GAO says budget deficits are far worse that Americans realize

[DanceMan]

Text

Here was a very chilling quote...

"These additional amounts total tens of trillions of dollars," he said. "They are likely to exceed $100,000 in additional burden for every man, woman and child in America today, and these amounts are growing every day."

*One Hundred Thousand Dollars!* :Q
I thought my mortgage was bad, this is like buying another house!

A couple of weeks ago I sent a note to my congressman saying that deficit spending was one of my top concerns. Maybe it's time to send him another note!

DanceMan

 

[CADsortaGUY]

OMFG!!!!! THE SKY IS FALLING ... THE SKY IS FALLING!!!!!

Well, maybe this is a good thing for people here in the states to realize. Maybe they'll see how their "gov't owes me" thinking has bankrupted our gov't. Maybe they'll finally understand that our Gov't wasn't created to cure our every "ill"

Well, OK - so they most likely won't see but I can hope, can't I?

CkG

 

[BaliBabyDoc]

Structural deficits were considered a legacy of the Democrat-controlled Congress (and Reagan/Bush 41 years). Now Reagan, Bush 41, and those Democrats can rest easy b/c the GOP Congress and Bush 43 will likely double the national debt in half the time. Most Americans have no clue. But it's not like they have resources to clear our annual deficit and start paying off debt. Most Americans will pay in the form of dramatically reduced SS/Medicare/Medicaid benefits, lapsing federal commitment to public education (you can forget vouchers as well), lapsing stewardship of the environment . . . in general being less than upper middle is definitely going to bite during the next few decades.

 

[ReiAyanami]

u do realize that the government has a printing press and literally can print as much money as it wants. however that would trigger domestic and global inflation beyond anything we've everseen and crash the world economy (since many currencies are backed by USD), but it would solve that deficit problem...


this reminds me of when san jose passed a $200 million library improvement proposition, and as there are less than 1 million ppl in san jose, that means every man, woman, and child, bought $200 worth of books (on top of the normal library system's costs). that means a family of four is stuck with "$800 worth of books" and i know there is no way a normal family would ever go out and buy that much, with the exception of college textbooks (which libraries do not carry). now you can see how liberal spending is what led to CA's $34 billion deficit problem.

bush's deficit is actually mostly his fault, why? because he set forth two rounds of tax cuts, the first one was OK, but the 2nd one was rather ridiculous. the good thing about it is that we get our money back that belongs to us, the bad news is our children will have to pay in the future.

 

[Lonyo]

The UK manages to go from £80bn borrowing per year in the early 90's to around £35bn now, under the same conditions as the US, cutting borrowing by 50%, yet the US has increased it by a hell of a lot.

And Bush isn't to blame, the wars and economy are. Well who began the wars?
Labour in the UK seem to have vaguely managed during the changing economic climate. Although they did have the advantage of forward planning, since they were in power also when the economy was growing so could have thought ahead.

 

[ReiAyanami]

lapsing federal commitment to public education

a CNN article just yesterday pointed out that the US spends the most amount of money per student (about 30-40% more than UK for example) yet test scores are unimpressive. we did beat out mexico and a handful of 3rd world countries, but they spend 1/10th per student..

its not our educational system, its not the funding, its the students in it. parents do not raise them right for who knows what reason. about 3 years ago i was stuck sitting next to a pothead (that is when he would show up for class). in my freshmen math class, there were two pregnant teens.

what is the school system supposed to do about that? teach them not to be morons? the school cannot take responsiblity of what should be the parent's.

 

[DanceMan]

Originally posted by: CADkindaGUY
OMFG!!!!! THE SKY IS FALLING ... THE SKY IS FALLING!!!!!

Well, maybe this is a good thing for people here in the states to realize. Maybe they'll see how their "gov't owes me" thinking has bankrupted our gov't. Maybe they'll finally understand that our Gov't wasn't created to cure our every "ill"

Well, OK - so they most likely won't see but I can hope, can't I?

CkG

I agree - but what's disturbing to me is that we are increasing spending and cutting taxes, and little else economically is being done or proposed to reduce the deficit. And worse, since an election year is coming, the public trough will be filled by Congress to please the voting public. And, they were similarly fooled in thinking that the tax 'cut' really helped the economy. It's pay now or pay later -- and people have to start realizing that, and I think that was the point the head of the GAO was trying to make.

DanceMan

 

[DanceMan]

....
bush's deficit is actually mostly his fault, why? because he set forth two rounds of tax cuts, the first one was OK, but the 2nd one was rather ridiculous. the good thing about it is that we get our money back that belongs to us, the bad news is our children will have to pay in the future.

I think that "we get our money back that belongs to us" is a sham. If government provides services, and that cost money, then taxes should reflect the cost of government. If the cost of government is too high, then people have to either cut back by letting Congress and the President know what programs to cut, or increase taxes. Those who believe they are getting their own money back are paying a cut-rate price for government now that will have to be paid for in the future (as you stated).

I liked the talk years ago about the balanced budget amendment with automatic triggers that would cut all governmental spending by 'x' amount if spending limits could not be met. I know I'm dreaming when I say I would like to see that bill floated in Congress again, but there is always hope...

DanceMan

 

[BaliBabyDoc]

its not our educational system, its not the funding, its the students in it. parents do not raise them right for who knows what reason. about 3 years ago i was stuck sitting next to a pothead (that is when he would show up for class). in my freshmen math class, there were two pregnant teens.

what is the school system supposed to do about that? teach them not to be morons? the school cannot take responsiblity of what should be the parent's.

I'm trying to keep this on-topic but you are not helping. Do you have any idea about the interworkings of our educational system? I'm a former teacher. My wife is a tenured teacher in the public schools. Most surveys of academic achievement typically demonstrate a clear trend. American children are competitive with other nations in the very early grades but progressively fall off until we reach the depths of ineptitude by secondary school . . . or in W's case . . . Harvard MBA. A reasonable conclusion is that some aspect of our system of education is quite dysfunctional . . . to the extent that our performance lags the more we are exposed to it. Your charge against the students is kinda like accusing a convict of not learning acceptable social skills while incarcerated. Children are not responsible for their educative environment . . . the adults are . . . which includes parents, teachers, administrators, school boards, and BS pols.

Education funding is a misnomer b/c billions of dollars are spent on athletics. As a product of many teams, I think athletics has a vital role to play in the development of healthy youths. But I wouldn't include TX football as a healthy or judicious use of limited education funds.

As for the topic, education is certainly an area where we need to spend our limited resources judiciously. Merit pay and vouchers may be useful but widespread testing regimes are not. Unfortunately, this administration has invested our money in testing and accreditation. My wife's school has lost two teachers so far this year . . . one couldn't hack it and the other was incompetent. Both were accredited. At the moment she's got a whole grade of accredited . . . and inadequate teachers. One of which has a Master's degree and is National Board-certified.

 

[CADsortaGUY]

BBD - start a thread on that education thing - I gots a few things to say

ot- I realize that tax-cuts without spending cuts isn't the correct way to go about things - but I sure as hell am not going to willingly give another dime to the gov't to pay for more open ended entitlement programs and other wastefull and unneccesary(IMO) programs. Someday Congress will get the hint

Danceman - I'm with you on the balanced(TRULY balanced - no IOUs or cost shifting crap) budget amendment I do however think that there should be an emergency type "fund" or "out" incase the shiz hits the fan. Like 9/11 for example - that isn't something we can budget for - it happens and the gov't needs to do it's part to help pick up the pieces to restore commerce

CkG

 

[charrison]

Originally posted by: BaliBabyDoc

its not our educational system, its not the funding, its the students in it. parents do not raise them right for who knows what reason. about 3 years ago i was stuck sitting next to a pothead (that is when he would show up for class). in my freshmen math class, there were two pregnant teens.

what is the school system supposed to do about that? teach them not to be morons? the school cannot take responsiblity of what should be the parent's.

I'm trying to keep this on-topic but you are not helping. Do you have any idea about the interworkings of our educational system? I'm a former teacher. My wife is a tenured teacher in the public schools. Most surveys of academic achievement typically demonstrate a clear trend. American children are competitive with other nations in the very early grades but progressively fall off until we reach the depths of ineptitude by secondary school . . . or in W's case . . . Harvard MBA. A reasonable conclusion is that some aspect of our system of education is quite dysfunctional . . . to the extent that our performance lags the more we are exposed to it. Your charge against the students is kinda like accusing a convict of not learning acceptable social skills while incarcerated. Children are not responsible for their educative environment . . . the adults are . . . which includes parents, teachers, administrators, school boards, and BS pols.

Education funding is a misnomer b/c billions of dollars are spent on athletics. As a product of many teams, I think athletics has a vital role to play in the development of healthy youths. But I wouldn't include TX football as a healthy or judicious use of limited education funds.

As for the topic, education is certainly an area where we need to spend our limited resources judiciously. Merit pay and vouchers may be useful but widespread testing regimes are not. Unfortunately, this administration has invested our money in testing and accreditation. My wife's school has lost two teachers so far this year . . . one couldn't hack it and the other was incompetent. Both were accredited. At the moment she's got a whole grade of accredited . . . and inadequate teachers. One of which has a Master's degree and is National Board-certified.

At an average of 10k per student, how can we not have good qualified teachers?
Testing is not answer, but it does let us know where problems exist.

 

[XZeroII]

Everyone knows this stuff. Why do people keep posting this junk instead of DOING something about it.

 

[BaliBabyDoc]

At an average of 10k per student, how can we not have good qualified teachers?
Testing is not answer, but it does let us know where problems exist.

Dude, the system of education is messed up. It's part bureaucracy and part benign neglect by school boards and the pols. I kid you not . . . the Master's degree teacher with National Board certification had <40% of her kids meet grade level last year. Considering this is a Title I school with primarily low income, minority kids in NC . . . I guess that wouldn't be all that surprising. But guess what . . . this school had 87% of its kids test at grade level last year. Better yet this school met all of the criterion (ie No Child Left Behind) despite the fact No Child Left Behind has nothing to do with this school's progress . . . that's my wife . . . and some of the other teachers.

The system needs unaffiliated elections for school board . . . Democrats and Republicans both know how to ruin a school system. All administrators should come from the teaching ranks, be exceptionally kind and supportive (hire) and be cold hearted killers (fire). Tenure needs to be revised. Virtually all federal mandates need to be repealed and start with one simple principle . . . if your state's system of education sux you need to borrow from somebody else.

You cannot change the home life of kids that live in slums or with POS parents . . . unless of course you plan to adopt them. Your only other option is to make it illegal to breed without a license and include mandatory parenting training. Otherwise, the peanut gallery needs to stop bitching about lame parents and dysfunctional home environments unless you plan to become social workers and make a difference.

 

[charrison]

Originally posted by: BaliBabyDoc

At an average of 10k per student, how can we not have good qualified teachers?
Testing is not answer, but it does let us know where problems exist.

Dude, the system of education is messed up. It's part bureaucracy and part benign neglect by school boards and the pols. I kid you not . . . the Master's degree teacher with National Board certification had <40% of her kids meet grade level last year. Considering this is a Title I school with primarily low income, minority kids in NC . . . I guess that wouldn't be all that surprising. But guess what . . . this school had 87% of its kids test at grade level last year. Better yet this school met all of the criterion (ie No Child Left Behind) despite the fact No Child Left Behind has nothing to do with this school's progress . . . that's my wife . . . and some of the other teachers.

The system needs unaffiliated elections for school board . . . Democrats and Republicans both know how to ruin a school system. All administrators should come from the teaching ranks, be exceptionally kind and supportive (hire) and be cold hearted killers (fire). Tenure needs to be revised. Virtually all federal mandates need to be repealed and start with one simple principle . . . if your state's system of education sux you need to borrow from somebody else.

You cannot change the home life of kids that live in slums or with POS parents . . . unless of course you plan to adopt them. Your only other option is to make it illegal to breed without a license and include mandatory parenting training. Otherwise, the peanut gallery needs to stop bitching about lame parents and dysfunctional home environments unless you plan to become social workers and make a difference.

Yes I know schools are messed up. Given that parents are large chunk of the educational equation, I dont know what the answer is either.

 

[HappyGamer2]

no biggy, we need more tax rebates (re-election bribes) thou:|