The National Debt ($35 trillion). The Federal Budget Deficit.

#76
#76
Rasputin_Vol said:
I see what you are saying in theory. But in practice, companies are not competing like they did in the past for talent, they are now just working the employees they have and offering more overtime. That covers the more take home for the employee and minimizes the expense of adding more head count. If they work 2 employees 60 hrs a week, they only have to pay benefits for 2 employees. If they hire 3 employees and work each of them 40 hrs, now they have 3 employee benefits to pay.

Also, the dollar you earned last year isn't worth as much as the dollar you earned today due to inflation. There's a guy named John Williams of Shadow Stats that says that if inflation today were calculated the same as it was back in the early 1980s, we would be at 9-10% right now.
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We’re already seeing employee mobility due to increased wages and having to counter with increased wages. Simple supply and demand. I’m talking college educated STEM technical degrees
 
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#77
#77
NorthDallas40 said:
We’re already seeing employee mobility due to increased wages and having to counter with increased wages. Simple supply and demand. I’m talking college educated STEM technical degrees
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what about those PhDs in Art History as related to the LGBTQ movement of the early 1990s degrees?
 
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#78
#78
Rasputin_Vol said:
Which brings us back to your original post in this thread. Just how much job creation would you need to make up a $1 trillion deficit?
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Not just adding jobs. Better paying jobs too. More total wages. More income to business owners. My point is that corporate taxes are mice nutz... raising them enormously will do little to increase the revenue. Half of the revenue comes from personal income and jobs. Make personal income higher and revenues will rise. Tax corporations punitively and jobs will be eliminated and business owners will have less personal income.

I'd look into value added taxes too. But the problem there is that once it's created if won't go away. It can start out at low rates but it will be easy for the federal government to raise once the collection system is in place.
 
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#79
#79
SpaceCoastVol said:
what about those PhDs in Art History as related to the LGBTQ movement of the early 1990s degrees?
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Same statement! Supply and demand! I’m pretty sure they will be able to find gainful employment. It may not be within their desired field of study. And nobody owes them a job.
 
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#81
#81
NorthDallas40 said:
We have to cut spending to at least stem the growth. We are already near full employment. If we create better jobs then an already employed population will hopefully see significant wage growth. But they’re already paying taxes. They’ll just be paying more taxes. And they’ll be paying more SS and Medicare taxes also and that will help too.

But we have to at least in the near term stem the debt growth and balance the budget.

We need a balanced budget constitutional admendment. There can be extinuinating circumstances clauses but the starting point every year should be net sum zero. Basic freaking accounting.
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Agreed, but we're in the country of fiscal irresponsibility! If you have credit, you have money. It's the American way,...until the hammer falls.
 
#83
#83
Thunder Good-Oil said:
It's worse than that. The spending is budgeted to exceed the revenues by almost a trillion next fiscal year:

In the fiscal year 2019, the federal budget is $4.407 trillion. The U.S. government estimates it will receive $3.422 trillion in revenue. That creates a $985 billion deficit for October 1, 2018, through September 30, 2019.
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i agree. but to me the solution isn't to RAISE taxes, its to lower spending. Everything. military, welfare (corporate and individual) etc.

even if we brought in 5 trillion in taxes the government can just spend 5.5 or more and keep us in the hole. only way out is to stop digging.
 
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#84
#84
LouderVol said:
i agree. but to me the solution isn't to RAISE taxes, its to lower spending. Everything. military, welfare (corporate and individual) etc.

even if we brought in 5 trillion in taxes the government can just spend 5.5 or more and keep us in the hole. only way out is to stop digging.
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Raise taxes by creating more personal income, not by raising the rates. Obviously cutting or at least freezing spending needs to be part of addressing the runaway debt.

I hear so many far lefties complaining about cutting corporate taxes AND regulations. It's a new world and the regulations are doing more harm than good with the red tape and the cost of enforcement. Social media does a pretty good job of policing the abusers. Let businesses be more profitable and employees and owners will be wealthier and they will pay more taxes and the deficit shrinks. It's not hard, but stupid, gullible people vote.
 
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#85
#85
I'm not in favor of wasteful government spending, but as I pointed out earlier the federal government is a fifth of the GDP. Spending stimulates the system. Government employees also pay taxes and buy ****. The spending that really hurts are the handouts to the entitled and the gifts to other nations. We take on way too big of a financial burden protecting the rest of the world. The welfare spending that needs to stop now is the extra paid to un-married mothers that is incentivizing them to raise their kids minus a father. I ramble on.
 
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#86
#86
Vol_Doc said:
Trump has also stated that we can't default because we print the money. I think it's the most likely option with whoever is in office, sadly.
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I could see trump being liberal enough to speak out against price gouging and attempting to control prices also
 
#87
#87
Vol_Doc said:
Trump has also stated that we can't default because we print the money. I think it's the most likely option with whoever is in office, sadly.
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We might not technically default but we can damn sure shoot a hole in our currency valuation.
 
#88
#88
SpaceCoastVol said:
what about those PhDs in Art History as related to the LGBTQ movement of the early 1990s degrees?
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Those are the "higher educated" people of the Dim party. STEM is just a working class degree to them - like an advanced (but liberally unenlightened) trade school.
 
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#89
#89
LouderVol said:
i agree. but to me the solution isn't to RAISE taxes, its to lower spending. Everything. military, welfare (corporate and individual) etc.

even if we brought in 5 trillion in taxes the government can just spend 5.5 or more and keep us in the hole. only way out is to stop digging.
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True that!
 
#90
#90
NorthDallas40 said:
Yeah in the short term Reagan accomplished what he set forth to do. Break the Soviet Union. In the longer term we needed to then dial it back ... and we never did. I really don’t have a problem with the plan. The execution just sucked. Plus you can’t count on 2 prez later in sticking to your playbook.

Yeah. We need to cut spending. Across the board on all programs.
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KSA killed the soviet union.
 
#92
#92
Rasputin_Vol said:
There's something to be said about that. A lot of people don't realize the roll they played.
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If we are discussing oil production hen I think your conclussion is incorrect. Regan sent Bush to KSA in 1986 to have them cut production. Also the KSA only increased production twice during Regans term. Both were after very public fights between them and other OPEC countries. KSA believed they were producing more then the agreed amount. KSA was sending a message to the rest of OPEC.
 
#93
#93
volfanhill said:
If we are discussing oil production hen I think your conclussion is incorrect. Regan sent Bush to KSA in 1986 to have them cut production. Also the KSA only increased production twice during Regans term. Both were after very public fights between them and other OPEC countries. KSA believed they were producing more then the agreed amount. KSA was sending a message to the rest of OPEC.
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In 85, the Saudis stopped protecting the price of oil, and quadrupled their own production, while the price dropped almost as much. Soviets lost their asses on it.

They recently did something similar to Venezuela.
 
#94
#94
Vol8188 said:
If you’re such a great employee, someone would be willing to give you more, if your skill set is worth it.

If they want, and you’re so great at what you do, go into business for yourself.
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Sorry but it just doesnt work that way all the time. There are people out there who are great employees and never get raises. Now thats on the employers.

Just go into business yourself? Yeah I guess its so easy that everyone shoukd be able to do it. Lol. This is a crazy opinion to have. Going into business for oneself is a very arduous task filled with uncertainty.
 
#95
#95
#97
#97
apevol said:
I should clarify that 85 is when they announced their intention to quadruple production.
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Followed by a big increase and then cut back after Bush, sent by Regan, asked the KSA to lower production. Now I won’t deny that the increase was painful for the Russians. It was. It just wasn’t part of Regans strategy.
 
#98
#98
volfanhill said:
Followed by a big increase and then cut back after Bush, sent by Regan, asked the KSA to lower production. Now I won’t deny that the increase was painful for the Russians. It was. It just wasn’t part of Regans strategy.
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Wasn't claiming it was part of Reagan's strategy.
 
#99
#99
apevol said:
Wasn't claiming it was part of Reagan's strategy.
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Fair enough. But the KSA’s oil production was all about them thinking their OPEC partners were screwing them. They weren’t trying to hurt the USSR. They were just collateral damage.
 
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