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Fed’s Holdings of U.S. Gov't Debt Hit Record $1,696,691,000,000; Up 257% Under Obama

Re: Fed’s Holdings of U.S. Gov't Debt Hit Record $1,696,691,000,000; Up 257% Under Ob

What did we get for all the debt?

Saved the economy from the Second Great Depression Bush cooked up with his failed economic policies.
 
Re: Fed’s Holdings of U.S. Gov't Debt Hit Record $1,696,691,000,000; Up 257% Under Ob

Fed


It appears to me that nothing is being done about our debt problem. Why are the Democrats saying there's no spending problem? Obviously there is.

Because most of this debt traces directly to Bush's failed econmic policy and his Bail Out, not to mention two unfunded wars.

NEXT STUPID RIGHTWING MEME!
 
Re: Fed’s Holdings of U.S. Gov't Debt Hit Record $1,696,691,000,000; Up 257% Under Ob

People really need to stop seeing this as a problem of political parties

“Balance is the perfect state of still water. Let that be our model. It remains quiet within and is not disturbed on the surface.” - Confucius

The translator of Confucius’ Chinese writing could have used the word “tranquil” in place of “quiet within” without altering the meaning of the saying. The preamble of the US Constitution states, “We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.” Our government was expressly created to “insure domestic tranquility” which means that it is obligated to promote balance of all sorts of things: budgets, trade, authority and power, economic growth, environmental impact, opportunity to pursue happiness ……..
Our elected officials and parties justify the success / failure of their policies according to the amount of tranquility experienced during their tenure. Remember the main theme of President Reagan’s successful 1988 re-election campaign, “Are you better off now than you were four years ago?”
We know that we can never achieve a state of balance in our national domestic life all of the time. There will always be disturbances that upset balance. We cannot prevent uncontrollable major disasters like Hurricane Katrina or the 9/11 terrorist attack from occurring. What we want is to live in a condition of self-regulation where disturbances oscillate away smoothly. What we want is as much tranquility between rare upset occurrences as possible. We want to avoid creating turbulence and chaos of our own making. We especially want to avoid chaotic conditions that have no restoring regulation so that they spin out of control.
Who amongst us today would say that America is in balance – quiet down deep and undisturbed on the surface - tranquil? We all know with certainty that imbalances abound today. What is most disturbing is that competition among the three branches of government and competition between the two political parties has not focused on justification through attempting to move closer to balance and achieve tranquility. Instead the competition seems to be designed to enhance instability and blame the resulting stressful chaos on the other branch of government or the other political party. Our elected officials have been unable to balance their drive to be elected through negativism with their constitutional mandate to seek tranquility through positivism.
In our private lives we all know that we must balance our cash flow over our whole lifetime. We must ultimately spend only what we make or less. There can be fluctuations as our life progresses. For a period of time we can make more than we spend and accumulate savings or pay-off debt. Sometimes we can spend more than we make and reduce the accumulated savings or borrow temporarily. For the most part, our borrowing is regulated so that the risk that the debt won’t be repaid is low. Our financial system, when it works correctly, won’t let us build up future obligations that are greater than our future earning capacity.
The same is true in business. Every business must make income that is at least equal to its expenses. There can be fluctuations over short periods of time but if the income becomes less than the essential operating cost long enough, suppliers will demand payment of old bills and the business will close. Profit is not a dirty word – it is essential to survival.
Throughout, my entire lifetime (63 years) the federal government’s income has exceeded its expenditures in only four years. Why isn’t the government closed (out of business)? My home would be taken away and I would be on the street if I always spent more than I made – why is the President still in the White House and why haven’t we foreclosed on the Congress office buildings and the Capital?
The answer is that what seems obvious actually isn’t because the government can do things that we can’t do as individuals or businesses. For example, you can’t print money in your basement tonight and then use it to buy things or pay off some of your debt. You will go to prison. The government can do this and does. You cannot decide to make a loan to yourself and then use the proceeds to buy something or pay an old debt. The government can do that. The government can’t do these things without limit because it dilutes the value of our money so that citizens and business pay more for goods and our assets are devalued. Expanding the money supply also reduces the government’s ability to borrow more and raises the cost of refinancing government debt as it comes due. And, if the world perceives that the risk of loss is unacceptable then no one will buy the government’s bonds. Essentially, the government has the ability to spend in excess of its income and, by using “monetary policy” spread the excess expenditure to us and other nations around the world that are willing to share because they depend on the American economy. When the government spends more than it earns, it is essentially levying a tax on us that is not specified in tax law.
from The Wind of Hope a Kindle book that nobody reads - the book goes on to identify strategies for moving toward balance that liberals and conservatives generally agree upon when they aren't caught in political control competition.
 
Re: Fed’s Holdings of U.S. Gov't Debt Hit Record $1,696,691,000,000; Up 257% Under Ob

So besides QE1, QE2, and QE3, what's driving the Fed's purchases? Clearly there must be a meme to explain this.
 
Re: Fed’s Holdings of U.S. Gov't Debt Hit Record $1,696,691,000,000; Up 257% Under Ob

Honestly, I think market forces will eventually provide the corrections we lack the will to implement. The chief problem problem for us at that point is that the market is ruthless. It would be infinitely better for us if we'd do the right thing now - but that's not included in the left's political agenda.

Ageed. It sure doesn't look like it's going to improve on its own, especially with all the emphasis on NOT helping it come to fruition! Is it deliberate, or simply that no one really knows what to do at this point? All DC seems capable of is "kicking the can down the road," and hoping something will happen on its own. It will, IMO, but we sure ain't gonna like it much, I fear! :(
 
Re: Fed’s Holdings of U.S. Gov't Debt Hit Record $1,696,691,000,000; Up 257% Under Ob

Yep. They can prove it too! Bush spent $787 on the ARRA bill in February 2009, a month after he left office. Look it up!

Who Is The Smallest Government Spender Since Eisenhower? Would You Believe It's Barack Obama? - Forbes

Or maybe this is true:

President Obama: The Biggest Government Spender In World History - Forbes

Most of Bush's bills came due after he left office. It's what conservative presidents do. Which president passed the AIG bailout again?
 
Re: Fed’s Holdings of U.S. Gov't Debt Hit Record $1,696,691,000,000; Up 257% Under Ob

I guess you have no answer for the question.

I'm not a democrat, but I imagine its because Dems want to raise taxes and therefore talking about the problem as a "spending issue" implies the only solution is to only cut spending, which is a Republican idea.
 
Re: Fed’s Holdings of U.S. Gov't Debt Hit Record $1,696,691,000,000; Up 257% Under Ob

Ageed. It sure doesn't look like it's going to improve on its own, especially with all the emphasis on NOT helping it come to fruition! Is it deliberate, or simply that no one really knows what to do at this point? All DC seems capable of is "kicking the can down the road," and hoping something will happen on its own. It will, IMO, but we sure ain't gonna like it much, I fear! :(
It's deliberate. If we painted a picture of a nation in decline, it would just like this.
 
Re: Fed’s Holdings of U.S. Gov't Debt Hit Record $1,696,691,000,000; Up 257% Under Ob

It's deliberate. If we painted a picture of a nation in decline, it would just like this.

The "nation in decline" meme. Man, conservatives lack any originality.

Growth will obviate the debt hysteria ginned by by the rightwing noise machine, spurred by investments in public infrastructure and frankly, cheap energy (via fracking, which was also made possible by Dept of Energy investments).

Sorry, the apocalypse isn't happening and conservatives will have to generate some new discredited meme.
 
Re: Fed’s Holdings of U.S. Gov't Debt Hit Record $1,696,691,000,000; Up 257% Under Ob

The "nation in decline" meme. Man, conservatives lack any originality.

Growth will obviate the debt hysteria ginned by by the rightwing noise machine, spurred by investments in public infrastructure and frankly, cheap energy (via fracking, which was also made possible by Dept of Energy investments).

Sorry, the apocalypse isn't happening and conservatives will have to generate some new discredited meme.

Fracking has been around longer than the DoE has existed...
 
Re: Fed’s Holdings of U.S. Gov't Debt Hit Record $1,696,691,000,000; Up 257% Under Ob

The "nation in decline" meme. Man, conservatives lack any originality.

Growth will obviate the debt hysteria ginned by by the rightwing noise machine, spurred by investments in public infrastructure and frankly, cheap energy (via fracking, which was also made possible by Dept of Energy investments).

Sorry, the apocalypse isn't happening and conservatives will have to generate some new discredited meme.
Well that's good news. You guys on the left are full of good news about the economy, among other things. I'm right there with ya. I have no desire to be sued in federal court.
 
People really need to stop seeing this as a problem of political parties

I tend to agree with you. Our debt has begun an exponential upturn and the only way to keep the economy from tanking is to keep feeding the monster with more borrowing and spending. Pretty much the only answer politically either way
 
Re: Fed’s Holdings of U.S. Gov't Debt Hit Record $1,696,691,000,000; Up 257% Under Ob

Most of Bush's bills came due after he left office. It's
what conservative presidents do. Which president passed the AIG bailout again?

That Obama voted for.

This has nothing to do with Bush, it has everything to do with a nstions of idiots eho in 2008 elected the least qualified candidate.

The best you can do ? Spend trillions of borrowed money to pretend we have a economy.

Wait until this bond bubble pops. Its inevitable and who will you blame next ?
 
Re: Fed’s Holdings of U.S. Gov't Debt Hit Record $1,696,691,000,000; Up 257% Under Ob

I tend to agree with you. Our debt has
begun an exponential upturn and the only way to keep the economy from tanking is to keep feeding the monster with more borrowing and spending. Pretty much the only answer politically either way

What we're doing now is retarded, self destructive and is NOT the only way from keeping the economy from tanking.
 
Re: Fed’s Holdings of U.S. Gov't Debt Hit Record $1,696,691,000,000; Up 257% Under Ob

That Obama voted for.

This has nothing to do with Bush, it has everything to do with a nstions of idiots eho in 2008 elected the least qualified candidate.

The best you can do ? Spend trillions of borrowed money to pretend we have a economy.

Wait until this bond bubble pops. Its inevitable and who will you blame next ?
HOJ refers to that as the conservative "nation in decline" meme. He's out hearing voices just now. He would much prefer that you employ the liberal "summer of recovery" meme.
 
Re: Fed’s Holdings of U.S. Gov't Debt Hit Record $1,696,691,000,000; Up 257% Under Ob

HOJ refers to that as the conservative "nation in decline" meme. He's out
hearing voices just now. He would much prefer that you employ the liberal "summer of recovery" meme.
Lol..."summer of recovery" ...

I forgot about that.
 
Re: Fed’s Holdings of U.S. Gov't Debt Hit Record $1,696,691,000,000; Up 257% Under Ob

Lol..."summer of recovery" ...

I forgot about that.
Well, it's hard to remember something that didn't happen.
 
What we're doing now is retarded, self destructive and is NOT the only way from keeping the economy from tanking.

Absolutely. We need a wholesale makeover of the monetary system, IMO.
 
Re: Fed’s Holdings of U.S. Gov't Debt Hit Record $1,696,691,000,000; Up 257% Under Ob

Just to keep this number in perspective

FYTr9xH.png
 
Re: Fed’s Holdings of U.S. Gov't Debt Hit Record $1,696,691,000,000; Up 257% Under Ob

Just to keep this number in perspective

FYTr9xH.png

Nice mitigation there. Im surprised you didn't mention corporate Jet owners.

You want perspective ? We have a shrinking economy, exploding debt , increasing dependent class and your chart fails to (as all charts do) take context into consideration.

As if FED injections were s good thing.
 
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