07-23-2019, 09:53 AM
** 23-Jul-2019 World View: Everyone's happy with proposed bipartisan budget deal
The House and Nancy Pelosi have reached agreement with Donald Trump
about a budget deal. This is being hailed as a rare moment of
bipartisan cooperation. The proposed agreement still has to be passed
by both houses of Congress and signed by Trump.
The terms are:
There are some Debbie Downers, like Rand Paul and other so-called
"fiscal conservatives," who are whining that this is going to
negatively affect our grandchildren, who will have to pay the bill.
Such protests are silly. To reduce the deficit, we'd have to cut
social programs like welfare, medicare, medicaid, and a thousand
others. You'd have to be totally delusional to believe that could
happen.
Long-time readers will be aware that I was always posting various
charts that showed such things as surging public debt, surging
price/earnings ratios, super-exponential growth of stock prices, sharp
falls in velocity of money, and so forth.
But basically I've decided it's not worth the trouble. If we're going
to a world war with China, and we are, then what difference does it
make whether the public debt is $22 trillion or $23 trillion? Either
figure might as well be infinity.
That reminds me that 10-12 years ago I used to make reference to the
1950s book by George Gamow, One, Two, Three ... Infinity. That
book title kept popping into my mind whenever I thought about public
debt. So today we're pretty much at infinity.
Some major financial event (such as the collapse of Deutsche Bank or a
stock market panic somewhere) could trigger a chain of bankruptcies
that lead to a global financial crisis and a world war. Or,
alternatively, some geopolitical event (such as the rapid
deterioration of law and order in Hong Kong that I've been reporting
on) could trigger a regional conflict that spreads to a world war, and
causes a global financial crisis. Either way, it doesn't really
matter whether the debt is $22 trillion or $23 trillion.
And at that point, is Higgenbotham has pointed out, the living will be
envious of the dead.
So we might as well lean back and enjoy the Biblical proverb, "Eat,
drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die."
---- Sources:
-- Trump announces 'real compromise' on budget deal, as fiscal hawks
and some Dems cry foul
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/trump-b...al-leaders
(FoxNews, 23-Jul-2019)
-- Budget deal / Why a strange bit of bipartisanship may be breaking
out
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/...aking-out/
(WaPost, 22-Jul-2019)
The House and Nancy Pelosi have reached agreement with Donald Trump
about a budget deal. This is being hailed as a rare moment of
bipartisan cooperation. The proposed agreement still has to be passed
by both houses of Congress and signed by Trump.
The terms are:
- The budget deal is for two years.
- It will prevent a government shutdown in the fall, since the
national debt limit will be increased.
- There will be a lot of spending on social programs.
- There will be a lot of spending on the military.
- It's almost free, increasing the public debt from a mere $22
trillion to a mere $23 trillion.
There are some Debbie Downers, like Rand Paul and other so-called
"fiscal conservatives," who are whining that this is going to
negatively affect our grandchildren, who will have to pay the bill.
Such protests are silly. To reduce the deficit, we'd have to cut
social programs like welfare, medicare, medicaid, and a thousand
others. You'd have to be totally delusional to believe that could
happen.
Long-time readers will be aware that I was always posting various
charts that showed such things as surging public debt, surging
price/earnings ratios, super-exponential growth of stock prices, sharp
falls in velocity of money, and so forth.
But basically I've decided it's not worth the trouble. If we're going
to a world war with China, and we are, then what difference does it
make whether the public debt is $22 trillion or $23 trillion? Either
figure might as well be infinity.
That reminds me that 10-12 years ago I used to make reference to the
1950s book by George Gamow, One, Two, Three ... Infinity. That
book title kept popping into my mind whenever I thought about public
debt. So today we're pretty much at infinity.
Some major financial event (such as the collapse of Deutsche Bank or a
stock market panic somewhere) could trigger a chain of bankruptcies
that lead to a global financial crisis and a world war. Or,
alternatively, some geopolitical event (such as the rapid
deterioration of law and order in Hong Kong that I've been reporting
on) could trigger a regional conflict that spreads to a world war, and
causes a global financial crisis. Either way, it doesn't really
matter whether the debt is $22 trillion or $23 trillion.
And at that point, is Higgenbotham has pointed out, the living will be
envious of the dead.
So we might as well lean back and enjoy the Biblical proverb, "Eat,
drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die."
---- Sources:
-- Trump announces 'real compromise' on budget deal, as fiscal hawks
and some Dems cry foul
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/trump-b...al-leaders
(FoxNews, 23-Jul-2019)
-- Budget deal / Why a strange bit of bipartisanship may be breaking
out
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/...aking-out/
(WaPost, 22-Jul-2019)
