Pm's And The US Debt Ceiling

Though there is nearly a month to forge an agreement to raise the debt ceiling, there are already warnings being issued against allowing the federal government to default on its debt. Besides a potentially catastrophic effect on global financial markets, credit rating agency Standard & Poor's has warned that default on debt would result in currently maturing U.S. Treasury bonds being issued a "D" rating if those bonds are not paid out on August 4. The U.S. has $30 billion in interest payments due on short term loans acquired through sale of Treasury bonds.

I dunno. Maybe it depends on the target? The way that the knuckleheads in DC are behaving, it could be considered a viable target by some.

New yahoo article today, and here is a quote below that caught my eye other than more talks of dips in SS and medicare....

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/...5259483.html

Small cut an paste below two paragraphs from set article above....

Cantor suggested Wednesday that Republicans could accept a deal to close tax loopholes if they are matched with tax reductions. Boehner said Thursday that comprehensive tax reform was a viable option in the talks with the White House.

"We believe that comprehensive tax reform, both on the corporate side and the personal side, will make America more competitive, help create jobs in our country, and is something that is under discussion," he said.

I can't help but agree with above set statement, too much tax on the corporate, I never thought in my life I would AGREE with that, but I do. Ridiculous taxes on big corporations, forces them out of country. Taking away created jobs, income, bus, from our own country is real bad thing IMO. Again, like the highest rated comment guy says, don;t ask us for more taxes, cut your own paychecks, but we all know that is not even a consideration.....

This whole mess just makes me more nervous as we approach August 2nd, and that 30 billion of bond payments owed as Gabbie pointed out above....

Hawk... the US income tax code is a complete gaggle. Our corporate taxes are too high but then we also have MANY tax deductions that lower the effective rate considerably. I would favor a simpler tax system. Slim it down so that it doesn't require a CPA and 3 lawyers to figure out what an average person owes. That would be a HUGE step forward, IMHO.

I also like the idea of a flat tax. It is a perfectly reasonable tax that works well in the places around the world where it has been tried. The concept is simple: make a lot of money and pay a lot of tax on it; make a little money and pay a little tax on it.

Since I do not want all taxes levied on the income side, I would also favor a national sales tax. A small one that is equal to the income tax. If both were set at about 7-8%, enough revenue would be generated to run a reasonably sized government without being financially oppressive.

If the tax system were basically equitable, there would be no need for deductions of any kind. The social engineering that congress and various presidents have favored do not help the country but they DO complicate the tax system. Simpler is usually better... and very often, a LOT better.

Although I do favor a capital gains tax, the rates on that should be very low. If Grandma and Grandpa want to make a little money from stocks to supplement their SS income, fine. They can do that but the tax they pay should be a small part of their earnings... say 5%. The hedge fund managers and others who are paid billions should also be taxed on their capital gains. A 10% rate would be appropriate for anyone who is primarily engaged in the business of investing and would not be large enough to hamper business growth and reinvestment.

Capital formation is one of the triad in economics. The other two are labor and land. With these three things, businesses can come into being. Doing business should be easier and not harder. It is business that creates the economy and the jobs that go along with it. Excessive laws, taxes, licenses, and regulations make doing business more difficult. We need to stop doing this if we want our economy and our citizens to thrive. Just as business MUST stream-line itself if it is to survive in a recession, so too must government. Spending more than about 10-12% of GNP on government is just asking for financial trouble and an unsustainable financial situation. Currently, we are spending 24-25% on government and that is simply more than any nation can afford.

biggfredd said:



I always chuckle when I see this statement b/c back in the late 80's I saw a Business Week magazine article claiming IBM had finally decided the actual answer to this question by engraving the likeness of 144,000 angels onto the head of a pin

I too am surprised by silver staying around the mark it has this summer. But, then again, isn't summer the time when buying anything but new bathing suits, suntan oil, and Disney vacations becomes the focus of most people anyway? Would this contribute to the stall?

The government wastes INSANE amounts of money. If the government just spent wisely, quit paying for illegals, etc. We'd be just fine.

Greed and corruption have cost us

The government needs to quit chasing social security. That will be the #1 cause of government spending and it is entirely unsupportable as it currently stands. If they do keep it, they need to have some kind of cap on it so that you can not get more then a set % (and a smallish one at that) more then you paid into it.