I have been pounding on the unsustainable social program spending in this country, and the mutually exclusive issue of providing food assistance to families with children and elderly. I was thrilled to see Mike Shedlock addressing this in his excellent blog today.
I don't have to repeat it, just click the link.
Bottom line: In a $14 Trillion economy, $2 Trillion is being spent on entitlements and the annual interest expense on the national debt is greater than the average increase in GDP for the past 150 years. I hope FDR has gotten over his guilt about being born into privilege. Oh, I forgot, he's dead. In that case I hope he is turning over in his grave. Thanks, Franklin.
Mentatt
6 comments:
I like to read Mish, but he's still eatin' those Freedom Fries.
The top end of the economy is still on a 30 year looting spree that started with Red Ink Reagan. And contrary to their propaganda, creating new jobs in China and feeding the boyz in the defense, security, medical, bankster industies has been their main accomplishment.
Tickle down has been more like piss on.
And FDR is probably saying, yes, the safety net is doing what it is supposed to. Glad I started it.
We'll get the elites and the oligarchs to pay for it, as they should.
What else are they gonna do with their money, hide it in China or Dubai?
TLT breaks below support at 89.50 I expect all hell to break loose.
Oh, let's be a little balanced. The Americans like me who grew up in the 1970s and opened that new vacuum cleaner box only to find an unusable "new" appliance have to congratulate the worker-bee Chinese for doing something our old and tired workforce couldn't do anymore -- make a decent product and charge very little for it. I also mention that the benefits Mish and Jeffers speak of are indeed ruining the Federal budget, and are unsustainable, but I would also point out that the old are the beneficiaries of the largess and they are the voters, and none of the welfare state will ever be dismantled. We'd rather as a country implode like a supernova, or like Rome, before that happens. Obama's impotence has cemented that.
Also out today, news report shows that prior to the recent economic collapse, 62% of bankruptcies now stem from medical costs, and that 3/4ths of those were middle class Americans WITH health insurance.
Seems that all kinds of costs are out of control, what a surprise....
http://www.reuters.com/article/email/idUSTRE5530Y020090604?pageNumber=1&virtualBrandChannel=10531
Sorry, that link didn't take-
Link
The recession is driving the safety net of government benefits to a historic
high, as one of every six dollars of Americans' income is now coming in the
form of federal or state check or voucher. Benefits such as Social Security,
food stamps, unemployment insurance and health care, accounted for
16.2% of personal income in the first quarter of 2009. That's the highest
percentage since the government began compiling records in 1929. In all,
government spending on benefits will top $2 trillion in 2009 — an average of
$17,000 provided to each U.S. household, federal data shows
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