US Debt to Rise to $19.6 Trillion by 2015

we are aware that the Øbama promise to tax the richer segment a higher rate has been compromised with the dire need to extend the Bush tax cuts together with the suspension of the death tax...and to further extend the unemployment benefits to beyond the present 99 week limit. all needed to bridge the current economic crisis

since the distortions to the economic system was caused primarily by the banker/broker/HFT/casion gamblers in the financial industry... whose average pay is already at the top of the wages & compensation heap --- estimated to exceed the takehome pay of over +100 line workers per executive....is way out-of-whack.

i would suggest that bonuses be taxed at the rate which windfalls are taxed...somewhere near 50-55%,
for instance the recent winner of a $95 million PowerBall drawing that settled for a $46+Million after tax
payment..
i know these are drops in the multi trillion $ debt situation, but every penny counts... especially all these continuing (taxpayer sponsered) bonuses the dirty dozen PrimaryDealer Financial Firms hand out like penny candies to their staff of culprits that are ravishing the US government, Treasury, and commoners.

Originally posted by marg6043
Yes, we may be facing a deficit to be that big by 2015 that is just a few years ahead and with the HCR I expect much more.

Who is going to pay for that deficit? you me and the generations to come.

I know it is a very unpopular stance these days, but the more I read those who know more than myself about economics...the more I think we need to stop worrying about the deficit.

Penny wise, pound foolish.

Put it this way...You asked who is going to pay for the deficit...without a recovery it will be a moot question..we will be in a full on depression of a scale we have never seen before...whereas if the economy recovers we can turn back the dial and reverse the government outflow with renewed revenue from a prosperous economy. Absent a recovery the deficit will be greater than you forecast.

If the government joins consumers in ceasing to spend then the economy will come to a complete halt that will make the great depression look like a bad week on wall street.

The Gov. is not a household.

The current deficit is primarily due to a loss in revenues, not excess spending.

The Case for Deficit Spending

Won’t greater deficits lead to greater debt, which will burden our grandchildren with intolerable obligations? They will in the short term, but they are also the only way to avoid even higher debt in the longer term. The current deficits are much more the result of lost revenues than of increased spending--and they will begin to diminish only when revenues (wages and profits) begin to rise again. That won’t happen without deficit spending now.

Won’t greater deficits lead to higher interest rates, which will choke off investment? This might happen in the future, but not currently, as interest rates remain near or below zero and are not expected to rise until the private economy begins to grow. The Chinese and other foreign holders of dollars could, of course, force interest rates upward by dumping their dollars, but they would lose in the process, as the value of their existing holdings would plummet. So while greater deficits might imperil investment in the future, the United States still has a window of opportunity to use deficits to revive its economy.

www.tnr.com...,1

reply to post by marg6043


I do not wish to depress anyone more than they already are but

I read "empire of debt" published in 2005 which predicted the world financial crisis to a tee, right on cue. (you can download it free online) but now it is just a history book. Cutting through all of the BS, it said that USA debt at that time was running to $50 Trillion.

I remember a post office interview with Clinton in which he more or less admitted that he left $8 Trillion debt. As the Americans like to say.... "Go figure"... I really do hope I am wrong.

PEACE,
RK

Well, don’t worry folks 2015 is AFTER 2012. It may take this long now but with the numbers of unemployed, if our GDP shrinks it will get here faster