US deficit crisis: the clock ticks

  • Thread starter Thread starter Mike Rotch
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Dapper
Your wife sounds like a nice lady! :lol:
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If giving non-answers to questions makes you nice...

I am all for a flat tax once the disparity in debt is relinquished from the poor folk of America. Or if the minimum wage was twice as high as it is now, or higher. đź‘Ť
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How does any of that bring about equality? First of all, how did the middle class wind up with so much debt? Did the big, bad rich man force them to sign for the loans? Did the witchcraft of the evil rich convince them to not seek any advice before signing a bad loan offer or jumping into a pissing contest with their neighbors? I took a Dave Ramsey course before I was married, there were tones of financial gurus on TV saying not to take certain types of loans and only take loans that met certain criteria, and if you couldn't get those you shouldn't get that loan. As I am middle class and avoiding this debt disparity that plagues the middle class I have to say I only blame one group for the debt disparity, and it isn't the rich.

And by God, if you want to eliminate debt disparity then you had better not double the freaking minimum wage. You cannot increase minimum wage enough to make a minimum wage earner not poor. You can raise it enough to make the middle class poor. Double! If you double the minimum wage they will be making $14.50 an hour. That is $30,160 a year, or $60,320 for a married couple. You just bumped them up an entire tax bracket. And you just made my paycheck almost worthless. So, what you really are proposing here is making all the middle class poor so you really do just have a rich and poor class.

And if you want to whine about jobs, doubling minimum wage means hiring half the employees at every small business in the country, or doubling all their prices.

EDIT:
Dapper
Not in my lifetime.
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Actually, you were in diapers, but it was called the 80's when tax rates were as high as 50% and unemployment was as high as it is now.
 
FoolKiller
How does any of that bring about equality? First of all, how did the middle class wind up with so much debt?
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Debt isn't really the issue.

If you buy a home for $250,000 and 5-6 years later it's worth $325-350,000; having a $200,000 mortgage isn't a big deal. Now, when your home is worth $120,000...then we got a problem.

Furthermore, people's salaries/commissions are not keeping up with inflation. They certainly are not keeping up with the price of fuel, energy, or food. Tack on some more expenses, such as property tax increases & income tax increases, and the American "Middle-Class" are effectively much worse off.

Their home is underwater, their paychecks are smaller, and keeping the lights on in their home and food in the fridge is much more expensive. In these circumstances, having debt sucks.

But if your home is appreciating, your salary/career advancing, and the food/energy expenses stayed in line...having a bit of debt isn't a big deal as you're ability to pay it off is great. But if you're making less money than you did 3 years ago, and many are, you're screwed.

Future income and wealth is the issue. Debt doesn't mean much unless it's in context.
 
BrutherSuperior
Furthermore, people's salaries/commissions are not keeping up with inflation.
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They won't, and they never will. That's why inflation sucks. Money is worth less, so not only are prices going up, but your employee's revenues are going down. You never get a raise.

Future income and wealth is the issue. Debt doesn't mean much unless it's in context.
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Wealth is a rare thing these days. Even "rich" people have bills, they just involve bigger numbers. The percentages are probably quite similar in most cases. Plus, since the majority of what's left of the middle class is a generation old or more, they're pretty much locked into whatever career they started 30 years ago. The financial problems of the middle class that have landed them in the situations they're in are many.
 
Things like funding the Cowboy Poetry Festival and Solindra (Dems asked them to not fire employees until after the 2010 mid term elections) are a couple of examples of wasteful spending that is killing this country.

Not drilling for our own oil and not taking oil from Iraq as payment/restitution are examples of opportunities wasted by the progressives who hold our economy hostage.
 
Prosthetic
Why the hell would Iraq give us compensation after invading their country. :rolleyes:
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Invasion? Not even close to what Iran is about to do.

And no, I don't think we should be the world police.
 
And I say it again, money is destroying the country...currency in general, can do extreme damage to the world. Nearly everything relies on money.
 
slashfan7964
And I say it again, money is destroying the country...currency in general, can do extreme damage to the world. Nearly everything relies on money.
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It's not the money itself, but what we've been doing with it.
 
slashfan7964
Nearly everything relies on money.
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There is a reason for that.

To remove all forms of currency would require everyone to be self sufficient or live in a self sufficient household.
 

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