for those twin deficit optimists out there?

Question

there are some of you who think that the twin deficits are a sign of a strong economy because it encourages growth. but doesnt america have to pay for that growth? it appears that america's economy is "growing" but on the basis on credit, not on real money. america is using money that doesnt exist. I wonder where america's real economic growth stands nowadays taking into consideration the huge amount of debt it is in. of course, some debt is tolerable, but where's the limit?

Answer 1

well, America could reduce or even completely eliminate her foreign trade deficit by cutting off the imports of oil.

Let's see, in order to do that we'd have to either (vote for your favorite, please):

1. explore for oil and gas in Alaska, offshore, and on Federal lands in the West.

2. build another nuclear power plant every six months

3. build another coal fired power plant every six months

4. contract the economy about 20% and push unemployment up to about 25% -- this could be done by adding a $5 a gallon tax [$250 a barrel] to all oil consumption.

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We could balance the government budget by doing any of the following (your votes again, please):

A. Repeal Medicare and Medicaid completely.

B. Eliminate all non-defense, non-law enforcement spending except health care

C. Tax oil and oil products at the rate of $5 a gallon [with an equivalent tax on natural gas].

D. Seize an estimated 33% of all capital in the United States [you do this by doubling taxes on capital and eliminating either the tax write offs or gain exemption for home owners].

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Good luck.

Answer 2

The amount of national debt is well within tolerance by any measure. Our GDP is about $14 trillion. Our national debt is $9 trillion, or only 64% of the GDP. In terms of the value of the economy, that debt is pretty low.

Answer 3

6 out of ten americans are deep in credit card debt.

Answer 4

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ECONOMICS