US Credit Rating Downgrade

[Vol737]

Thankyou Freedom Caucus!!

Or is it the ridiculous debt at $32.5T, higher costs facing the US to finance that debt and the obvious conundrum of those purchasing our debt knowing their return will be worth considerably less when paid back in a dollar who's value has eroded even further by that time?

 

[LouderVol]

Your math (and logic) ain't so good, broseph.

Since the war began, the Biden administration and the U.S. Congress have directed more than $75 billion in assistance to Ukraine, which includes humanitarian, financial, and military support.

That's $0.075 Trillion dollars. Over 6 quarters.

That's an average of $0.0125 Trillion dollars per quarter.

The US deficit for Q2 is estimated around $1.0 Trillion dollars.

Thus, by your math, supporting Ukraine is "the problem", yet it only accounted for 1.25% of our budget deficit.

Ukraine is the problem, not the other 98.75% of government spending.

when you are trying to balance the books, do you 1. look past all the minor charges? or 2. Start with the small things, and see how bad the damage is after you take care of these non-necessary spending items?

no matter how small the number is, it never should have been on the books. the fact that it made it onto the books with this pending, its not like the default came out of nowhere, says that no one was looking to take care of the budget.

 

[Sea Ray]

Washington, DC needs to get serious about the budget. Rand Paul is the only fiscal conservative I can think of. Democrats are far more spend happy but Republicans are not Tea Party by any means

 

[MontyPython]

when you are trying to balance the books, do you 1. look past all the minor charges? or 2. Start with the small things, and see how bad the damage is after you take care of these non-necessary spending items?

no matter how small the number is, it never should have been on the books. the fact that it made it onto the books with this pending, its not like the default came out of nowhere, says that no one was looking to take care of the budget.

Are you really calling the support of Ukraine a "non-necessary spending item"?

Also, wtf are you talking about? There was no "default".

 

[DC_Vol]

Your math (and logic) ain't so good, broseph.

Since the war began, the Biden administration and the U.S. Congress have directed roughly $75 billion in assistance to Ukraine, which includes humanitarian, financial, and military support.

That's $0.075 Trillion dollars. Over 6 quarters.

That's an average of $0.0125 Trillion dollars per quarter.

The US deficit for Q2 is estimated around $1.0 Trillion dollars.

Thus, by your math, supporting Ukraine is "the problem", yet it only accounted for 1.25% of our budget deficit.

Ukraine is the problem, not the other 98.75% of government spending.

We need to find 79 more similar items and balance the budget.

 

[UT_VOLS13]

Biden administration official blames Trump, Jan. 6 for Fitch AAA US downgrade

 

[Orangeburst]

only here could one find that 500B-1T interest payments are ok

 

[MontyPython]

We need to find 79 more similar items and balance the budget.

Reforming our Health Care system should be at the top of the list. We spend a sh*t ton more money than other peer nations, but our quality of care is actually lower than theirs.





Here's a list of the top 10 countries with the best health care systems, per US News (2022):

Belgium, Finland, Netherlands, UK, Switzerland, Canada, Norway, Sweden, Germany, Denmark

All these countries with great health care systems have one thing in common...

 

[Orangeburst]

the problem is most of the 32T wasn’t investment debt..it was squandered and no return and yet we will pay interest in perpetuity

 

[Sandman 423]

Reforming our Health Care system should be at the top of the list. We spend a sh*t ton more money than other peer nations, but our quality of care is actually lower than theirs.

View attachment 567281

View attachment 567282

Here's a list of the top 10 countries with the best health care systems, per US News (2022):

Belgium, Finland, Netherlands, UK, Switzerland, Canada, Norway, Sweden, Germany, Denmark

All these countries with great health care systems have one thing in common...

They have much, much smaller populations?

 

[NorthDallas40]

We need to find 79 more similar items and balance the budget.

That’s a very fair assessment of the situation honestly. We do have obligations the big one of course being social security on a sheer dollar amount. But this isn’t sustainable. It’s easy to drill in on 1 % here and there and say it isn’t a significant amount. But as massive as our spending accounts list is that gets out of hand in a hurry.

Going from memory I think Congress has only one required job every year. Establish a budget and pass a spending bill. More often than not they’ve vacated that responsibility in recent years and just done continuing resolutions

ETA: I looked it up. The last actual budget agreed upon by Congress and POTUS was I believe 1997. The rest have been CRs

 

[TheDeeble]

Reforming our Health Care system should be at the top of the list. We spend a sh*t ton more money than other peer nations, but our quality of care is actually lower than theirs.

View attachment 567281

View attachment 567282

Here's a list of the top 10 countries with the best health care systems, per US News (2022):

Belgium, Finland, Netherlands, UK, Switzerland, Canada, Norway, Sweden, Germany, Denmark

All these countries with great health care systems have one thing in common...

They don't pander to the "don't hurt my feelings crowd" and tell people they need to exercise, lose weight, and eat healthy? That being obese isn't being brave and stunning?

I don't think life expectancy is an accurate measurement of healthcare quality when people do not take care of themselves, ignore doctor recommendations, and are being told by influencers and the MSM that trying to lose weight, exercise, and eat healthy constitutes body shaming.

 

[DC_Vol]

Reforming our Health Care system should be at the top of the list. We spend a sh*t ton more money than other peer nations, but our quality of care is actually lower than theirs.

View attachment 567281

View attachment 567282

Here's a list of the top 10 countries with the best health care systems, per US News (2022):

Belgium, Finland, Netherlands, UK, Switzerland, Canada, Norway, Sweden, Germany, Denmark

All these countries with great health care systems have one thing in common...

I thought Obamacare was an investment that was supposed to fix this.

I don’t trust any gov to do anything but add costs.

 

[dovervolz]

The # 1 reason for the downgrade is the increasing difficulty we have had in adjusting the debt limit. Most recently that was due to the antics of the Freedom Caucus. And they show no signs of tempering their theatrics, quite the opposite in fact.

You can theorize all you want about an alternative hypothetical universe in which we have either no or very low national debt, but that is not the reality we face.

I'm all for SANE, LEVEL HEADED people running for Congress or President on a platform of reducing the debt, with reasonable and practical solutions over time to achieve that goal. But the histrionics of Freedom Caucus types, insinuating themselves into the discussions and negotiations by the adults, is not helping anyone.

Blame the ones that were attempting to be fiscally responsible. So your solution is let the bast$$$ POTUS just print and spend unlimited funds on stupid like LGBT awareness in the middle east. But no let's blame the Freedom Caucus. No wonder this country is so fked up, we've got a$$holes and morons supporting this administration.

 

[LouderVol]

Are you really calling the support of Ukraine a "non-necessary spending item"?

Also, wtf are you talking about? There was no "default".

yes. the support of Ukraine is absolutely non-necessary spending. FWIW I don't have any sacred cows when it comes to our budget, slash it all. The first thing I would cut to 0 is all the money leaving this nation and going to any foreign country, and yes that includes Ukraine or Israel.

Yeah there was no default because our politicians signed a deal to ignore the problem for 2 more years, and pretend like it doesn't exist until after the election. How convenient. Seems like our nation's spending should be a pretty high topic for voters to consider, don't you think?

 

[W.TN.Orange Blood]

 

[MontyPython]

yes. the support of Ukraine is absolutely non-necessary spending. FWIW I don't have any sacred cows when it comes to our budget, slash it all. The first thing I would cut to 0 is all the money leaving this nation and going to any foreign country, and yes that includes Ukraine or Israel.

Yeah there was no default because our politicians signed a deal to ignore the problem for 2 more years, and pretend like it doesn't exist until after the election. How convenient. Seems like our nation's spending should be a pretty high topic for voters to consider, don't you think?

Well, if you think supporting Ukraine is a waste of time and money, you similarly did not support the trillions of dollars spent by our country to win the Cold War with USSR. To me, spending our money - not our blood - to stop Putin's land-grab is money very well spent. Most American people agree, and our politicians have (thus far) followed suit.

You're right about the kick-the-can-down-the-road situation with the deficit. Seems to me a Presidential candidate might earn your vote if he/she made a campaign promise to balance it.

 

[Septic]

They have much, much smaller populations?

The costs are shown per capita.

We are getting raped in the US over healthcare costs and as he noted, our outcomes aren't better.

It amazes me that with all of the divisiveness of US politics that this isn't something everyone can find common ground on.

 

[volinbham]

Let's take a look at what Fitch has been seeing over the last 20 years - this chart represents the projected debt to GDP at various times. In 2007 they thought it would fall to 20% by 2017; instead it was about 75%. In 2011 they projected it would hold in the mid 70s to now; instead it's almost 100% and now projected to hit 110% in the next few years.

 

[NorthDallas40]

Let's take a look at what Fitch has been seeing over the last 20 years - this chart represents the projected debt to GDP at various times. In 2007 they thought it would fall to 20% by 2017; instead it was about 75%. In 2011 they projected it would hold in the mid 70s to now; instead it's almost 100% and now projected to hit 110% in the next few years.


View attachment 567298

But Janet Yellen disagrees!!

 

[Sea Ray]

I see the stock market's not impressed

 

[volinbham]

The costs are shown per capita.

We are getting raped in the US over healthcare costs and as he noted, our outcomes aren't better.

It amazes me that with all of the divisiveness of US politics that this isn't something everyone can find common ground on.

not to derail this into a HC debate but just one example of why we can't find common ground is how you pay for insurance and what insurance is. Switzerland gets mentioned often as one of the best but it's all private insurance. That would never fly here because some people want single payer (govt). Singapore is another highly cited system but it requires more skin in the game than much of US insurance.

the factions all have their favorite "solution" and demonize the other solutions (just like everything else in the country)

 

[W.TN.Orange Blood]

Biden administration official blames Trump, Jan. 6 for Fitch AAA US downgrade

 

[hog88]

Your math (and logic) ain't so good, broseph.

Since the war began, the Biden administration and the U.S. Congress have directed roughly $75 billion in assistance to Ukraine, which includes humanitarian, financial, and military support.

That's $0.075 Trillion dollars. Over 6 quarters.

That's an average of $0.0125 Trillion dollars per quarter.

The US deficit for Q2 is estimated around $1.0 Trillion dollars.

Thus, by your math, supporting Ukraine is "the problem", yet it only accounted for 1.25% of our budget deficit.

Ukraine is the problem, not the other 98.75% of government spending.

No, its not THE problem. Just one of the problems.

 

[hog88]

Reforming our Health Care system should be at the top of the list. We spend a sh*t ton more money than other peer nations, but our quality of care is actually lower than theirs.

View attachment 567281

View attachment 567282

Here's a list of the top 10 countries with the best health care systems, per US News (2022):

Belgium, Finland, Netherlands, UK, Switzerland, Canada, Norway, Sweden, Germany, Denmark

All these countries with great health care systems have one thing in common...

LOL