Sunday, September 22, 2013

A Runaway Train....

Take a minute and click on this link (it'll open in a separate window) - the United States Debt Clock.  Take a hard look, don't just give it a quick glance...really look at it for a minute or two.  A couple things that I want you to pay close attention to.


  1. At the top left hand side - the US National Debt number (quickly approaching $17 Trillion)
  2. Look at row on the clock that has, "Total US Interest (2013)", "Interest Per Citizen," and the real shocker, "US TOTAL DEBT" (That one is approaching $60 Trillion)
  3. Lastly, go to the bottom row and look at the figure for "US Unfunded Liabilities" (if you don't know what those are, or anything on the clock, just place your mouse over it and a pop-up box will appear at the top of the clock to give you a brief description).  That amount, is UNFUNDED, which means WE DON'T HAVE THE MONEY TO COVER IT SO WE BORROW.....
Now you may be wondering why I have ask that you look at this (and I do mean LOOK at it!).  First, it isn't to scare the pants off of you (even though it does me), but to let you actually SEE what you are about to inherit when you turn 18 years old; for that is when you officially become adults, since that too is the age of which you can legally vote.  Secondly, in no way shape or form, did I have you look at this so we could toss about which political party is at fault; for regardless of which political party you may or may not be associated with, it really is a mute point at this juncture.  The sad reality is that we have a serious problem...a very serious problem.  It is true, that no country can really operate in today's world 100% debt free, but I think we'd all agree that likewise, a country cannot sustain this amount of crushing debt.

The truth is, the debt problem has become a runaway train and unless someone can come up with a REAL solution, we all know what happens to a runaway train.

So, this week's topic is...

HOW DO WE STOP THIS RUNAWAY TRAIN OR AT LEAST SLOW IT DOWN ENOUGH FOR A MORE PERMANENT SOLUTION TO BE FOUND OR.... IS IT BETTER TO JUST LET THE TRAIN DERAIL?

76 comments:

  1. So I have two solutions to the problem, the first is a bit "frilly" but the second is straight to the point.
    - so i figure that because we are the only one on this earth and there really are no rules against it, we would just eliminate debt. it would be like a reset button. everyone and every nation would just start over, hopefully wiser and more cautious of spending
    - the second one is "letting the train derail". it obvious that we are out of control with spending and such, and it's also obvious that theres nothing anyone can do and that's why nothing is being done. yea it will be the absolute worst for a couple of years (maybe even more than that) but hopefully that will teach how to be better with our money.
    we have to stop pretending like this is just a normal thing now. the way i see it the first option is a like a smothering mother trying to protect her child from the evils of the world. And the other is a mother showing tough love.
    in the first option the world could easily slip back into the same mistakes and find itself right where it started, but in the second option i doubt that anyone would let the world slip into a third great depression

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    1. Can you please try to explain to me how that would be plausible to just vanish our debt? Do you actually think that the other countries of the world are going to be fine with just erasing our debt and starting over?
      First of all that wouldn't even be smart to do even if it WAS possible somehow. The American Dollar would be equal to nothing and our whole country would be impoverished and unable to trade with the international community. The US would probably become conquered by another country if we were to get bailed out. Nothing positive comes from hitting the imaginary "reset" button, which probably isnt even possible to do.

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    2. You cannot just eliminate debt, that is not possible. If someone owned you $2,000 would you just allow them to eliminate their debt, without paying you back? I know i wouldn't. There is no reset button for a country's economy or for anything in life actually. If we were to start over then our country would start from nothing again, and the nation wouldnt be strong enough to survive. It is just impossible to start over, that is none existent.

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    3. I agree with maya and jen that it is definitively impossibe for one to just forget that they ever lended you money and not want it back. I know if someone owed money whether it is a large or small amount, I would want them to pay me back the money. And as for starting over, it really is not that simply. In fact, I don't think that is a wise option because are economy is already unstable and is not in a position to rebuild itself all over again from the bottom making its way up.

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    5. WOO-HOO let's jump on the bandwagon! Okay, so what Kai said may not be the best option, but come one guys, let's not all say the EXACT same thing.

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    6. Okay, let's try this again... Aside from the reset button(that is just impossible) I pretty much agree with you Kai. People should start managing money in a smart way. We just can't become too lucrative or else our future might suffer from it. However, I believe someone tried to do something about the debt of the U.S but it just didn't work. It's just that we spend so much than what we have in our pockets. Also, I think that another little step towards a solution would be, awareness. Awareness to the fact that we are really in a deep ditch with all these debts and that we should start being smart and strategic with money.

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    7. We owe China literally billions of dollars. It would be extremely unfair to just reset what we owe, if it were possible. China's economy is missing a big chunk of money; it can't just forget about it.

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    8. I literally said that it was frilly... it was more of an idea I've had, ps there was more to my response. lets not jump down my throat okaythanks

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  2. Wow, that link scared me for my future. There is no way to completely stop this runaway train. It is not possible to get rid of this debt. The government can’t just wave a wand and wish for the debt to be eliminated, that doesn’t exist. Unfortunately, allowing the train to derail is a considerable option. Our country is legitimately drowned in debt, we owe trillions of dollars and we have no money to pay it back. The only way that they are attempting to fix this, is by borrowing MORE money, therefore causing MORE debt.
    There is nothing more the nation can do to get itself out of debt. It almost seems as if everything they have attempted to do has just failed and brought us into more debt. The only option left is to allow the train to derail. This is being put off for too long, and there is no way for the nation to bounce back from trillions of dollars in debt. Unless someone finds a way to repay all this debt without hurting the nation, this is the only way to patch up the debt.

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    1. What does allowing the train to derail actually entail though? Not paying back any of our debt? We would be taking on almost all of the world. Do you think that allowing us to go into an unwinnable war is the solution? Or do you have something else in mind?

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    2. I feel like just laying down and letting our country die out is not an option, if that's what you mean by derailing. Just spending, and spending, until inflation rises so high that our economy collapses. Imagine our economy completely be destroyed? It would probably happen during our lifetime as well. The United States would be poverty stricken. Considering the amount of debt we have this would be worse then the conditions of the Great Depression and would take a huge amount of time to rise again as the great America we are used to of. We definitely should not accept fail that might not happen and decide to give up on fixing this issue.

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    3. Nick, i was just stating that we need to start from the bottom to be able to reconstruct ourselves into being a strong nation. Derailing seems to be the only option to me because there is no way of getting rid of this debt. We are already in so much debt, the only way is to reconstruct everything, which is starting from the bottom.

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    5. Ok so, jen as you stated in a comment earlier "There is no reset button for a country's economy or for anything in life actually. If we were to start over then our country would start from nothing again, and the nation wouldn't be strong enough to survive. It is just impossible to start over, that is none existent." , what i am trying to say is that ,"what is your viewpoint on this situation?" Because at first you say it is not an option to start over, due to that starting over ,our country would not be strong enough to survive, and then you are now saying that the only option is to let the train derail, so that our country can reconstruct ourselves into a strong nation. Please clarify.

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    6. "We are already in so much debt, the only way is to reconstruct everything, which is starting from the bottom." I don't think we can reconstruct if we let the country derail. It would be such an enormous blow that we would not be able to get back up, and if we do manage to get back up we will have lost all our power. We need a way to fix this, we can't just give up. America has come a long way, and if we throw in the towel all this hard work to build a great country will be for nothing. Their is a solution to every problem, we just need to face this problem now.

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    7. And if we do give up this country will fall. We will lose our role as a super power, and some other country might become the new America (in power). We will not be the same country if we reconstruct.

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    1. Just in case I wasn't clear:
      Examples:
      * The Federal government has 15 different agencies overseeing food safety laws.
      * It has more than 20 programs helping the homeless.
      * It has 80 programs to help economic development.
      * It has 82 agencies working on improving teacher quality
      * It has 47 agencies working on job training.
      * It has 18 programs working on food and nutrition assistance.

      --Department of Energy is one of many governmental departments that can have payment cuts.-- (Different savings section---)

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    2. Jen, if this is about budget cuts which I believe it is, I completely agree with you. Budget cuts could help lessen the amount of money the U.S spends in a year hence, contributing to the slowing of this runaway train.

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    3. I completely agree with you, Jen. In most areas, budget cuts are necessary, especially the 82 agencies working on teacher quality. While all of these causes are significant, we are just wasting too much money helping the small problems in the country when we should be focusing on the big picture.

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    4. I most definitely agree with jen about budget cuts, because to fill in the gaps between tax revenue the government gets and the amount of money the government spends in the budget, we must begin cutting spending and reducing the size of government.

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  5. After staring at those numbers, I think that it is quite impossible for the U.S to bail itself out of that mountainous debt in the near future. However, there are little things that we could do that may gradually lead to the lessening of this debt and hopefully solve this problem in centuries to come. First, we should really face reality. We don't have the money to get involve in other countries business. If it doesn't concern us, leave it be. That can save us tons of money especially if we don't have that money to spend anyways. Second, we should really stop borrowing from other countries in order to repay our debt. Paying your debt with borrowed money doesn't help reduce it. It only adds up to the amount of debt in existence. Third, budget cuts and sadly tax increase. However, this third solution would hurt, especially the call for higher taxes since, no one would want to pay an incredulous amount of tax. But sadly, if we want to play a part in the solution we've got to make sacrifices to hopefully help bail our country out of its $17 trillion debt. These suggested solutions would most likely have a little impact in years to come compared to the debt, but I think it would be enough to slow the train down.
    P.S. this week's blog is very challenging and ominous in a way.

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    1. I do not think raising taxes would solve any problem, it would probably make it worse. We are in so much debt right now because of government spending, if we give the government more money I really doubt they will use our money for a good cause. It would be like giving a drug addict more drugs.

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    2. I didn't say that raising taxes would solve the problem. I said it might help slow that runaway train hence, "These suggested solutions would most likely have a little impact in years to come compared to the debt, but I think it would be enough to SLOW the train down." And to address that doubt of yours about the government using that money in other ways than for a good cause, we are given the chance to choose government officials (through elections) that we think and feel would be best suited for the position. Thus, we can choose someone who we feel would use that money for a good cause.

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    3. I still stand that it would have no affect on the problem, and would not slow down the runaway train.

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    4. Raising taxes means more money.More money means less borrowing from other countries. And less borrowing from other countries means the slowing down of the runaway train. As little as it may be, the money from these taxes helps.

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    5. While I don't think those things alone will help just know with the debt, i do think it will set a path way for more change that could possibly really positively effect the outcome of future generations. unfortunately we owe so much that this alone would not be enough to change any thing now but i think it is a great start. however i don't know if i agree with more taxes because if we tax more as the economy is right now, a lot of people wont be able to pay which will increase the personal debt in the country which is also a very scary treat to the nation.

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  6. Another question that doesn't have a perfect, nor very favorable answer. It is true, you just can't make debt disappear. But even if you say, "Okay, I am going to get rid of this debt, by following some method," you will be hard pressed to stop it. This is not because there is no way to get rid of debt, it is because we are so engrossed in ourselves, our political correctness, and our role as "leader of the free world," that we are unable to truly find a solution. Think about it, with ALL those domestic problems found on the debt clock, and on numerous other sources, what is the number one topic being debated? A foreign issue. What do people spend more time reading? Gossip about people richer, better looking, and more talented them, whom they'll never meet. Why? Because we are stupid. Americans, and this includes me, have become indoctrinated into a ridiculous method of thinking. Instead of worrying about the fact that our domestic problems are much more pertinent, we want to help poor little Syria. Instead of worrying about the debt that is literally CRUSHING us, the government that is lying to and ignoring our interests and rights, or the plethora of injustices being done to American people everyday, we swoon, over cars we can't afford, houses we don't need, clothes we don't really want, and the affairs of people WE DON'T EVEN KNOW. So do I think it is better to get rid of our debt, as opposed to "letting the train derail," as the prompt says? Yes, I do. But do I think that in our current state of mind and method of living and thinking that we can? No. We need a slap to wake us up, from this trance of over-consumerism, idiocracy, and apathy, that has ensnared the American people. Who are the American people anyway? I think that strong, independent, revolutionary group of people are gone. We look like them, but our hearts, minds, and souls, are not the same. Can this be fixed? Can we once again be an example to the world, an avatar of good ideals and a good will? Maybe, but until we are once again focused, and worried about the things that really matter, that debt clock is not going to slow down.

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    1. I don't mean to get "kumbaya" about your post, but this was really an eye-opener and a point of view I didn't even consider. Most Americans are definitely obsessed with Hollywood and the superficial and material items in life. It's as if the country just wants to avoid the problem; it's too much too handle, so they focus all their attention of foreign affairs and dreams they are unable to fulfill.

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    2. Wow, this was deep. You took a complete different approach from the rest of the class. You made me rethink the purpose of this blog. But i still believe that reconstructing the country from the bottom is a good option. :)

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    3. This was a very unique approach. We are so quick to question what the government will do about this, but we never give ourselves and our additions to the issue. Your statement' I think that strong, independent, revolutionary group of people are gone. We look like them, but our hearts, minds, and souls, are not the same" gave me chills! I would be interested to hear more about your personal solutions, since there have been many thrown out there!

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  7. When I used to think about our nation's debt, it didn't bother. Eventually, everything always works out. Until I read this clock of perpetual debt, I wasn't at all nervous about the future of the economy, probably because I am not yet an adult so I don't have that burden. Now I see we are in major trouble. If professional financial annalists and economists cannot yet find a solution, I don't know how spectacular my ideas could be, but I'll give it a shot.
    The recession began around December 2007 in the United States, then globally in 2009. Government sites and past news reports say it all began with the collapse of the housing market. House prices rose, followed by a decrease in prices resulting in owners holding negative equity.
    I always wondered why we can't just reset our debt; start fresh and have no one to pay back. This would be extremely unfair to those countries who lent up the money, especially China. Printing more money would only depreciate US dollars. Taxing citizens could work, but would be hard for the poor.
    So here are my theoretical solutions: the big companies help bail out the United States with bonds, just like J.P. Morgan did in 1896. Also, more jobs need to be made available in America, perhaps by producing in the United States instead of overseas.

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    1. james, After reading that " why can't we reset our debt; start fresh and have no one to pay back" it had me thinking, although it isn't realistic, why can't the world act be like that. Have a reset button and all. life would be so much easier if we have one of those. But nevertheless, I agree with you about taxation. Raising taxes would be difficult and it requires a lot of sacrificing but if we want to make something happen, sometimes we just need to sacrifice.

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    2. What do you think would happen if we never paid China back the money they let us borrow?

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    4. There is a problem with the idea of letting big companies pay off our debt, especially with bonds. The government can not force any of the big companies to pay off the debt, and since the debt is so high it might hurt the big companies financially. Also, if they pay them off in bonds, America still did not pay off our debt, we just made another loan! The value of the debt is to high for large companies to pay off, it is not the same as 1896.

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    5. Chrizxia, there IS a reset button. It's called filing for bankruptcy.

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  8. I honestly don’t know what to do about our debt. I definitely don’t think we should even consider letting our country fail, or in this case let “the train derail”. The American people would have to be idiotic to just sit back and not try anything, literally ANYTHING, that can help. That's just disappointing our founding fathers to give up so easily. Whether it be reducing federal spending or raising taxes on the rich, I’m not sure. I’m literally afraid to post this, but I am more towards raising taxes on the rich. All right. All right. Now before EVERYONE on this blog jumps down my throat just put things into perspective. Look at history for example. There were many times in financial crises that tariffs were placed which didn’t always favor the attitudes American people. But, however, they did work to raise revenue. My ideal plan would to make this a temporary tax increase for about 10-20 years, so it would not be permanently burdening the rich. I’m pretty sure no one will agree with me, but I believe that while this idea may not seem effective on paper, when put into reality it will be. Supposedly, if you give the rich more money, they will inevitably spend it on products boosting the entire economy. As nice as this is in theory, in actuality, it rarely ever works. Most of the time, the rich actually sit on their wealth, hoarding it. Or, they put it into securities, which have some benefit to the economy as a whole, but little benefit to the lower classes. By raising taxes affluent people still have tons of money to spare, and at the same time, small businesses bloom, jobs sky rocket, people are confident enough to invest in the stock market, and the government can pay off its debts and move in a forward, rather than backward direction. And this isn't degrading the value of becoming successful. I mean would you rather be homeless and not pay taxes, or live in a mansion and not be able to buy that 5th vacation house because of paying a little bit more taxes??? Okay guys, especially ABU, go ahead and tear my comment to pieces.

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    1. I'm here to argue for my boy Abu since you wrecked him on his own blog. Maya, where do you think so much of the debt came from? Well some of it was because the government took the money that was saved for social security and all other liabilities, and they spent it (hence the unfunded liabilities). This money was supposed to not be touched, but the government used it anyway. What makes you think that giving the government MORE money would solve anything, or "slow down the speeding train". Giving the government more money is like giving a crack head more crack.

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    2. Hahahahaha Bish I'm laughing right now.
      I think that an account should be set up by the government that strictly contains this revenue so it is not used by routine federal spending. Of course, this account should be audited and monitored to make sure nothing fishy is going on.
      This ties into cutting government spending as well. Because while we will be getting more revenue from raising taxes, cutting government spending will allow for more of this revenue to be saved.
      Thanks for letting me clarify Bish.

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    3. I agree with you. In reality raising taxes would be good, but the only reason im against this is because of the part "an account should be set up by the government that strictly contains this revenue so it is not used by routine federal spending." This is what the social security was, but they used it anyway, I really wish that an account could be made and it was that easy, but I think the government would still use that money.

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    4. I don't think raising taxes will do much. It is not that US citizens are not taxed enough, it is that the US government spends too much. At the end of the day, a tax increase will not even solve any problems when the problem continues to lie with the government itself!! Nothing will change.

      But Maya, I can appreciate the truth in your statement of "I honestly don’t know what to do about our debt." I think we are all in the same boat on that one, and the train cannot stay on track with successful conductors (government officials).

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  9. Just about everyone here has talked about reasons of why we are in debt and who to blame but no one really has proposed any solutions. I don’t think that we will ever completely get out of debt; however I don’t believe that completely relieving the nation of debt is a good thing. This belief lends itself to the earlier Hamiltonian principles of economics. There are various viewpoints on the subject of this debt which I would like to present and I think most would find a bit on the radical side.

    First off, I would like you all to think what would happen if America never pays its debt? I am not saying that America should do this, but hypothetically, what would you think would happen? Many Americans mistake this debt by viewing it as they would their credit card bill. In fact, if America never pays its national nothing much would happen. The reason behind this is that other nations need us as much as we need them. For example, if China decides to stop lending us money, we can stop the exporting of iPads or ban them from watching an NBA game.

    Some argue that our debt looks extremely large when we look at just the number, but when correlated with the GDP it isn’t as massive. We as a nation make almost as much of the national debt in one year. These are very similar conditions to the nation in the past, times which we don’t view with a negative connotation towards the economy. Furthermore, we forget to view the other spectrum. We also export assets to nations which are in debt. A prime example is Greece. According to Paul Krugman, a Nobel Prize winning economist, the debts that other nations owe to America come out to about 89 cents for every dollar we owe.

    Also, I’d like to point out another aspect of our nation’s economy. Who do you think has the largest GDP in the world? China? India? Japan? NO… its AMERICA. We actually produce about twice as much as China who has the second largest.

    HOWEVER, if we would like to decrease the national debt, there are a few ways in which we can approach this dilemma. One way is by the nation looking into long term investments. These include for example education and research. Also regulating taxes would be a major help. In general as a nation we must be fiscally wiser.

    This is a very different view from most but I would like everyone to think about it.

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    1. First off, I did post a possible solution so check my comment out.

      Secondly, I do somehow see where you are coming from. I would agree with you more so if our debt wasn't growing every second. Next year our debt is probably going to be double what it is today. 24 trillion? Holy _____ that is a LOT of money. So when Abu, does it become time to care? What is the loss that once we reach this will suddenly become a problem?

      Your arguments largest whole is statement you make when it doesn't matter that every country on the planet is in debt. Inflation would be EXTREMELY high and have the dollar probably worth .01 cents. That would be catastrophic to not only America but Earth.
      Or if you truly think debt doesnt mean a thing, that means you agree with Kai and her belief that every country should simply reset our debt somehow.

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    2. WOW. first off, I said most didn't present solutions. Also our debt is 17 million currently and YES it is increasing, but also our GDP is increasing. So Holy ______ thats a lot of money minused by a lot of money. And, I am not sure about Kai's views but wha do you think would hppen if we never pay China back? Also please explain to me how inflation would be extremely high?

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    3. Are you serious Abu its 17 TRILLION!
      Also, if we never payed China back they would go to war with us! You're idea about a NBA ban is literally ridiculous. We messed up and have a pile of debt so instead of doing the right thing and paying China back we are going to say "NO. HAHA WE WILL NEVER PAY YOU BACK BUT YOU STILL HAVE TO LOAN US THE MONEY ANYWAY." and then if they turn around and say "no way" (like any normal living entity would) we're going to hit them with an NBA ban?! are you crazy? That type of thinking is why American makes the stupidest decisions and comes off as arrogant.

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    4. Hey if I was going to be banned from watching the NBA I would be willing to compromise.

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    5. And of all things the NBA????? You think 17 trillion dollars is worth the same amount as watching American basketball...

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    6. The reason i said was 17 trillion was because you said 24 million in the past comment. Also, the NBA ban is an example of why China needs America. I completely doubt China would go into war with us. That would be economically bad for them in every aspect. They would lose money in the war and in the end they would still not gain anything. There would be no money to give them back. What would they do?? just say oh.. so you took our money so we are going to waste money and destoy you. NO. The NBA example shows that if China and America had bad relationships there would be major internal problems in China. The would not be receiving goods they are used to such as iPhones. Internal problems plus losing money would be the results if China decided to go against America.

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    7. Well if we do go to war with China their could be many outcomes.
      One, America wins a war against china and the debt is forgiven. Which might happen if china tries to take on America, especially on American turf.
      Two, Chin wins, which is least likely to happen.
      Three, WWIII happens since China and Russia and all their allies would attack the US, Japan, and all their allies.

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    8. China would not go into war with America because they know there are no incentives.

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    9. Well if the people hear that America refuse to pay them back their will be an incentive.

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    10. Go back and read. I said "trillion in my first comment on your post. Then you answered back using "million".
      But anyway, I don't see any reason why China would be the least bit intimidated in going to war with America. If China, USA's principle money loaner cut off funds, where would we get any money to fuel our tanks and manufacture bullets for our guns? You can't say we can get another country to loan us, because the international community would be appalled that we are bullying China into erasing our debt and threatening a NBA ban. That would blacklist America's reputation for a long time.
      So, in a way you are right. We would not go to war with China because their country has such a huge hold on us that we would be stupid to go into a war, that WE would lose.

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    11. Yeah i See my bad.
      I am not saying that China would be intimidated. I am saying there is no point for China to go into war with America.

      Please name any incentives that you think CHina has to go to war with America?

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    12. I don't think we would lose, but we would hurt our reputation greatly. And the UN and every other country might either see us differently, or do the same as us and choose not to pay their debt.

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    13. One incentive: Not being paid back trillions of dollars.

      Bishoy, I agree with your last comment fully.
      Im done, goodnight.

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    14. Note I know the UN is not a country, that was a grammar error

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    15. I agree with Bishoy. If we simply do not pay China back, we will set an example to other countries. If countries owe us money they will refuse to pay it back. Also Abu you say we do not have to worry about the debt because our GDP almost matches it. GDP is this: "The monetary value of all the finished goods and services produced within a country's borders in a specific time period, though GDP is usually calculated on an annual basis. It includes all of private and public consumption, government outlays, investments and exports less imports that occur within a defined territory" How in the world are we supposed to use Americas GDP to pay off our debt? Do you plan to take all the money that companies and business make, save it up, and then pay off our debt that way?

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    16. I would like to point out in response to Maya's comment about us not having money to fuel our weapons that if we went into war with China, we wouldn't necessarily have to worry about that. There are large reserves of oil in Kansas, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Louisiana, New Mexico, Colorado, Montana, Utah, Wyoming, Texas, California, and Alaska, enough to last for at least two centuries, and we also have 26 states that mine coal.

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  10. Its amazing how a simple question could have such a complicated answer. First, i want to say that if we raise taxes, higher medicare eligibility age, cut military defenses, cap tax deductions, and start taxing the rich more, we would make about 180 Billion dollars (Fox News Estimate). This looks like a lot of money, but government spending is 3.5 trillion dollars a year, and the debt is almost 17 trillion. This means there will be no quick fix to the debt. Solving this problem will take decades. The American Government allowed this problem to continue for way to long before trying to find a solution to it.
    I do not think there is a solution to this problem during our generation. We could cut government spending. We could also start exporting more than we import and increase the revenue. Maybe even stop budging our heads in other countries affairs. I honestly have no idea on how much of an impact these things will affect the debt. One thing that could help America is another WWII, but that is not even possible. I do know that raising taxes, especially tacing the rich more, will not solve anything. The government definitely has a spending problem, and if we give them more of our money via taxes they will not save it up, but simply spend it right away.
    Is their a solution to this? Not that I can think of. The government needs to spend more time to come up with a solution and not have their heads in the middle east.

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    1. Bishoy your response can lead anyone into a deep depression. I think there is a solution to every issue. Would you agree to looking into better long term investments such as education? On the other hand what would you think would happen if we never paid this debt back?

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    2. I do agree that there is a solution to every problem, but considering the fact that some of the most educated and intellectual people in the country, who have studied economics for all their life, can not find a solution the outcome looks very grim.

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    3. Answer my second question Bish

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    4. I agree with your education statement. This is actually what Finland does. They invest in education, and in return have a financially stable government with well educated people running it.
      If we never paid this debt back though refer to your blog. It could either lead to WWIII or effaceAmericas debt.

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    5. But I do not think we can just leave this problem alone

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    6. How about this Abu.... If you think it is no big deal to pay back other countries and we owe them money.. what investors or foreign nations are going to want to loan us money or grant us materials if there is a good chance we won't be able to pay them back???

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    7. Bishoy I completely agree with your statement about how raising taxes won't solve anything. Sure, there may be some, maybe even a majority, of politicians who actually believe that raising the taxes are a solution. But there always is the factor of human greed that will tempt some of them to line their pockets with some of the money. And that's completely aside from the fact that the government will likely use it in some manner likely related to conflict in the Middle East.

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  11. After taking good look and pondering about those numbers specifically U.S National Debt...17 trillion, it’s a lot to take in. I don’t think it is possibly for U.S to completely get rid of debt, but most definitely lessen it, if some measures are taken care of. First, I think we all need to face the truth and realize that we are in a huge hole consisting of trouble. And if something needs to be done, it needs to be done NOW!! America’s economy is already unstable and America is in no position to interfere with other countries’ affairs such as Syria. This could cut cost of all the necessities needed in war. Second, sadly tax increase, and unfortunately, I know that this will not do good to those in poor conditions, but “America’s got to do what it’s got to do.” And lastly, America should not borrow money to pay off their debts because they will only immensely increase the amount of debt we are already in. This measure may not have as much effect, but a least might slow down the train.

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    1. Can you elaborate on your personal reasons for a tax increase? As stated before, I don't think it would work, why do you think it would?

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    2. so i generally agree but i dont agree with the taxing part. for the,"people in poor conditions" this could turn them belly up. and then the thousands of hard workers that are only making enough to survive, cant survive anymore, harming the economy

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  12. This is an extremely hard question to answer. I do no think that there is just one solution to this complex problem. The first thing we have to do is to focus on the problem at hand. We need to stop worrying about external affairs that do not benefit us. Second, I think every penny counts in the matter of paying off the debt. We need to lessen government spending and increase revenue. We also need to raise taxes, but regulate where the money is going so we know the government will not spend it. Also, we need reforms in healthcare and medicare. There is a lot of money in that field itself, and medicare is abused. And speaking of healthcare, we need a closer examination of Obamacare. I don't think we can economically handle it.
    If there is a solution to this debt problems it will take a very long time to pay it off. We might even pass it off to the next generation after ours. What we can do now is try our best to slow the train down. We need to fix this problem, and we need to start working on it now.

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    1. like i replied for Chrizxia's response and like you some what said, i don't think that these steps will help now but will definitely help in the future. that being said i did like that you added medicare to your response. i feel like healthcare is one of things that everyone knows needs to be checked out but just kind of looks over it until it is staring them in the face. i definitely think that if our citizens weren't pounded with bills after recently recovering from injuries, then they could just bounce back quicker and would be able to help the economy in their jobs instead of having to struggle with more debt and end up just being stuck

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  13. This is a very difficult blog to answer...and there are only two solutions I could think of, although I believe 'solution' is the wrong word, since it's not doing these options won't do much to help the country immediately.

    Although this would have severe immediate repercussions, I believe the easiest way out is to declare bankruptcy, and to start all over, on a fresh slate, so to speak. Our debts will be erased, in essence what Kai stated in the beginning, about "resetting our debt".

    The other solution would be to make major budget cuts, and getting rid of programs our nation doesn't need, such as Social Security (which was never meant to even be around for this long), and Medicare, and also as Justin pointed out, reexamining Obamacare.

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