El Protoolio wrote:Why is a Canadian lecturing about how the US government is supposed to work? Canada has a monarch.

Government of Canada Records Eighth Consecutive Surplus...

...Canada was once again the only Group of Seven (G7) country to post a total government sector surplus in the most recent fiscal year and is the only G7 country expected to do so in 2005 and 2006, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

"Canada has made more progress in reducing its debt burden than any other G7 country," said Minister Goodale. "By reducing federal debt by a total of $63 billion in the last eight years, we have freed up some $3 billion in interest savings every year that can be directed to the priorities of Canadians."

In a financial update on November 23, 2006, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty wanted to eliminate the country's net debt by 2021 calling it "a matter of fairness for future generations".

nfurnier wrote:Isn't it irresponsible to not vote for the one somewhat viable candidate who will end all foreign occupation, bringing billions of dollars back home? You aren't going to get that with a democrat. Philosophically most people aren't gonna change, but maybe logic should dictate some of these opinions. We are broke.

drew patrick wrote:Are you suggesting that Ron Paul is a viable candidate?

Please advise. You may be making some news here.

I just got done watching a documentary about the credit industry. The film made the point that the US government pays more for the interest on debt than for health care, education, and homeland security combined...

Grace Commission Report wrote:"Resistance to additional income taxes would be even more widespread if people were aware that:

-One-third of all their taxes is consumed by waste and inefficiency in the Federal Government as we identified in our survey.

-Another one-third of all their taxes escapes collection from others as the underground economy blossoms in direct proportion to tax increases and places even more pressure on law abiding taxpayers, promoting still more underground economy -- a vicious cycle that must be broken.

-With two-thirds of everyone's personal income taxes wasted or not collected, 100 percent of what is collected is absorbed solely by interest on the Federal debt and by Federal Government contributions to transfer payments. In other words, all individual income tax revenues are gone before one nickel is spent on the services which taxpayers expect from their Government."

Alan Greenspan wrote:In the absence of the gold standard, there is no way to protect savings from confiscation through inflation. ... This is the shabby secret of the welfare statists' tirades against gold. Deficit spending is simply a scheme for the confiscation of wealth. Gold stands in the way of this insidious process. It stands as a protector of property rights. If one grasps this, one has no difficulty in understanding the statists' antagonism toward the gold standard.

Ron Paul wrote:Few Americans give much thought to the Federal Reserve System or monetary policy in general. But even as they strive to earn a living, and hopefully save or invest for the future, Congress and the Federal Reserve Bank are working insidiously against them. Day by day, every dollar you have is being devalued.

The greatest threat facing America today is not terrorism, or foreign economic competition, or illegal immigration. The greatest threat facing America today is the disastrous fiscal policies of our own government, marked by shameless deficit spending and Federal Reserve currency devaluation. It is this one-two punch-- Congress spending more than it can tax or borrow, and the Fed printing money to make up the difference-- that threatens to impoverish us by further destroying the value of our dollars.

The Fed’s inflationary policies hurt older people the most. Older people generally rely on fixed incomes from pensions and Social Security, along with their savings. Inflation destroys the buying power of their fixed incomes, while low interest rates reduce any income from savings. So while Fed policies encourage younger people to overborrow because interest rates are so low, they also punish thrifty older people who saved for retirement.
The financial press sometimes criticizes Federal Reserve policy, but the validity of the fiat system itself is never challenged. Both political parties want the Fed to print more money, either to support social spending or military adventurism. Politicians want the printing presses to run faster and create more credit, so that the economy will be healed like magic- or so they believe.

Fiat dollars allow us to live beyond our means, but only for so long. History shows that when the destruction of monetary value becomes rampant, nearly everyone suffers and the economic and political structure becomes unstable. Spendthrift politicians may love a system that generates more and more money for their special interest projects, but the rest of us have good reason to be concerned about our monetary system and the future value of our dollars.

Inflation 1923-24: A German woman feeding a stove with currency notes, which burn longer than the amount of firewood they can buy.

Argyreia Nervosa wrote:Hyperinflation

Inflation 1923-24: A German woman feeding a stove with currency notes, which burn longer than the amount of firewood they can buy.