientists or chief engineers.
US MD’s earn on average $4.4 million in a lifetime. One Billion Dollars equals the entire lifetime earnings of 227 average doctors.
US Masters Degree holders earn on average $2.5 million in a lifetime. One Billion Dollars is equal to the entire lifetime earnings of 400 average senior managers or engineers or high school principals.
US Bachelor Degree holders earn on average $2.1 million in a lifetime. One Billion Dollars equals the lifetime earnings of 476 average school teachers, or nurses, computer technicians, insurance claims adjusters or accountants.
US Associate of Arts Degree holders earn on average $1.6 million in a lifetime. One Billion Dollars equals the lifetime earnings of 625 average sales representatives, mechanics, or service managers.
US citizens with some college earn on average $1.5 million in a lifetime. So One Billion Dollars equals the lifetime earnings of 667 average contractors, enlisted military people, firemen, policewomen, power company linemen or telephone line installers.
US citizens with a High School education earn on average $1.2 million in a lifetime. One Billion Dollars equals the lifetime earnings of 833 average production workers or truck drivers.
US citizens without a High School education earn on average $1.0 million in a lifetime. One Billion Dollars equals the lifetime earnings of 1,000 average gardeners and lawn care people.
When Mr. Bush spends One Billion Dollars he is spending the entire 40 year lifetime earnings of 689 average US citizens.
But Mr. Bush and his political friends regularly talk about spending nice round Hundred Billions. As an example: about three months of war in Iraq. One Hundred Billion Dollars equals the entire lifetime earnings of:
29,400 College Professors (or)
22,700 Doctors (or)
40,000 Senior managers or engineers (or)
47,600 Teachers or Nurses (or)
62,500 Service Managers (or)
66,700 Contractors (or)
83,300 Truck Drivers (or)
100,000 Lawn care people
One Hundred Billion Dollars is equal to an average US citizens’ entire earnings for about 68,900 lifetimes.
And global economists are talking about the growing US Federal Deficit in nice round Trillions. One Trillion Dollars equals the entire lifetime earnings of:
290,400 College Professors (or)
220,700 Doctors (or)
400,000 Senior managers or engineers (or)
470,600 Teachers or Nurses (or)
620,500 Service Managers (or)
660,700 Contractors (or)
830,300 Truck Drivers (or)
1,000,000 Lawn care people
A One Trillion Dollar Deficit is equal to an average US citizens’ entire lifetime earnings for about 680,900 lifetimes. That’s a long haul for a ‘slave.’
So when you sit back in front of your TV set and watch Mr. Bush’s oil war and some ‘relevant’ government talking head tells you how many ?Billions’ he (or she) is spending, look at your kid sitting there and wonder just how many lifetimes that kid will have to work to give the ‘Top Gun” the money he (or she) is going to spend, or give away overseas, or ‘loose’, in his war, this year…
Oh, about that growing $46 Trillion Federal Government Debt problem? Well, if $9 Trillion in debt puts each US citizen $30,000 in the hole, then a $46 Trillion debt puts each US citizen about $157,000 in the hole – payable on demand. Bush billionaires won’t mind too much, but how is a 3 year old homeless black kid in Louisiana going to pay up?
And $46 Trillion Dollars equals the entire lifetime earnings of: How many? You have the earnings demographics, do the math, forty-six times the $1 Trillion numbers for the 290,400 College Professors, etc, and you’ll see how many million US citizens’ entire slave lifetimes it will take to pay it down … or even pay the monthly interest on it…
Now, if you are a ‘Baby Boomer,’ and you think you are going to retire as part of the ‘American Dream’ – this is the snapshot of your globalized future.
IMF Says Rise in U.S. Debts Threatens World’s Economy
By ELIZABETH BECKER and EDMUND L. ANDREWS, The New York Times(Jan. 8) – With its rising budget deficit and ballooning trade imbalance, the United States is running up a foreign debt of such record-breaking proportions that it threatens the financial stability of the global economy, according to a report released Wednesday by the International Monetary Fund.
In the I. M. F. report, fund economists warned that the United States long-term fiscal outlook was far grimmer, predicting that underfunding for Social Security and Medicare will lead to shortages as high as $47 trillion over the next 70 years or nearly 500 percent of the current gross domestic product in the coming decades.
Prepared by a team of I. M. F. economists, the report sounded a loud alarm about the shaky fiscal foundation of the United States, questioning the wisdom of the Bush administration’s tax cuts and warning that large budget deficits pose “significant risks” not just for the United States but for the rest of the world.
The report warns that the United States’ net financial obligations to the rest of the world could be equal to 40 percent of its total economy within a few years – “an unprecedented level of external debt for a large industrial country,” according to the fund, that would play havoc with the value of the dollar and international exchange rates.
Treasury Secretary John W. Snow did not address the fund’s report directly. But in a speech to the United States Chamber of Commerce on Wednesday, he said Mr. Bush’s tax cuts were central to spurring growth and reiterated the administration’s pledge to reduce the deficit in half within five years. But the I. M. F. report said that even if the administration succeeded, it would not be enough to address the long-term problems posed by retiring baby boomers.’
In 1932, President Franklin Roosevelt decoupled the dollar from gold, but gold was still being paid to other countries as they redeemed US dollars. During 1970-1971, the United States was no longer able to pay other governments with gold, and the nations of the world were stuck with continually inflating US dollars. In order to maintain global demand for the US dollar, the US Government made a 1972-73 arrangement with Saudi Arabia to support the House of Saud if they, Saudi Arabia and all of OPEC, the oil producing nations, would accept only US dollars as payment of oil.
Now Uncle Scam is between the proverbial rock and the hard place. Iran announced that as of March 21st, 2006, that it will no longer accept US dollars for oil, and that it has persuaded the OPEC nations to accept the Euro and other currencies as well. None of the nations will have to buy and hold dollars to buy oil, and this will reduce the US dollar to nearly junk status on the world market. That is why Bush has determined that Iran must be attacked. If oil no longer backs the US petro-dollar, the collapse of the dollar is imminent.
It’s no coincidence that 3 days after Iran starts its conversion to the Euro, Bush’s Federal Reserve Board will cease publishing the M3 indicator which measures the amount of dollars in circulation. They don’t want the US sheeple to know that the bottom is about to fall out of their funny money system.
In the George Orwell novel “1984” you read about NewSpeak and NewThink, which were twisted lies authorized by a fascist government gone berserk. The Bush Government is delivering – your – economic demise via NewBank – And you – and your kid – shortly will become NewSlaves.
Yes, as economist James Turk recently wrote – it’s economic suicide – but worse than that, it’s also monetary homicide. The dollar, as we know it, is being killed, poisoned by debt right from the hand of Uncle Scam.
So far its been a slow death, with few people watching, but that’s about to change. With the horrific new amounts of debt being injected into the dollar’s weary remains, its death is not far off.
And that’s the dollar that you – your kids – and your grand kids – plan to use – to survive.
Well, Mr. Bush, ‘Mission Accomplished’ yet?
Written by Gwen Gearing [send her email], who is an activist and writer from North Carolina.
