Socialist America sinking

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Genx87

Lifer
Apr 8, 2002
41,091
513
126
Originally posted by: eskimospy
Originally posted by: Genx87
Originally posted by: miketheidiot
i wonder if this guy coudl have gotten more facts wrong, but then again he does look at the world through pat-Buchanan colored glasses



Originally posted by: Genx87
Govt bubble will have to burst someday.

thats a nice talking point

What happens when govt is unable to continue expanding and pushing our gdp numbers up? At some point the bills will have to be paid. That means a contraction of govt, contraction in the economy, and a terrible correction.

'Bubble' is just the new buzzword that everyone likes to throw around. The only debts that need to be paid are our external debt to other countries, which amounts to about 25% of our total debt. The rest is internally owned. Our external debt is easily manageable.

Uh huh, try not paying on debt owned internally and see what happens. It may be paid back to people\organizations within the states. But the govt still have to raise money through more borrowing or taxes to pay off any interest or debt that is due.

 

Harvey

Administrator<br>Elite Member
Oct 9, 1999
35,059
73
91
Pat Buchannan's credibility < 0. He hasn't gotten anything right since he was an advisor and speech writer for Richard Nixon and Spiro Agnew.

Agnew was bounced out of office as VP and convicted for tax evasion. Nixon should have been convicted for crimes that were precursors to the massive criminality we got from the Bushwhackos. :|
 

OCGuy

Lifer
Jul 12, 2000
27,224
37
91
Originally posted by: eskimospy
'Bubble' is just the new buzzword that everyone likes to throw around. The only debts that need to be paid are our external debt to other countries, which amounts to about 25% of our total debt. The rest is internally owned. Our external debt is easily manageable.

Oh, goodie! Can I live by that theory as well?
 

Red Dawn

Elite Member
Jun 4, 2001
57,529
3
0
Originally posted by: OCguy
Originally posted by: eskimospy
'Bubble' is just the new buzzword that everyone likes to throw around. The only debts that need to be paid are our external debt to other countries, which amounts to about 25% of our total debt. The rest is internally owned. Our external debt is easily manageable.

Oh, goodie! Can I live by that theory as well?
Dooo eeet..Dooo eeet!!!
 

fskimospy

Elite Member
Mar 10, 2006
88,217
55,753
136
Originally posted by: Genx87
Originally posted by: eskimospy
Originally posted by: Genx87
Originally posted by: miketheidiot
i wonder if this guy coudl have gotten more facts wrong, but then again he does look at the world through pat-Buchanan colored glasses



Originally posted by: Genx87
Govt bubble will have to burst someday.

thats a nice talking point

What happens when govt is unable to continue expanding and pushing our gdp numbers up? At some point the bills will have to be paid. That means a contraction of govt, contraction in the economy, and a terrible correction.

'Bubble' is just the new buzzword that everyone likes to throw around. The only debts that need to be paid are our external debt to other countries, which amounts to about 25% of our total debt. The rest is internally owned. Our external debt is easily manageable.

Uh huh, try not paying on debt owned internally and see what happens. It may be paid back to people\organizations within the states. But the govt still have to raise money through more borrowing or taxes to pay off any interest or debt that is due.

What I was trying to say is that our country as a whole doesn't actually lose anything when we shuffle around money internally, so it's a wash. When we borrow money from say, the Chinese we are borrowing actual productivity from another country that will in fact need to be paid back with our productivity some day. Internal debt is just US people paying each other, there's no net loss for the country.

It's sort of like how our government went into massive debt to finance World War 2. We don't have to build tanks today and send them back in time to 1945 to pay off that debt of productivity, because we never actually borrowed future productivity. (as the flux capacitor had not been invented yet)
 

jpeyton

Moderator in SFF, Notebooks, Pre-Built/Barebones
Moderator
Aug 23, 2003
25,375
142
116
Pat Buchanan is a moron.
 
Dec 30, 2004
12,553
2
76
Originally posted by: ayabe
Hate to bring this up, but we've been bleeding literally and figuratively in Iraq for how long now? Our last administration spent enormous amounts of energy on that one issue while ignoring tons of other things.

So we've basically been at a complete standstill in many areas since 2000, meanwhile the rest of the world, not burdened by two wars(and all that entails) have been surging forward.

Gotta love Pat, still raging against the New Deal, nice time warp back to Goldwater.

If the US government stopped spending ALL MONEY on EVERYTHING (including all things military and Iraq) except the existing entitlements programs like SS and Medicare, we would STILL run a deficit.

I'll take the Republican war any day over political pandering SS and Medicare.
 

jpeyton

Moderator in SFF, Notebooks, Pre-Built/Barebones
Moderator
Aug 23, 2003
25,375
142
116
Originally posted by: soccerballtux
I'll take the Republican war any day over political pandering SS and Medicare.
Of course. Kill some foreigners instead of healing our elderly. That's the American spirit!
 

jonks

Lifer
Feb 7, 2005
13,918
20
81
Originally posted by: OCguy
Originally posted by: eskimospy
'Bubble' is just the new buzzword that everyone likes to throw around. The only debts that need to be paid are our external debt to other countries, which amounts to about 25% of our total debt. The rest is internally owned. Our external debt is easily manageable.

Oh, goodie! Can I live by that theory as well?

Start your own sovereign nation and give it a shot.
 

ayabe

Diamond Member
Aug 10, 2005
7,449
0
0
Originally posted by: soccerballtux
Originally posted by: ayabe
Hate to bring this up, but we've been bleeding literally and figuratively in Iraq for how long now? Our last administration spent enormous amounts of energy on that one issue while ignoring tons of other things.

So we've basically been at a complete standstill in many areas since 2000, meanwhile the rest of the world, not burdened by two wars(and all that entails) have been surging forward.

Gotta love Pat, still raging against the New Deal, nice time warp back to Goldwater.

If the US government stopped spending ALL MONEY on EVERYTHING (including all things military and Iraq) except the existing entitlements programs like SS and Medicare, we would STILL run a deficit.

I'll take the Republican war any day over political pandering SS and Medicare.

Well you're wrong about that, I think total military spending including the two wars is over well over $600 billion a year. We don't normally run $600+ billion dollar deficits.

Aside from that, I wasn't talking about just money, I'm talking about the focus of the Administration. We've been neglecting problems here for a long time.
 

spittledip

Diamond Member
Apr 23, 2005
4,480
1
81
Originally posted by: Skoorb
Originally posted by: spittledip
The problem is NOT socialism or big Govt. the problem is corrupt politicians who are working to fill their own pockets with money and grab up power. the problem is never the governmental system. the problem is always the leaders and the population. Governmental systems are amoral institutions. They all ahve flaws. some amy be better than others, but any system can run succesfully if the right people are in power. If you have corrupt politicians and big companies running a country, of course the system will break down. Any historical example of a bad governmental system can usually be traced down to the leaders running the show.
But a good system will stymie the filth of humanity while maximizing its strengths. I think the US system could definitely do with some alterations, as could any country's system. This one needs way less lobbying, for example. If that isn't vote buying I don't know what is.

But if a good system is run by corrupt morons, you will still have the same problems. If you put people who have some measure of integrity in charge, they will run the system how it is supposed to run. If you put scoundrels in charge, they will run the system how ever they want to. The problem always has been and always will be people.
 

shadow9d9

Diamond Member
Jul 6, 2004
8,132
2
0
Oct 30, 2004
11,442
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Will the United States soon become an impoverished third world banana republic? Now, not only am I the one saying it, but it would also appear that Pat Buchanan is saying it as well. Although he didn't really mention it in this op-ed, I'm pretty sure that he would agree with me that Global Labor Arbitrage is a huge culprit along with mass legal immigration and illegal immigration.

Socialist America Sinking

 

ZeGermans

Banned
Dec 14, 2004
907
0
0
I don't understand why anyone cares what Pat Buchanan has to say, though I appreciate his efforts at marginalizing republicans
 

ZeGermans

Banned
Dec 14, 2004
907
0
0
I look forward to the day when republicans have used "socialism" to describe any policy to the left of Mussolini so many times that americans warm up to the idea of actual socialism
 

Fox5

Diamond Member
Jan 31, 2005
5,957
7
81
The US is too large to be '3rd-world'. Well, as long as some big government, socialist policies survive anyway. If it ever splits into a union of more independent states, then you'll have the nations of California, Texas, the Greater New York area, and a bunch of 3rd world nations.

Now, America may be in danger of losing its dominant position, but I'd say that's only expected given how America has neglected both its industries that produce actual materials along with its educational system.
 

Ronstang

Lifer
Jul 8, 2000
12,493
18
81
Originally posted by: Fox5
The US is too large to be '3rd-world'. Well, as long as some big government, socialist policies survive anyway. If it ever splits into a union of more independent states, then you'll have the nations of California, Texas, the Greater New York area, and a bunch of 3rd world nations.

Now, America may be in danger of losing its dominant position, but I'd say that's only expected given how America has neglected both its industries that produce actual materials along with its educational system.

California can't even function as a state....it would end up 3rd world too.
 

Andrew1990

Banned
Mar 8, 2008
2,153
0
0
With all the Farm land available in the US, I dont think it will become 3rd world as there will be plenty of food for us. We also have a lot of natural resources in the country.

Now I do think China is going to become what the US use to be, the dominant power in Military and Economics.
 

LegendKiller

Lifer
Mar 5, 2001
18,256
68
86
Gotta love anybody who says they agree with Buchanan. If anything it just proves we are becoming a 3rd world country when it comes to mental illnesses.
 

Moonbeam

Elite Member
Nov 24, 1999
74,904
6,787
126
The aim of Chicken Littles is the illusion of self importance genereated by attention.
 

Siddhartha

Lifer
Oct 17, 1999
12,505
3
81
The decline I see is the movement of US manufacturing jobs out of the country. The short and long term consequences of this is quite troublesome.

The US government is still chosen by elections. The US still has its natural resources.
 

Siddhartha

Lifer
Oct 17, 1999
12,505
3
81
Sigh, lets define socialism more one time:

so?cial?ism \"so-she-'li-zem\ noun (1837)
1 : any of various economic and political theories advocating collective or governmental ownership and administration of the means of production and distribution of goods
2 a : a system of society or group living in which there is no private property
b : a system or condition of society in which the means of production are owned and controlled by the state
3 : a stage of society in Marxist theory transitional between capitalism and communism and distinguished by unequal distribution of goods and pay according to work done

(C)1996 Zane Publishing, Inc. and Merriam-Webster, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

My take on Mr Buchanan is that the Republican party and the "conservatives" took big losses in the last two federal election cycles. The current and the projected US demographic make up does not look good for GOP future success. Unless Mr Obama and the Democrats crash and burn, the GOP is on the path to becoming a Southern regional party.

The only thing Mr Buchanan has is the red scare. Can he convince, or scare people, that the New Deal represented a lost in freedom? Can he convince people that Mr Obama is a socialist who wants to curtail freedom?
 

fskimospy

Elite Member
Mar 10, 2006
88,217
55,753
136
Pat Buchanan is an idiot, no the US is not becoming some banana republic. It requires a pretty huge distortion of reality to believe that.

Furthermore, it would be impossible by the definition of the word for the US to become part of the 'Third World'.
 

Drift3r

Guest
Jun 3, 2003
3,572
0
0
I'd say we are more in danger of becoming a 2nd world nation. Like England after WW2 when it kind of just faded into the background in terms of world super powers. England itself is a modern place to live and all but economically and militarily it is not as relevant as it was pre-WW2.