Bernanke Warns: U.S. Debt Could Balloon to More Than 100% of GDP

Right now I believe we are at 60 something % of our GDP, 90% is the threshold. When a countries debt is 90% of its GDP, the proverbial Fit hits the Shan. oh and theres that date again... 2020. im tellin ya folks... 2020 is shapin up to be a tense year:

Social Security, Medicare, Interest On The Debt Will Gobble Up Every Single Tax Dollar By 2020
www.abovetopsecret.com...

hmmm well i had another thread or post where i compiled a list of things that are scheduled to go down in 2020 but i cant find it, anyone know what im talkin about? anyways...

dont you just love how calmly he said that america is heading for economic collapse...

I've been watching us debt clock for a while now, and it's rising way too fast lately! I think we'll hit 100% debt to gdp by mid october, and if it speeds up sooner. It's about to get a lot worse, much sooner than many will anticipate.

I hope you realize that according to the above link, were about to hit 90% within a few weeks! I don't know where you're getting the 60% figure from.

[edit on 14-4-2010 by unityemissions]

yeah acording to that US debt clock we are at 89% right now!! That is kinda scary.

I love your picture trueperspective..

scary news op thanks.. Lets see if MSM, talks about what he had to say.. This wizard of Oz perspetive we have been living as of late in the USA, is going to catch up to the truth I guess sooner then later.. Feel like I wasted my money this year paying my taxes today, didn't feel proud.



I hope things get better for the country.

hmm yes good call.... my apologies for not checking my facts first. i foudn this:

Fitch expects the combined state and federal debt to reach 94pc of GDP next year, up from 57pc at the end of 2007. Federal interest costs will reach 13pc of revenues, meaning that an eighth of all taxes will go to service debt.

The figure of 94% is dramatic given that two top American economists - Carmen Reinhart and Kenneth Rogoff - wrote last month :
The relationship between government debt and real GDP growth is weak for debt/GDP ratios below a threshold of 90 percent of GDP. Above 90 percent, median growth rates fall by one percent, and average growth falls considerably more. We find that the threshold for public debt is similar in advanced and emerging economies...
Indeed, as Forbes noted in December:

Add the unfunded portion of entitlement programs and we're at 840% of GDP.

Do I need to hit the "Oh SH!t" button?

Help me out here.

well, bernanke and his cadre of control freak banker-elites could allow the US Treasury, The SEC, the commodities regulators...
institute an ordered market for the 1.5 Quadtrillion derivatives market that has spawned the current crises and made the rest of the economic world subject itself to more than $12-24 Trillion in bail-out monies in the USA alone,

who knows just what the USA spent bailing out the European central banks that got caught up in the (continuing to this day) derivatives schemes that make 'Fraud' look pristine.


current accounting minds say the FED sent ~$485billion over so Greece could be bailed.

the whole ponzi-fraudulent derivatives losses are what has caused the usa debt and will continue to do so... so b. bernanke shut your mouth & sit next to Greenspan, don't lecture us, bozo

All we have to do is look at Greece add more weapons and blow up the proportions and you will have America in the future (within 5 years according to Celente and many others). The only other scenarios are worse such as moving to global government, world war III, or civil war.
Many are preparing at least a little in case the SHTF sooner than a year from now, myself included.

Isn`t it strange. They come right out in the open and say this.......yet, our government does nothing to stop this collapse. it`s like they are all looking up at the sky, while the ground below them falls away. Real smart of them.

Well, i`ve said it before, and i`ll say it again, they knew this was happening, and they are just waiting for it to finish falling. Way to much money was created over such a short period of time (from the first bailout on), and the system can`t re-adjust fast enough to handle it.

I myself believe the system is dead, and the government doesn`t have the nerve to come out and say it, for fear of what the people will do to them when they do say something.

[edit on 14-4-2010 by FiatLux]

fortunately, there's no point in worrying about 2020 when whatever's to happen in 2012 will clearly insignificantize (yeah, i made that word up) things like economics, the federal reserve, existing nations, budget deficits, normal life ... so they say.

[edit on 4/14/2010 by Hadrian]

reply to post by Hadrian



I don`t think the economy will last till 2012, let alone 2020. It`s pretty well a done deal now. How can we pay back the national debt as it is right now?

reply to post by Hadrian


if 2012 turned out to be a real world ending event despite the lack of any credible evidence and the misinformation abound about Mayan culture, I would welcome it gladly. The world wont right itself. Humans are an incredible species but we have such massive shortcomings when it comes to fairness, comprimise, compassion or even playing nice.

Compound that with our not liking change (well not all chnage but by and large we respond negatively to change) and the greed that has been allowed to grow and even fostered as a virtue, will not allow us to make a change until its all collapsing around us and we eat each other alive.

or we could somehow wake up to common sense and decide consciously, to shift what we value and care about in hopes that we find a more sustainable and peaceful model for society.

I'm not holding my breath.

Cheers

Take a look at the Crash Course by Chris Martenson. If his information is correct, then it won't surprise you to see more stuff like this in the media over the coming weeks/months/years.

reply to post by Snappahead


i looked at your linked site...
some good stuff there, but really no concrete actions to take - just generalizations ...
which makes sense in-a-way, because one should already have a 'exile plan' in which one & the family/relatives can weather the coming depression II



www.chrismartenson.com...

This chapter is the final integration of all the prior chapters and attempts to provide
clarity around the question of, “What should I do?” Let me rephrase that.
What should WE do? The changes that are potentially coming are not solvable alone.[...]

Couple of things we can think logically about this..

The Government know's the system is dying, or hence theirfore broken, and know's a event or is planning a event to adjust this, or their just stupid as all hell, and yes are afraid of telling the people, its all screwed up. Just with the admittence of UFO's the Government will more then likely wait till the guns are smoking before they tell us its all screwed up. Yet I find it a dormant realization, when i man who went to school, and is educated basically telling the Government, and the people hey we need to fix this, and their is a delayed or no response to it, by our leaders or the MAJORITY OF THE PEOPLE, of this Country, it is almost as if they do not want to pay attention to it. I am willing to bet people are just wishing this truth away.

Who knows maybe this spend spend spend, mentality will somehow work. Yet I highly doubt it. I am guessing, something is in the works...

Again, must say great thread..

Don't forget that the GDP number is bogus also.

GDP = gov't spending, investment and private production.

The later two have been down and gov't spending up.

reply to post by Pinktip


Yup, I agree, I think the GDP, is all screwed up, most people I know are in a trade that services people..

My almanac, of 2008, said our biggest export was cars.. Still scratching my head. Oh and look at the market, today, I was doing some studying a lil while relaxing with my oats and barley, and if you look close at the numbers look at the volume.. Something is not right...

Just my opinion, yet I concider myself pretty wise I have survived some very stressful and tough situations... A spade is a spade..

I believe "Debt to GDP" is actually calculated by "Obligation to GDP" .. meaning that what ever the Government has to actually pay out at maturity, compared to GDP, that is Debt to GDP. I don't think our actual obligation are yet that high. Even with these hundreds of billion to trillions in new debts, the maturities are spread over a very long time, spreading the value vs gdp with it.

At least, that's the way I understood it.

It's worth noting that Japan's debt is somewhere in the neighborhood of 200% of its GNP and life goes on there (sort of).

Of course, most Japanese debt is owed to other Japanese, and the big firms and gov't there have an implicit "understanding" with one another that allows the debt to sort of be rolled over in perpetuity, like one of those M.C. Escher endlesslyascending staircase optical illusions. It can go on a lot longer than the U.S. debt situation, which is much more vulnerable to external influences.

You can look at this situation in a few ways. But the most sensible one IMO is that things always look the darkest before massive growth. Looking at a chart of the Dow Jones Industrial Average from 1910-2010 shows these same periods of massive growth and consolidations.

Some of these consolidations take decades and if everyone has already forgotten the 90's, the market can rise for a decade as well. 90-2000 saw massive growth in this country with a lot of people becoming rich. The decade after that saw most of these morons lose all their money.

While I agree that massive spending needs to be cut, this recent crisis was like many others, this one just has a different name. The 70's was the energy crisis, and 20-30 was rampant stock market speculation, and this one was the housing speculation market. This was about 2 things, IMO, and it should be quite visible to most.

1) Our elected rep's allowed for this to happen because they are paid by financial service companies

2) Americans generally, having no regard for the past, forgot house prices can actually fall just like the stock market. Inflation adjusted graphs will show this well through the decades. Now we are just back on the same sloping line. This was the first graph I could find. I am sure there are better. 8 / 10 people I know down here in FL had more than 1 loan out on their house and just sucked up that equity.

That's JUST LIKE ME being an idiot and using my winnings (or extra obtained margin from winnings) in the FX market to double down on other exotic pairs like GBP/JPY. Guess what, you blow up.

Anyway, what I am saying is this "crisis", like all others, is just the "housing/mortgage" one. That is all this is. Most just got caught with their pants down. If you were smart you were well hedged, like some on this board. Black swan events do indeed happen. Here is the definition, but I have been victim of these as well in financial markets. Most have never felt that pain before in their gut, it hurts doesn't it?

We will be back, the USA that is, right back on top within too long because our military says so. I just feel bad for the next country that "provokes" us. Just remember, everyone is always negative right at "6:00" and it is always hardest to buy at the bottom.

The richest people have bought at the bottom. One that comes to mind is Warren B. Best example there is of that really. And he showed that again with Goldman Sachs in 2009.

Think about this as well. At the rate technology is advancing I am guessing that something big like the internet comes along at about every 20 years. I am thinking when I am 45-50 something "revolutionary" like the internet will make its way through again. Too many smart people in the world and you can't stop human ingenuity.

Too many negative people on this website sometimes, like it's contagious. So I am not lecturing you, rather just giving you something else to think about.

I know I rambled through a lot of things there but those are most of my (not well thought out) feelings.