THOSE WITTY ECONOMICAL TYPES

THOSE WITTY ECONOMICAL TYPES

(FRAZER CHRONICLE)

(All the News That Nobody Else Will Print)

 

Austerity, bankruptcy, belt tightening, poor as hell, upside-down, or in the poorhouse, no matter which way you put it, an $18,000,000,000,000 national debt is really a financial figure that nobody can get a handle on…..even the rich and shameless. I recently read an article by a couple of young economic reporters, Jesse A. Myerson and Matt Bruenig in an edition of Al Jazeera about how to put the national debt in a kind of context.

 

It was their contention that although the Federal Government does have a huge national debt, (and that the $18,000,000,000,000 debt) is nothing to sneeze at, the Fed does own all sorts of assets. In fact the United States Federal Government is the largest asset holder in the world. The portfolio includes 900,000 buildings, 41,000,000 acres of land, 4,000,000 miles of roads, 12,000 miles of commercial inland water channels and 6540 dams.

 

Of course the actual value of all of the above is impossible to estimate a value on, but there was a study in 2010 that loosely took a stab at that figure and came up with a value figure of $17,000,000,000,000. If that figure is even close, the United States isn’t really that bad off. Just sell of a few acres here, a couple of buildings there and maybe a couple of million miles of road and, bingo, we’re out of debt.

 

Now I understand that the situation isn’t that easy to solve, but come to find out, all this rhetoric by Democrats and Republicans is, well, a bunch of bull. Those authority figures in Washington really have little honest to goodness clue about what is driving the country. While they bicker over adding on their own little pet peeves in order for the passage of a higher debt ceiling, the poor working class continues to get poorer.

 

LET’S TAKE A QUICK LOOK AT WHERE SOME OF THIS DEBT COMES FROM

“Why did the U.S. government spend $2.6 million dollars to train Chinese prostitutes to drink responsibly”? “Why did the U.S. government spend $175,587 to determine if cocaine makes Japanese quail engage in sexually risky behavior”, and finally, “why did the U.S. government spend $2 million dollars for a soccer field for Guantanamo, Cuba detainees”? Don’t have an answer, neither do I, and the guy that compiled this information, Tyler Durden doesn’t either.

 

Here’s just a few of the ways that the federal government piles on the debt;

a. IRS paid $70 million in bonuses to employees.

 

b. The United States military will be leaving $7 billion worth of military equipment behind in Afghanistan.

 

c. In 2012 $25,000 of taxpayer money was spent on a promotional tour for the Alabama Watermelon Queen.

 

d. Over the past 15 years $5.25 million has been spent on hair care services for the U.S. Senate.

 

d. U.S. Government spent $27 million to teach Moroccans how to design and make pottery in 2012.

 

e. The U.S. Government is spending $3.6 million a year to support the opulent lifestyles of former presidents.

 

f. Government is spending hundreds of millions of dollars every year to the Palestinian Authority.

 

g. The Fed spent $505.000 in 2012 for hair and beauty products for cats and dogs.

 

h. $10,000 was spent for talking urinal cakes in Michigan.

 

i. When Vice President Joe Biden and his staff stopped off in Paris for one night, the hotel bill was $585,000.50.

 

j. 15,000 retired federal employees are currently collecting federal pensions for life worth a minimum of $100,000 per year.

 

I could go on, Durden has a bunch of these facts and figures, but I think that you get the idea, the same people that’s job it is to curb spending, and bring the national debt more in line with some sort of payback and the same people who got us to where we are at the present time. Isn’t that kind of like the foxes guarding the hen-house…..from the foxes!

 

REMEMBER THIS FALL AND THE DEBATE ON THE NATIONAL DEBT FIGURES

It’ll come again this fall, all the scare tactics will come to the forefront, and the dire predictions of unimaginable debt will be hauled out of the closet. Just call or write your representative and tell them to simple sell a few thousand acres, a couple of those unused post office buildings, and a dam or two, and hey, we’ll be just fine…..for another year.

 

HAVE A NICE DAY!