FT issues warning......U.S. a "burning platform".

[maxtower]

The amount of money involved is hard for me to even contemplate. I can't really fathom what two billion is either though.

[Fishhead24]

[ QUOTE ]
Solution to the Problem:

(1) Legalize pot and online gambling (2) Tax both (3) Use huge, newly created tax revenue stream wisely to fix problems and pay down debt.

So simple our government would never do this however.

[/ QUOTE ]

This would be a move in the right direction.

[dazraf69]

Warren Buffet made mention of something similar to this in his letters to the shareholders. But I think the average American is well aware of the fiscal irresponsibility but really doesn't care. Our nation has turned into a society full of selfishness and personal gain rather than a community focused on the betterment of mankind. Much of this can be blamed on media but it is the consumer mentality that really drives the destruction ( of which is promoted by media and marketing). Unfortanetly consumption fuels capitalism and i'm not a fan of other forms of -isms.

[kyleb]

yes the US keeps taking a dump

ship it! short usd!

[emon87]

This aritcle was posted in a different thread. It does a good job of presenting dessenting viewpoints from the 'OMG we are in debt and it's all our stupid middle class people's fault and the US is going to die' panic that a lot of you subscribe to.

[hlacheen]

Man 9/11 really f*cked us. Although we might have ended up going into Iraq anyway. Is the war a significant part of our debt or just a couple drops in the bucket? I don't really know the numbers.

[ChipWrecked]

Clearly the answer is to kill Caesar.

[pokerpunchout]

[ QUOTE ]
Man 9/11 really f*cked us. Although we might have ended up going into Iraq anyway. Is the war a significant part of our debt or just a couple drops in the bucket? I don't really know the numbers.

[/ QUOTE ]

So far we have spent about 460 billion on the war in Iraq, but if you add total defense spending this number is even higher. The federal budget for 2007 - 2008 requests 59% of spending allocated toward defense. This number would be approximately 558 billion dollars for 2007-2008 fiscal year.

Regardless of your politics or whether you are "for or against" defense spending, is a major cause of the national debt.

[pokerpunchout]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Solution to the Problem:

(1) Legalize pot and online gambling (2) Tax both (3) Use huge, newly created tax revenue stream wisely to fix problems and pay down debt.

So simple our government would never do this however.

[/ QUOTE ]

neither of those additional tax revenues would make much difference to the bottom line

[/ QUOTE ]

I agree it would not make a huge dent, but it would be a good start. In 2005 federal alcohol tax brought in 8.9 billion dollars and federal tobacco tax brought in about 5 billion. This does not include the amount that individual states get on top of the federal tax (this amount is huge and much of it is pissed away).

[The once and future king]

[ QUOTE ]
cmon, whats the debt anyway? One, maybe TWO billion?

[/ QUOTE ]

Which debt? Cant think of a single debt index that is as low as 2 billion. Closer to 2 Trillion is more likely.