Miriam,
"Take with a grain of salt". By now you should be able to open a salt
factory.
But just in case you need a few more grains, here's a post from another list.
Carl Jarvis
*****
Total Government And Personal Debt In The U.S. Has Hit 41 Trillion
Dollars ($329,961.34 Per Household)
We are living in the greatest debt bubble in the history of the world.
In 1980, total government and personal debt in the United States was
just over
the 3 trillion dollar mark, but today it has surpassed 41 trillion
dollars. That means that it has increased by almost 14 times since
Ronald Reagan was
first elected president. I am searching for words to describe how
completely and utterly insane this is, but I am coming up empty. We
are slowly but
surely committing
national suicide,
and yet most Americans don’t even understand what is happening.
According to
720 Global,
total government debt plus total personal debt in the United States
was just over 3 trillion dollars in 1980. That broke down to $38,552
per household,
and that figure represented 79 percent of median household income at the time.
Today, total government debt plus total personal debt in the United
States has blown past the 41 trillion dollar mark. When you break
that down, it comes
to $329,961.34 per household, and that figure represents 584 percent
of median household income.
If anyone can make a good argument that we are not in very serious
debt trouble, I would love to hear it.
And remember, the figures above don’t even include corporate debt.
They only include government debt on the federal, state and local
levels, and all forms
of personal debt.
So do you have $329,961.34 ready to pay your share of the debt that we
have accumulated?
Nobody that I know could write that kind of a check. The truth is
that as a nation we are flat broke. The only way that the game can
keep going is for
all of us to borrow increasingly larger sums of money, but of course
that is not sustainable by any definition.
Eventually we are going to slam into a wall and the game will be over.
One of my pet peeves is
the national debt.
Our politicians spend money in some of the most ridiculous ways
imaginable, and yet no matter how much we complain about it nothing
ever seems to change.
For example, the U.S. military actually spends 42 million dollars a year
on Viagra.
Yes, you read that correctly.
42 million of your tax dollars are being spent on Viagra every year.
And overall spending on “erectile dysfunction medicines” each year
comes to a grand total of
84 million dollars
…
According to data from the Defense Health Agency, DoD actually spent
$41.6 million on Viagra — and $84.24 million total on erectile
dysfunction prescriptions
— last year.
And since 2011, the tab for drugs like Viagra, Cialis and Levitra
totals $294 million — the equivalent of nearly four U.S. Air Force
F-35 Joint Strike
Fighters.
Is this really where our spending on “national defense” should be
going? We are nearly 20 trillion dollars in debt, and yet we continue
to spend money
like there is no tomorrow. For much more on the exploding size of our
national debt and the very serious implications that this has for our
future, please
see my previous article entitled
“Would You Like To Steal 128 Million Dollars?”
I didn’t think that our debt bubble could ever possibly get this big,
but I didn’t think that our stock market bubble could ever possibly
get quite get
this large either. For a few moments, I would like for you to
consider a list of facts about this stock market bubble that was
recently published
by Zero Hedge
…
list of 8 items
• The SP 500 Cyclically Adjusted Price to Earnings (CAPE) valuation
has only been greater on one occasion, the late 1990s. It is currently
on par with
levels preceding the Great Depression.
• CAPE valuation, when adjusted for the prevailing economic growth
trend, is more overvalued than during the late 1920’s and the late
1990’s. (
LINK)
• SP 500 Price to Sales Ratio is at an all-time high
• Total domestic corporate profits (w/o IVA/CCAdj) have grown at an
annualized rate of .097% over the last five years. Prior to this
period and since 2000,
five year annualized profit growth was 7.95%. (note- period included
two recessions) (
LINK)
• Over the last ten years, SP 500 corporations have returned more
money to shareholders via share buybacks and dividends than they have
earned.
• The top 200 SP 500 companies have pension shortfalls totaling $382
billion and corporations like GE spent more on share buybacks ($45b)
than the size
of their entire pension shortfall ($31b) which ranks as the largest in
the SP 500. (
LINK)
• Using data back to 1987, the yield to maturity on high-yield
(non-investment grade) debt is in the 3rd percentile. Per Prudential
as cited in the Wall
Street Journal, yields on high-yield debt, adjusted for defaults, are
now lower than those of investment grade bonds. Currently, the yield
on the Barclays
High Yield Index is below the expected default rate.
• Implied equity and U.S. Treasury volatility has been trading at the
lowest levels in over 30 years, highlighting historic investor
complacency. (
LINK)
list end
Our financial markets are far more primed for a crash than they were in 2008.
The only times in our entire history that are even comparable are the
late 1920s just before the infamous crash of 1929 and the late 1990s
just before
the dotcom bubble burst.
A whole lot of people out there seem to be entirely convinced that
things will somehow be different this time. They seem to believe that
the laws of economics
no longer apply and that we will never pay a significant price for
decades of exceedingly foolish decisions.
Overall, the world is now
217 trillion dollars in debt.
Earlier this year, Bill Gross
raised eyebrows
when he said that “our highly levered financial system is like a
truckload of nitro glycerin on a bumpy road”, and I very much agree
with him.
There is no way that this is going to end well. Yes, central bank
manipulation may be enough to keep the party going for a little while
longer, but eventually
the whole thing is going to come crashing down in a disaster of
unprecedented magnitude.
list of 1 items
• default
list end
On 7/29/17, Miriam Vieni <miriamvieni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
There are a number of articles by several economists, explaining why our
debt is not as much of a problem as we've been led to believe. Since my
mathematic abilities are so poor that I can barely add 2 and 2, I certainly
don't understand all of the reasoning behind what they are writing. So I'm
beginning to take everything I read and hear, with a grain of salt.
Miriam
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Carl Jarvis
Sent: Saturday, July 29, 2017 11:22 AM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Cc: Bob Hachey <bhachey@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: [blind-democracy] EU rulers force ‘new
normal’ of crisis conditions on Greek workers
"And everywhere — as in Greece — the price of dog-eat-dog capitalist
competition is foisted on working people."
The United States of America is not going to escape the economic rape and
plundering going on in Greece and, closer to home, Puerto Rico.
Currently each and every American would need to cough up over $300 thousand
to pay off our debt. When our debt bubble bursts will the Working Class
simply roll over and begin struggling to enrich the already bloated
Oligarchies? Or will we rise up and set a People's Government in place, and
"allow" the "Favored Few" to share their plunder all around?
Carl Jarvis
On 7/29/17, Roger Loran Bailey <dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
http://themilitant.com/2017/8128/812806.html
The Militant (logo)
Vol. 81/No. 28 July 31, 2017
(front page)
EU rulers force ‘new normal’ of crisis conditions on Greek workers
BY JIM BRADLEY
Working people in Greece face a “new normal” of rising mortality
rates, worse jobs — if you’re lucky enough to have one — with lower
pay, slashed social benefits and a lower quality of life. This is the
result of a decade of government assaults amid world capitalism’s
deepest crisis in decades.
This crisis is also the product of the underlying realities of the
European Union’s “ever greater union.” It was purportedly set up to
benefit all, but is in fact a marriage of unequal competing capitalist
regimes that assures continued profits for Berlin’s bosses and other
northern rulers at the expense of the peoples of Greece, Italy, Spain
and other weaker economies in southern Europe.
This inequality, exacerbated by the world capitalist crisis, pushed
the Greek rulers’ swollen national debt to the point of disaster. The
government’s insolvency, deepened by relentless pressure for payment
on Greek bonds in the hands of banks and private profiteers,
threatened to shatter the EU.
The EU, European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund provided
aid, but demanded the Greek rulers carry out ceaseless attacks against
the workers and farmers to make them pay for the crisis.
EU officials approved another $9.7 billion in financial assistance to
the Greek government July 7, once again postponing a looming debt
default crisis that could have threatened the survival of the
28-member European Union.
The action, taken by the board of directors of the European Stability
Mechanism, unmasks the myth promoted by liberal capitalist politicians
that the EU is a stable, “progressive” counterweight on the world
stage to protectionist Washington under the administration of
President Donald Trump.
The emergency financial assistance permitted the Greek government of
Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras’ Coalition of the Radical Left to
immediately turn around and pay $7.9 billion due to the IMF and the
European Central Bank, which hold most of its almost $367 billion debt.
On its knees, the Tsipras government pleads that “we expect our
partners to respect the sacrifices of the Greek people” by permitting
Greece to sell bonds on the EU bond market. Speaking for German
bondholders, Chancellor Angela Merkel is opposed to any concessions.
Tensions between Berlin and Athens are rising.
“The government and people of Greece,” said ESM Managing Director
Klaus Regling, “should continue on its path to rebuild a competitive
economy and regain investors’ trust.”
Millions of Greek workers and farmers know from their own bitter
experience that Regling’s bureaucratic doublespeak translates into an
order to the Tsipras government to intensify its “austerity” drive
that has devastated the lives of Greek workers and farmers.
Over a seven-year period the Greek economy has shrunk by one-fifth.
Official unemployment stands at slightly less than 25 percent, but the
fact is half the working population has been driven out of the labor
market. Over 45 percent of young people are unemployed, forced to live
with their parents, unable to be independent, marry or buy a home.
The percentage of involuntary part- time jobs has risen from 45 to 72
percent over the last 10 years. Pensions have been slashed, schools
and hospitals closed, the public health system is in shambles. From
2009 through 2015, average wages dropped by 20 percent.
One price of the latest bailout was government assurance of further
pension cuts in 2019.
EU’s fatal contradictions
Despite the hype, the establishment of the European Union was never
about initiating an era of European postwar “peace and prosperity.” In
the aftermath of World War II, as U.S. capital expanded rapidly with
little competition, French and German capitalists and others began
discussion of establishing a joint protectionist bloc to gain a
stronger competitive position in world markets, leading to the
establishment of the EU in 1993.
But the EU was born with a fatal built-in destabilizing contradiction.
The capitalist rulers of each member nation protect their profits and
privileges, including against their EU partners.
The sharply different levels of economic and social development
between industrial powerhouses like Germany and France and
lesser-developed countries like Portugal, Italy, Greece and others push
the union apart.
Berlin is dominant, with the most productive and developed industrial
base and consequently the economic and political clout to dominate the
economies of the lesser-developed countries in the EU. German
capitalists sell. Greeks buy, and go into debt to pay.
All these contradictions have come to the fore under the pressure of
the economic crisis, threatening to unravel the EU. Talks began June
19 between Brussels and London on the withdrawal of the U.K. from the
EU, a result of last year’s Brexit vote.
And everywhere — as in Greece — the price of dog-eat-dog capitalist
competition is foisted on working people.
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