Nick Gillespie Talks Government Debt on Freedom Watch With Judge Napolitano

Reason.tv editor in chief Nick Gillespie appeared on Freedom Watch to talk about government debt.

Air Date: March 29, 2011.

About 3.30 minutes. 

Go to Reason.tv for HD, iPod and audio versions of this video and subscribe to Reason.tv's Youtube channel to receive automatic notification when new material goes live.

Comments

[Sudden]

The bull is not riding us. Instead, we have 536 donkeys and elephants riding us. I postulate that the bull would be significantly less painful.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Gillespie's advice to Congressional Democrats and Republicans is to stop acting like Congressional Democrats and Republicans. I wonder if they'll take that advice.

[Jeffersonian]

They'll take it the day the Bond Market and the US Government star in John Stagliano's magnum opus "Gaping Ass Plunder #35."

[TheZeitgeist]

Yeah, the day the bond auction happens and there's empty seats because even the 'authorized security dealers' can't drum up business.

In the auction, bidding all by himself with Geithner the clown-auctioneer, Bernanke will bid numbers for the 'bonds.' They won't even have a Xerox anymore. It'll be a trillion dollars 'sent from my iPad' style money. What a joke.

[Jeffersonian]

Sounds like a movie I've seen before: I lived in South America in the 1980s. We're headed that direction.

[Rrabbit]

I am pessimistic. They don't have to, as to them only the next elections matter, rather than the future of the country. They will build up the Ponzi scheme for a few more years, until the whole bubble bursts.

Due to the size of the US, I expect that they can go on piling up debt for at least ten more years.

[Restoras]

Doubtful, in my opinion. I think smaller economies can get away with this kind of thing for an extended period of time because their is an implicit assumption that there will be a bailout.

Unfortunately for us, the US is not a small economy and there is no one to bail us out. I say we have less than five years before the crap hits the fan.

[Stop NationalDebt]

Federal government will need >$1 million per household to pay its IOUs!
> $116 trillion ="official" debt plus money short for future social security, medicare, etc
Even its "official debt" of $14.2 trillion is $123,911 per household!
Say NO to credit card politicians! Cut the Card!
Details at http://StopNationalDebt.com
Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/pages/.....0177811775

[Stop NationalDebt]

The debt problem hasn't been understood well enough by the general public for them to complain. They hear numbers in the $trillions for totals and tune them out as being too abstract and irrelevant to their lives We need to continue to beat the drum putting the numbers in averages per household, $1 million per household to pay federal IOUs, to let them get a feel for how bad it truly is. See my post above re: StopNationalDebt.com for details, and cool icons you can put on your blogs/websites to tell others about the problem.

[sevo]

Just for the heck of it:
"Ohio Legislature passes collective bargain limits"
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/......DTL&tsp=1
And you're love the public trough pig in the photo holding the sign claiming his freebies are "all about freedom".
Yeah, "freedom" to stick his grubby paws in my pocket.

[watchselle]

circlewatch
morewatches
watchhand

[air max france]

en

[Andrew_M_Garland]

Here is a summary of Federal  2010 finances.

$?2,200 ?Federal Tax Revenue (billions)
$?1,300 ?Borrowing (the deficit)
?????
$?3,500 ?Total Spending
$?????0 ?Total Saving

$14,500 ?Entire economy (GDP)
??15.2% ?Taxes as % of Economy
???9.0% ?Borrowing as % of Economy
??24.2% ?Total spending as % of Economy

What if (say) Bob's family budget operated like the government, in proportion? That gives a feeling for our situation:

$50,000 ?What Bob can spend from his income
$29,900 ?Bob borrows this
?????
$79,900 ?Bob's spends it all
??????60% more than Bob's income
$? 1,400 ?The GOP cut in proportion

The proposed GOP cut in spending of $61 billion is just 1.8%. For Bob, it would be $1,400.

The federal government has made big promises, far above what it will collect in taxes at current rates.

$75,100 billion ($75.1 trillion) is the amount of a fund which would pay for the unfunded part of promised entitlement programs over the next 75 years, if available today and invested at 3% interest. Of course, there is no such fund, so meeting those promises would require immediately increasing tax revenues by 76%  to pay off that "mortgage", or those promises will be broken.

Don't take comfort from the 75 year time frame. We are already falling short, being made up by huge borrowings (the deficit). The result of the 75 year analysis is that things will steadily become worse.

Collecting 76%  more in taxes might cause or deepen unemployment. Or, increasing tax rates might actually decrease tax revenues if people decided to earn less and pay less. Or, it may be impossible to convince younger people to give up their savings in exchange for the right to charge their children high taxes in turn. I think the promises will be broken.

This problem is huge. The retirees of today and in the future have paid into Social Security thinking that their "insurance premium" will fund part of their retirement. Actually, all of the cash (real resources) has been spent. What remains is only the promise to now tax the non-retired to pay for the retired, at much higher rates. That is not what people thought Social Security would deliver to them.

Promises for Medicare and Medicaid are worse; they are bigger and just as unfunded. What is more kind: to face reality now, or to default on these promises at the last minute?

Unfunded Promises (billions)
?7,900 ?Social Security
22,800 ?Medicare
35,300 ?Medicaid
?9,100 ?Federal Debt

75,100 ?Total Unfunded Promises (billions)
? ? ? ?above curent tax collections

?2,100 ?Federal Pensions
?3,700 ?Veteran Benefits
?1,600 ?All Other
?????
?7,400 ?In current budgets (billions)

$82,500 ?Total Promises (billions)

The unfunded promises of $75,100 billion are 34 times the $2,200 billion in taxes estimated to be collected in accounting year 2010 (the year ending Nov 30, 2011). There is nothing saved or set aside to satisfy those promises, and there is no tax revenue now collected or saved to pay those amounts now and during the next 75 years; that is the meaning of "unfunded".

Bob's unfunded promises (in proportion) would be $1,736,00 increasing at 3% yearly, to be paid off in 75 years, over and above Bob's current, spendable income (current tax collections) of $50,000.

EasyOpinions -> Family Budget

[Jango Jeeves]

Wow thats kinda crazy when you think about it.

http://www.privacy-resources.ie.tc

[Nike Air Max Sale]

In the last year around this time, the new design of Nike was released, its name is Nike Air Max 2012. The difference is these shoes payed their attention to the Chinese market, and the two main color is white and red color-up. What is more, there are some Chinese specific color on their laces, this add some special characteristics for this New Air Max 2012 shoes on some extent.All of these make you take it easy to buy this shoes, and also improve the selling qualities of Nike Air Max 2012 shoes. They are famous as the latest shoes and have become more and more popular smong the young people. As far as their opinion, Nike is the king of sports shoes, because they are the fans of NBA.