Assisted Suicide of the American Superpower

Not long ago, in 2000, the United States ran a surplus. In 2009, it ran a deficit of $1.4 trillion—10 percent of the economy. The 2011 deficit is projected even higher. The national debt is surging toward 100 percent of GDP. The greatest creditor nation in history is now the world’s greatest debtor. In the […]

The declining exchange value of the US dollar

There is no danger of the US defaulting on its bonds. The bonds are denominated in US dollars, and dollars can be created without limit. If equities continue to fall, if flight continues from the euro, if bank fees drive people out of cash, it is possible, for awhile, that the inflows into Treasuries can […]

Why has the US Government made a total mess of a solvable economic problem?

Does anyone really know what we have experienced on the global economic scene? Even Nobel Prize winner and economist Paul Krugman writes, “I’m still trying to make sense of this global intellectual failure.” Policy makers almost everywhere have failed dismally, and seem determined not to take on board the lessons of experience, either historical or […]

What the S&P Debt Downgrade Means

Credit rating agencies are creatures of Wall Street. Just as they did Wall Street’s bidding in assigning investment grade ratings to derivative junk, they will do Wall Street’s bidding in downgrading the US credit rating. Wall Street might complain about downgradings, but that is just to disguise that Wall Street is calling the shots. The […]

More financial woes in stock markets and federal debt

U.S. stocks plunged, European markets closed sharply down, and Asia exchanges lost ground across the board Monday, as investors responded to the unprecedented downgrade of U.S. debt on Friday, and concerns around the ongoing eurozone crisis. John Chambers, managing director of Standard & Poor’s, says of S&P’s decision to lower the nation’s credit rating for […]

Obama Surrenders to Republicans on Debt Ceiling Agreement

Excerpt of New York Times article by Paul Krugman, professor of Economics and International Affairs at Princeton University: Many commentators declare that disaster was avoided through the deal to raise the federal debt ceiling. But they are wrong. For the deal itself is a disaster. It will damage an already depressed economy; it will probably […]

Balancing the US Budget Deficit in 3 Easy Steps

No one in Washington can agree on how to narrow the budget deficit. With only partial seriousness, I’m going to balance next year’s $1.1 trillion budget deficit in three easy steps. Step one: Return real (inflation-adjusted) defense spending to average 1990s levels Current projections show that $738 billion will go toward defense spending in 2012. […]

Geithner wants to raise taxes as Government spending cuts alone are “irresponsible”

The national debt is now $14.34 trillion. This year, according to the Congressional Budget Office, the federal government will run a deficit of $1.4 trillion. Over the next decade, according to the CBO, the budget proposed by President Barack Obama would run up deficits totaling $9.5 trillion. So 10 years down the road, the national […]

US risky credit rating further erodes American dollar economy

For every dollar the federal government spends, it takes in less than 60 cents in revenue. And Standard & Poor’s (S&P) has now threatened to downgrade the United States’ prized AAA credit rating unless the Obama administration and Congress find a way to slash the yawning federal budget deficit within two years. A downgrade, which […]

50 Facts about the US Economy you may not want to know

The following are 50 very revealing statistics about the U.S. economy: #50) In 2010 the U.S. government is projected to issue almost as much new debt as the rest of the governments of the world combined. #49) It is being projected that the U.S. government will have a budget deficit of approximately 1.6 trillion dollars […]