Even B O Plenty knows that the GOP is chock fulla beans… it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see evil, does it?
________________________________
The US Secretary of the Treasury announced that the national debt reached unprecedented levels. One can rightfully describe what happened in Washington a few days ago as a “moment of truth”. US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner announced that the federal government’s debt had reached an unprecedented 14 trillion dollars (417.848 trillion Roubles 10.28 trillion Euros 8.816 trillion UK Pounds), and it was continuing to rise at an alarming rate, having increased by 1.717 trillion dollars (51.246 trillion Roubles 1.261 trillion Euros 1.081 trillion UK Pounds) in the period from 4 to 13 January. A year ago, at the height of the economic crisis, the US Congress set the federal debt limit at a maximum of 14.3 trillion dollars (426.802 trillion Roubles 10.5 trillion Euros 9.005 trillion UK Pounds). The Treasury Secretary told an unresponsive Congress that this maximum would last only until March, and that Congress would have to raise the ceiling of the permissible federal debt yet again in a few weeks. Mr Geithner’s forecasts for the foreseeable future project that the US federal debt will reach 19.6 trillion (584.987 trillion Roubles 14.392 trillion Euros 12.342 trillion UK Pounds), which is more than the current GDP of the USA. However, that’s not all… Professor Lawrence Kotlikoff of Boston University, an acknowledged authority in economics, has calculated that the US deficit in real terms exceeds the official figure by 15 times, and has hit a startling 200 trillion dollars (5.97 quadrillion Roubles 146.86 billion Euros 125.94 billion UK Pounds). Whatever the case, the startlingly high federal debt recognised by the US administration signals the truth about the sorry state of affairs in the US economy.
The current attempts by Republican leaders to blame the situation on the Obama administration are nothing but a notional political ploy. The abrupt rise in the US federal debt began with the arrival of George Bush and his team in 2001. The Bush administration quickly resumed the arms race, recklessly plunged into the Iraqi campaign, dragged the country into a war in Afghanistan, and started to splurge hundreds of billions on a missile defence program. The military expenditures of the Bush administration more than doubled compared to those of the Clinton administration. The war in Iraq has cost at least three trillion dollars (89.539 billion Roubles 2.203 trillion Euros 1.889 trillion UK Pounds). 250 billion dollars (7.462 trillion Roubles 183.575 million Euros 157.425 million UK Pounds) have been spent on the war in Afghanistan since 2001, and the end to spending on it is nowhere in sight. Over the past 25 years, Washington has injected more than one trillion dollars (29.846 trillion Roubles 734 billion Euros 630 billion UK Pounds) into a strategic missile defence system, and experts say the US will need billions more to actually deploy it. Clearly, this is the reason for the unsustainable federal debt of the USA. It’s not merely an arithmetical fact; this is evidence that the ambitions of the American ruling class don’t match the country’s economic potential. This may lead to severe and very dangerous consequences. However, it could and should become a “moment of truth” for those at the helm of the American ship of state.
28 January 2011
Valentin Zorin
Voice of Russia World Service
http://rus.ruvr.ru/2011/01/28/41681503.html
Editor’s Note:
This proves, even for the slow learners, the lunatic unreality of the GOP programme. THERE IS NO MONEY LEFT. Let’s say that again. THERE’S NO MORE MONEY LEFT FOR GOP MILITARY ADVENTURES, PRICEY MILITARY TOYS, AND TAX GIVEAWAYS TO THE RICH.
John Boehner and Mitch McConnell are out of touch with the real world… they’re nothing but the organ-grinder monkeys of the rich, all that they can do is to repeat what their oligarch paymasters tell them to. To speak bluntly, there’s a need to INCREASE taxes on the rich. They’re the only segment of the population to have done better since the time of Reagan “voodoo-nomics”… and we must force them to pay their fair share. We can do it… Vladimir Putin took down Khodorkovsky… and he still sits in a Siberian correctional colony as an object lesson to all the other oligarchs. If we do not do so, the USA will go the way of New Rome… at the end of the empire in the 15th century, the rich granted themselves exemptions from taxation that ensured that the state had no funds when the Muslims attacked. The rich in America are the same sort of unpatriotic and self-serving SOBs. It’s time to make them pay up… by force (that is, the government should use its “police power”), if necessary.
There were plenty of rich people in 1980… they held 9 percent of the national wealth. Today, they hold 24 percent, nearly three times as much, all stolen from the pockets of salaried Americans. It’s time for some JUSTICE… V V Putin style. We’ll have no trouble with the oligarchs once a couple of them land in the slam for a long stretch in prison orange. We’ll cut the debt, end the wars, and put the social safety net back to rights. As for the Republican Party, even B O Plenty knows that it’s chock fulla beans… nothing more need be said, no?
BMD
Voices from Russia 
A View from Moscow by Valentin Zorin… A Moment of Truth for America
Tags: A View from Moscow, cartoons, Federal government of the United States, Mitch McConnell, political commentary, politics, Timothy Geithner, United States, United States public debt, USA, Vladimir Putin, Washington
Even B O Plenty knows that the GOP is chock fulla beans… it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see evil, does it?
________________________________
The US Secretary of the Treasury announced that the national debt reached unprecedented levels. One can rightfully describe what happened in Washington a few days ago as a “moment of truth”. US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner announced that the federal government’s debt had reached an unprecedented 14 trillion dollars (417.848 trillion Roubles 10.28 trillion Euros 8.816 trillion UK Pounds), and it was continuing to rise at an alarming rate, having increased by 1.717 trillion dollars (51.246 trillion Roubles 1.261 trillion Euros 1.081 trillion UK Pounds) in the period from 4 to 13 January. A year ago, at the height of the economic crisis, the US Congress set the federal debt limit at a maximum of 14.3 trillion dollars (426.802 trillion Roubles 10.5 trillion Euros 9.005 trillion UK Pounds). The Treasury Secretary told an unresponsive Congress that this maximum would last only until March, and that Congress would have to raise the ceiling of the permissible federal debt yet again in a few weeks. Mr Geithner’s forecasts for the foreseeable future project that the US federal debt will reach 19.6 trillion (584.987 trillion Roubles 14.392 trillion Euros 12.342 trillion UK Pounds), which is more than the current GDP of the USA. However, that’s not all… Professor Lawrence Kotlikoff of Boston University, an acknowledged authority in economics, has calculated that the US deficit in real terms exceeds the official figure by 15 times, and has hit a startling 200 trillion dollars (5.97 quadrillion Roubles 146.86 billion Euros 125.94 billion UK Pounds). Whatever the case, the startlingly high federal debt recognised by the US administration signals the truth about the sorry state of affairs in the US economy.
The current attempts by Republican leaders to blame the situation on the Obama administration are nothing but a notional political ploy. The abrupt rise in the US federal debt began with the arrival of George Bush and his team in 2001. The Bush administration quickly resumed the arms race, recklessly plunged into the Iraqi campaign, dragged the country into a war in Afghanistan, and started to splurge hundreds of billions on a missile defence program. The military expenditures of the Bush administration more than doubled compared to those of the Clinton administration. The war in Iraq has cost at least three trillion dollars (89.539 billion Roubles 2.203 trillion Euros 1.889 trillion UK Pounds). 250 billion dollars (7.462 trillion Roubles 183.575 million Euros 157.425 million UK Pounds) have been spent on the war in Afghanistan since 2001, and the end to spending on it is nowhere in sight. Over the past 25 years, Washington has injected more than one trillion dollars (29.846 trillion Roubles 734 billion Euros 630 billion UK Pounds) into a strategic missile defence system, and experts say the US will need billions more to actually deploy it. Clearly, this is the reason for the unsustainable federal debt of the USA. It’s not merely an arithmetical fact; this is evidence that the ambitions of the American ruling class don’t match the country’s economic potential. This may lead to severe and very dangerous consequences. However, it could and should become a “moment of truth” for those at the helm of the American ship of state.
28 January 2011
Voice of Russia World Service
http://rus.ruvr.ru/2011/01/28/41681503.html
Editor’s Note:
This proves, even for the slow learners, the lunatic unreality of the GOP programme. THERE IS NO MONEY LEFT. Let’s say that again. THERE’S NO MORE MONEY LEFT FOR GOP MILITARY ADVENTURES, PRICEY MILITARY TOYS, AND TAX GIVEAWAYS TO THE RICH.
John Boehner and Mitch McConnell are out of touch with the real world… they’re nothing but the organ-grinder monkeys of the rich, all that they can do is to repeat what their oligarch paymasters tell them to. To speak bluntly, there’s a need to INCREASE taxes on the rich. They’re the only segment of the population to have done better since the time of Reagan “voodoo-nomics”… and we must force them to pay their fair share. We can do it… Vladimir Putin took down Khodorkovsky… and he still sits in a Siberian correctional colony as an object lesson to all the other oligarchs. If we do not do so, the USA will go the way of New Rome… at the end of the empire in the 15th century, the rich granted themselves exemptions from taxation that ensured that the state had no funds when the Muslims attacked. The rich in America are the same sort of unpatriotic and self-serving SOBs. It’s time to make them pay up… by force (that is, the government should use its “police power”), if necessary.
There were plenty of rich people in 1980… they held 9 percent of the national wealth. Today, they hold 24 percent, nearly three times as much, all stolen from the pockets of salaried Americans. It’s time for some JUSTICE… V V Putin style. We’ll have no trouble with the oligarchs once a couple of them land in the slam for a long stretch in prison orange. We’ll cut the debt, end the wars, and put the social safety net back to rights. As for the Republican Party, even B O Plenty knows that it’s chock fulla beans… nothing more need be said, no?
BMD