New ATS Poll: The U.S. Debt Crisis

I am not American but this debt crisis affects everyone in some way so I took the survey...

I am in favour of what the financial analysts say: there has to be spending cuts- all the troops overseas ensuring America's safety? the programs that allow companies to damage the environment, the people, the medical system, food supplies? and there must also be tax increases for some companies in bigger markets- GM and others gets bailed out then makes a profit the next year? Decrease taxes for companies trying to solve problems with respect to safe water supplies, alternative fuels, safer foods...

Why do politicians not volunteer to serve their country instead of making so much that they rob it...

Cheers.

Here's a sobering news story I have only just seen because I have been out all day............

Apple holding more cash than USA

Apple now has more cash to spend than the United States government.

Latest figures from the US Treasury Department show that the country has an operating cash balance of $73.7bn (£45.3bn).

Apple's most recent financial results put its reserves at $76.4bn (£46.9bn).

www.bbc.co.uk...

A Corporation has become so wealthy through Consumerism and Capitalism that it now has MORE CLOUT than the National Governent................that's sort of worrying in a way ??

PDUK

Originally posted by PhoenixOD
Im not American so im not bothered either way.

Our national news tells us that raisng the debt celing will only delay the inevitable so good luck with that

edit on 29-7-2011 by PhoenixOD because: (no reason given)

Rather delay it then let it happen in a couple months, bottom line there going to have to raise it even if they balanced the budget because that defecit is down right crazy theres no way they can get it to drop that fast

Originally posted by PurpleDog UK
A Corporation has become so wealthy through Consumerism and Capitalism that it now has MORE CLOUT than the National Governent................that's sort of worrying in a way ??

PDUK

There was a book written a while ago that describes that very scenario. In it as part of the storyline the future will be Corporate waged wars between their various security forces against other Corporations and Nations. Under the guise of looking out for "their best interests"

Are we seeing the beginnings of this coming to pass?

Big oil?

I love the surveys, as it helps to compile the "general opinion" of ATS members. It's good to have one that is directly related to an upcoming event. My opinion has been sent in, so now I'm waiting to see what the rest of ATS says.

Originally posted by SLAYER69
There was a book written a while ago that describes that very scenario.

And a 1975 movie...

reply to post by SkepticOverlord


I feel so old.
1975 I was happy and clueless,

Now, I am still clueless.

Originally posted by PurpleDog UK
Here's a sobering news story I have only just seen because I have been out all day............

Apple holding more cash than USA

Apple now has more cash to spend than the United States government.

Thats because Apple is actually providing something of value to society.

A Corporation has become so wealthy through Consumerism and Capitalism that it now has MORE CLOUT than the National Governent................that's sort of worrying in a way ??

Why do you want Government to be bigger? Its not worrying at all. People who provide something the public sees as valuable should get more money. If the Government is not delivering value to its citizens it should get less money and thereby become smaller.

Originally posted by Skyfloating
Thats because Apple is actually providing something of value to society.

What exactly would that be? Generation 82 of the same iPod only with a few gigs more of memory or is it the new white iPhone that people stand in long lines and clamor for just because it's not black. Really, what value does this have to society at all? They contribute to mass pollution by putting out new products at a break-neck pace so that consumers can throw away last weeks iThing and get the new shiny over-priced gadget that does nothing to better their lives. Unless, of course, you're one to consider spending all your money on crap made in China as being something of value.

Originally posted by PhoenixOD
Im not American so im not bothered either way.

Our national news tells us that raisng the debt celing will only delay the inevitable so good luck with that

edit on 29-7-2011 by PhoenixOD because: (no reason given)

Problem is, it doesn't matter if yer American or not...IT WILL EFFECT YOU IN SOME WAY. The dollar is THE reserve currency of the globe right now. When that tanks.....so does everything else.

This is a global problem, not a US problem.

Originally posted by PhantomLimb


What exactly would that be?

jobs
telecommunication devices
computers
innovation
infrastructure

A public entity (Government or Corporation) only becomes rich because many people value it. If an entity is in great debt (see Government) its because people dont value it as much.

Prosperity is a measuring stick of societal value. Continually raising the debt ceiling is the attempt to increase value artificially, to make Government bigger instead of chunking it down (especially bureaucracy!).

Originally posted by SavedOne
Just a quick comment about the format of the poll, I almost answered the first question the opposite of what I really felt by accident because I didn't see the fine print under the question at first.

You are being too generous by labeling it 'fine print.'

It is my opinion that a more appropriate description would be that each question on this poll, is very poorly worded.

Pay the senate the same as the barmy idiots working at McDonald's, that'll fix most of the problems.
They're doing nothing but sitting on their bums reading and signing papers and thinking they're better than us. Come into a crowd of poor, starving sheeple. We'll be glad to rip the Prada and Gucci off their backs

reply to post by Druid42



I swear at first glance I thought your avatar was a guy with a pair of tighty whities on his head with eyeholes cut in them..
Argh.. my brain...


anyway, just as an aside... with this whole debt crisis Im finding that its NOT just the federal gov. Ive been in the middle of significant issues in my city and county government that have my brain smoking. This infection has trickled down to our localities.. and it is going to be a long and painful operation to remove it... if it even can be removed now. I was under the assumption that the state/city/county levels were less corrupt than the federal.. no way. In the last 5 yrs I have had my mind completely blown at how business as usual on the local level is a direct mirror of the federal level. In order to right things, youre simply going to have to attack a hydra and battle local level and fed simultaneously. My largest issue at the moment is the complacency of citizens. Sure, they agree with you, but they refuse to get the hell up. I hope that when we reap what we have sown on this federal level it will effect folks personally. Not to wish harm to my fellow citizens, but to show them the problem, get them up, and make the changes that we desperately need to make so we can actually be viable in the future. I have no idea the stats on it, but so many households run their own finances so much like the gov that I doubt they see much wrong with the way things are being handled. Sure is going to be a rude awakening.

Just took the survey and I'm sure there will be lots of laughs after the results come out...

But anyway, all raising the "debt ceiling" does it make the problem larger - it doesn't fix anything it just makes it worse. It's basically a nice way of saying "Who cares, it's not my problem - let somebody else figure out what to do."

Maybe if some of these billionaires were unemployed for a while, they'd figure that out.
Then again, maybe that's what happened to them before they became so successful.

I've been unemployed for a while now, but I've realized 3 main things over the last couple years:

1) Work for yourself, not somebody else.
2) You shouldn't work for money, money should work for you.
3) If you're not happy doing what you do, you'll never be happy.

There obviously are exceptions to this, but I feel these 3 things are the main focus to become successful in today's world.

21 Reasons you should work for yourself.

reply to post by SavedOne


I agree with this, filling the poll out I found myself searching for what I was answering. It is not esthetically obvious what your answering. I am sure people with eye problems will have an even harder time.

Good questions, although I have a feeling I know how the result will turn out: CHAOS.

Made me feel like I have A say..

Can not wait for results.

reply to post by Advantage

with this whole debt crisis Im finding that its NOT just the federal gov. Ive been in the middle of significant issues in my city and county government that have my brain smoking. This infection has trickled down to our localities.. and it is going to be a long and painful operation to remove it... if it even can be removed now.

What "infection" are you refering too? Details would be nice.

All I hear is people saying "stuff is wrong" and not really giving any details....which ironically IMO is what the majority of the problem is.

reply to post by SkepticOverlord


I think we should default. Argentina did and they thrived, but they had a leader who was on the side of the people, as ours should be but is not.

Who do we owe this money to? The Saudis, the Chinese and the Banksters who connived us into this mess and personally profited wildly from it.

Investigative journalist Greg Palast pointed out recently in a post on his website that the beginning of this mess was not some poor schmucks in California not paying their home mortgages as we were told. It was the Republican Congress who rubber stamped George Jr's wild ass spending spree for his own weapons of mass destruction, and the same Republicans who now don't want to approve the payment of the bills they ok'd. Now Greg attended the University of Chicago and was in Milton Friedman's class on Free Markets. Most of his classmates went onto become big wheels in the rape of the South American countries which has been orchestrated by the IMF for decades now. Here is Greg's solution;

Solution: Don't pay the banksters

There's another wrong assumption controlling this debate over debt, that the banks, the debt holders, must be paid. When the bankers and the Chinese and the Saudis lent Bush three trillion dollars for his wild-ass buying party, they were betting, like any investor, on the good faith of the borrower to pay it back.

So, let Hu Jintao and King Abdullah stick a collection agency on Cantor and the other Republican shirkers. Repossess their limousines or send The Boys around to remind Cantor what happens when you don't pay what you owe.

The President should say to Hu, the Sheik and Goldman-Sachs: "I have identified $3 trillion in Treasury notes issued between 2001 and 2008 which were lent to fund President Bush's expenditures. Unfortunately, those who borrowed your money don't want to pay it back. You made a bad investment -- but that's how the free market works. Therefore, I am suspending payments on these Treasury notes until we can round up the deadbeats and make them live up to their commitments.

"As President, I have the Constitutional duty to pay the bills of the Veterans Administration, the Social Security fund and other vital services already voted and appropriated by Congress. Military pay before banker pay. Get used to it."

Will the bankers have heart attacks? I hope so. (Maybe if bankers are ill, the GOP will vote for universal health care.) Will China refuse to buy more US debt? Not a chance: The Chinese cannot afford a devaluation of the $2-3 trillion in US Treasury notes they have in their pokey, a devaluation which would surely follow their abandoning the US treasuries.

Hmm!

As a side bar I would like to include one more quote from Greg which illustrates Georgie boy's wild ass spending spree a little better;

For eight years, Bush spent like a drunk monkey. The world was the GOP's Bergdorf’s and they had our credit card. If there was a shiny new war on the shelf, they just had to have it: Iraq, Afghanistan, and let's not forget the Fantasy Wars, the half a trillion dollars a year on fancy-ass weapons for a war that won't happen. (Example: the Virginia Class submarine. The V-class was designed to attack Soviet subs. There are no more Soviet subs, but Bush ordered three dozen anyway--at $1.8 billion each.)

I think Greg has the solution here. But Obama will not do this. Why? Because that is the last thing his bosses want. Funny though, I thought we were supposed to be his bosses, not the Banksters with their centuries old fractional reserve shell game. BTW as soon as I make 8 more posts we will begin to talk about fractional reserve banking. For those of you who are unacquainted with the idea, you will not be happy.

Remember Jefferson's advice; "Question everything!