Further expansion of Federal Government and More Spending, How?

[Anonymous]

Let's start some serious brainstorming.

We can not afford to relax.

[Anonymous]

Easy - let Republicans take the lead. They enjoy intruding on personal lives and running up the deficit like nobody's business.

[Anonymous]

22:26 I'm with you about about the national debt. We have so many complicated relations with other countries. We are totally in debt to China, yet we have had so many fiascos like the lead toys and don't even get me started about human rights violations. We give an incredible amount of money to Pakistan and well we don't really know what the deal is there. There are no easy solutions, but yeah it is scary.

[Anonymous]

How about adding another 200,000 Federal jobs and some more czars?

That CEO czar seems to have had a huge impact.

[Anonymous]

Random, incoherent rants based on lies culled from Fox News.

It is sad.

[Anonymous]

Foreign ownership


Composition of U.S. Long-Term Treasury Debt held by foreign states, Nov. 2005-Nov. 2010. June figures are results of comprehensive Treasury Department surveys.
As of January 2011, foreigners owned $4.45 trillion of U.S. debt, or approximately 47% of the debt held by the public of $9.49 trillion and 32% of the total debt of $14.1 trillion. The largest holders were the central banks of China ($1.1 trillion) and Japan ($885 billion).[29][30] The share held by foreign governments has grown over time, rising from 25% of the public debt in 2007[31] and 13% in 1988.[32]
This exposure to potential financial or political risk should foreign banks stop buying Treasury securities or start selling them heavily was addressed in a June 2008 report issued by the Bank of International Settlements, which stated, "Foreign investors in U.S. dollar assets have seen big losses measured in dollars, and still bigger ones measured in their own currency. While unlikely, indeed highly improbable for public sector investors, a sudden rush for the exits cannot be ruled out completely."[33]
On May 20, 2007, Kuwait discontinued pegging its currency exclusively to the dollar, preferring to use the dollar in a basket of currencies.[34] Syria made a similar announcement on June 4, 2007.[35] In September 2009 China, India and Russia said they were interested in buying IMF gold to diversify their dollar-denominated securities.[36] However, in July 2010 China's State Administration of Foreign Exchange "ruled out the option of dumping its vast holdings of US Treasury securities" and said gold "cannot become a main channel for investing our foreign exchange reserves" because the market for gold is too small and prices are too volatile.[37]
[edit]

It is not random that China owns a lot of our debt. Maybe you need to do a little research.

[jsteele]

Anonymous wrote:It is not random that China owns a lot of our debt. Maybe you need to do a little research.

There is an old saying that if you owe a bank a million dollars, you have a problem. But, if you owe a bank a billion dollars, the bank has a problem. If we owe China a trillion dollars, I'd say that China has a very big problem. At some point we are basically in a mutual destruction pact.

Here is one thing that I don't understand. George W. Bush entered office with record budget surpluses. Rather than paying down the national debt, he chose to give tax cuts to rich people. Then, he chose to get us involved in two foreign wars. Yet, during those 8 years in which he was running up record deficits, conservatives never uttered a word of concern. Now, they would have us believe there is nothing more important than the debt.

Finally, how many of you who claim to be concerned about the debt supported ending the Bush tax cuts?

[Anonymous]

China holds our debt because it is the best debt they can buy.

Anonymous wrote:Foreign ownership


Composition of U.S. Long-Term Treasury Debt held by foreign states, Nov. 2005-Nov. 2010. June figures are results of comprehensive Treasury Department surveys.
As of January 2011, foreigners owned $4.45 trillion of U.S. debt, or approximately 47% of the debt held by the public of $9.49 trillion and 32% of the total debt of $14.1 trillion. The largest holders were the central banks of China ($1.1 trillion) and Japan ($885 billion).[29][30] The share held by foreign governments has grown over time, rising from 25% of the public debt in 2007[31] and 13% in 1988.[32]
This exposure to potential financial or political risk should foreign banks stop buying Treasury securities or start selling them heavily was addressed in a June 2008 report issued by the Bank of International Settlements, which stated, "Foreign investors in U.S. dollar assets have seen big losses measured in dollars, and still bigger ones measured in their own currency. While unlikely, indeed highly improbable for public sector investors, a sudden rush for the exits cannot be ruled out completely."[33]
On May 20, 2007, Kuwait discontinued pegging its currency exclusively to the dollar, preferring to use the dollar in a basket of currencies.[34] Syria made a similar announcement on June 4, 2007.[35] In September 2009 China, India and Russia said they were interested in buying IMF gold to diversify their dollar-denominated securities.[36] However, in July 2010 China's State Administration of Foreign Exchange "ruled out the option of dumping its vast holdings of US Treasury securities" and said gold "cannot become a main channel for investing our foreign exchange reserves" because the market for gold is too small and prices are too volatile.[37]
[edit]

It is not random that China owns a lot of our debt. Maybe you need to do a little research.

[Anonymous]

I'm with Jeff. If you want to know how to spend our precious national resources, ask George Bush!

[Anonymous]

jsteele wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It is not random that China owns a lot of our debt. Maybe you need to do a little research.

There is an old saying that if you owe a bank a million dollars, you have a problem. But, if you owe a bank a billion dollars, the bank has a problem. If we owe China a trillion dollars, I'd say that China has a very big problem. At some point we are basically in a mutual destruction pact.

Here is one thing that I don't understand. George W. Bush entered office with record budget surpluses. Rather than paying down the national debt, he chose to give tax cuts to rich people. Then, he chose to get us involved in two foreign wars. Yet, during those 8 years in which he was running up record deficits, conservatives never uttered a word of concern. Now, they would have us believe there is nothing more important than the debt.

Finally, how many of you who claim to be concerned about the debt supported ending the Bush tax cuts?

Jeff, there is more than one thing you do not understand: today's date, who has been the President for quite some time and not followed through on any of his promises.

[jsteele]

Anonymous wrote:
Jeff, there is more than one thing you do not understand: today's date, who has been the President for quite some time and not followed through on any of his promises.

He obviously has not fulfilled every promise, but you are wrong to say that he has not followed through on any. He promised to pass a universal healthcare bill. While the bill he passed is not one that I would have preferred, it is fairly close to what he campaigned on. During the campaign he said that he would withdraw troops from Iraq and increase the number in Afghanistan. He has withdrawn most troops from Iraq and certainly increased the number in Afghanistan.

But, I'm really surprised that you have forgotten another promise he has kept. Obama said that he would hunt down and kill Bin Laden. When he said that he would even strike at OBL in Pakistan without the permission of the Pakistanis, he was criticized by both Hillary and McCain. If you have seen the news lately, you are aware that he kept that promise.

I don't hesitate to criticize Obama when I feel it is warranted. My only complaint about his stimulus spending which has increased our debt is that it was too little. Generally you have to spend yourself out of a recession. Bush didn't have that excuse. Yet, conservatives didn't -- and still don't -- criticize him for it. This fact, plus conservative support for continuing the Bush tax cuts, suggests to me that conservatives don't really care about the deficit. It is simply one of the few things they have found to successfully use against Obama.