NIALL FERGUSON: The U.S. Is Playing “Russian Roulette” With Debt And Deficits

The US is not only broke,it is in an increasingly deep financial hope from which,despite all the glass half-full polyannas out there, we will never recover ! We are destined to become a second rate economy-IF WE ARE LUCKY !! Prove me wrong- if you can !

How to understand $14 trillion U.S. debt: That's 14 followed by 12 zeroes. We have 120 million households or 120 followed by 6 zeroes. Divide households into the debt and we see $110,000 per household. Divide this debt by a 20 year generation and we arrive at the understandable sum of $5,500 per year. See how easy it is to pay off our long term debt!.

Americans should wake up to the fact that 14.9 trilliion in debt is just way to much debt for 312
milliion people to be carrying. We can make the cuts now while we have some control or we
can wait till we are forced to make the cuts and we will have no control at all. Today, the reality is
that we not longer have the industrial base that supported our government. Instead of reducing
our government to fit a new reality, we expanded our government to fit some myths. When we
have leadership that can no longer come to terms with reality our number one problem is denial.
Stephen T. Read

The biggest bubble ever! Government spending. You just can't simply tax your way out of this. Cut the spending before we totally loose medicare, social security, medicaid and send the country down the drain!

Why not radically chop federal spending? Airport [not airline] funds are overflowing, and the nitwits want to add more secutity fees to plane tickets; most agencies push and scramble in a mad dash to spend the money congress throws at them these days - and it is reaching a breaking point [short of fraud or misappropriation of funds]. The only way they can hide more money is to push most key federal employees up into the AMT range - which will likely happen if Obama gets re-elected. The malaise [due to loss of private sector capital] would likely produce 4 to 6 new federal departments in that event, and our fate is sealed like Greeces. A 25% real cut would put us back to the spending levels around the end of Bush's first term, and he and Hastert were big spenders. That would effectively be a reset, but to achieve a truly meaningful cut, we need to start talking about 40%. And Boehner is toying with rates of increase meanwhile, as he capitulates to the "default" propaganda [whizzing over his head like calculus does with a four year old] from our president.
Easy times for doomsayers to get published.

Why on earth can't a single Republican stand up on the national stage and make as much sense as Ferguson? Why do we have to go to England to find conservatives that make sense and don't just parrot slogans? He didn't blame any ethnic groups, racial groups, or political groups. He blames the system and he is right.

There is absolutely no case for tax/borrow and spend with the cronyism, corruption and lack of vision in Washington. It will be total waste.

If we implement a plan to gradually chop our budget deficit so that we aren't actually balancing it until 10 years from now, we'll be staring down over 20 trillion in debt obligations easily! Why do the politicians and voters want to see this happen and put that burden on the youth (the future taxpayers). Totally insane.

Isn't this the guy in the early 2000's encouraging the USA to embrace its rise to power and its Empire Status? He doesn't know anything.

Given the group entitlements and special interests that control both U.S. political parties, there is no "practical solution" to the debt (and other) issues. Except: system collapse, and re-set thru Civil War. First Tuesday in November, 2012: Obama wins in the electoral college, thanks to a split-wide-open Republican Party, but with only 40-45% of the popular vote. Then: 60 days to Fort Sumter.

The first step is to get that idiot out of the white house.

Fix the trade laws.

:47 haha

Not the US, The idot Obama. Please get your facts straight.

US is broke. I dont want US to be like Europe now whihc is begging China to bail out its debt.

Cut the defense budget by 30 percent. That's a start.

Can't anyone realize there are investors from other countries who want their money now! Life insurance policies that are at surrender value, money market accounts. Why do you think there are wars and spending and money because okay gas and oil needs to fuel the tanks, old war mongers are dying, democracy has hit every country to get freedom under control, however, the people who took control over their mortgages, credit cards, their life expense, their children's education are smart people.

You don't realize that your real estate agent your mortgage lender and your credit card limits are not going to call you over the phone and say guess what we are going to have to pay out foreign investors and because old war monger over here wants to fight a battle that will increase taxes just like back in the old days. Just think who were the allies back in the day with respect to World War I and World War II and how were they suppose to control the spending to fight wars well the American's can pay higher taxes and so will our country and now everyone finds out that the tanker and the B2 bomber is going be paid for through tax increases and who thought of that idea well not me but someone in some country decided that in order to fight on a sand-filled battle field we have to supply oil and gas and the demand to stop the war is under scrutiny.

The reason for the debt increase is because of tapping into some funds that are being disbursed from who the retired the investors of companies that are supplying the oil and the 401(k) plans will now supply the demand while government is continuing to train the countries who fight and now everyone should watch the military channel.com.

Everyone in the world is from some country and in each country there are avenues to increase productivity but not at a cheap rate. A prime example is a ming vase would you rather produce a high-end hand made product or manufacture a car made with cheap production in a country that is being hounded by their superiors to produce more when you could make fine silks fine cars and fine art and keep the jobs in a country that can handle the full manufacturing of a car like a large size country.

Don't forget keeping it cheap and mass production does not equal a profit. Pure hard core manufacturing that equals quality products who doesn't want a 100% cotton outift that does not fray at the seams that I had to buy at a sales price. No we as Americans have to return to the days where we had quality products and were able to disburse these quality products to countries who could afford these products.

Like a hybrid car you have a hybrid that stands in traffic and it runs on a battery and if you stand for so long how will the battery cool and what! A hybrid belongs in a country where there are long roads to travel so why not use a rent-a-car place to rent hybrids while driving in France to a vineyard?

Makes not sense to make quick decisions to make ends meet! You expatriate jobs but for what reason because you want a computer chip for 5 bucks and charge an outrageous price for the item in the store.

We were founded on the check and balance government , the legislative, executive, and judicial branch of the United States government is out of control.

Tanja Katharina Ahrens
Freemason and National Treasure baby
Born in Munich Germany and legally immigrated to this country.

People are the wealth. They produce the wealth the riches siphon off in days of prosperity. In days of austerity the wealth has to be distributed to preserve the well being of the people. Simplistic perhaps even overly so, however what belies the matter is, there has to be an equity where both are preserved in days of difficulties.

Rich people know this, we see you we know who you are and there are LAWS on the books that you have so far avoided but Wall Street demonstrations will ferret you all out. Your days are numbered.

" Importantly, Ferguson says he is not in favor of radically chopping government spending in the next year or two, clobbering the economy in the process. Rather, he says, the government should develop and implement a sound 10-year plan, one that phases in the cuts and eventually gets on solid footing."""

OK I"m not sure this differs from Krugman, ie make cuts once a recovery starts to occur. This hardly sounds like screeming from the rooftops about piling up too much debt. So far Ferguson has been wrong. Interest rates are not rising and investors don't see rapidly rising rates in the future either.

"And what happens if we don't?
If we don't, Ferguson says, we'll eventually pass the point of no return. And then we'll be forced to do what Greece has done: "

Not so, The US can monitize the debt, Greece can't they are restricted by the EURO.They can't print their own currency. The fact that he omits this in his lecture suggests that he is at some level being dishonest.

There is a simple solution to the root cause of the federal deficit problem.

Instead of giving away so much free money, the government needs to start making interest free loans. Those loans will be expected to be paid back over 20 years out of the borrower's discretionary income. Anything not paid back after 20 years is forgiven. Some stuff, like social secuirty, medicare, and medicaid for retired people will remain free and clear entitlements.

The other part is a national sales tax. But wait -- it needs to be combined with removal of income tax and payroll tax on the first 40,000 of earned income. Why? Because too many low income people are getting away without paying any federal taxes but are the primary beneficairies of the programs. That way, the people working off the books and the drug dealers will at least be paying something based on what they consume.

Corporate taxes should be eliminated completely for American-based revenue. You can tax sales on foreign revenue but not US sales. Why? Because the corporations just pass the cost of the tax along in the price of products. You can't win taxing corporations. Bad idea. Besides, corportaions don't get federal services, the people that work for them do.