Why America is Dying and How It Can Be Saved

Image via Wikipedia

The “How It Can Be Saved” part is a little simplistic.

But the explanation of “Why America is Dying” is astute and compelling.

The interest on the national debt is currently about $571 billion per year.  That’s almost $1,900 for every man woman and child in this country.  For a family of four, their “fair share” of current interest payment on the national debt is about $7,400.  In theory, if it weren’t for the national debt and interest payments, the average family of four’s standard of living would be about $7,400 higher.

We’re being destroyed by our government’s determination to “shop til it drops” and go into endless debt to do so.

00:10:22

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8WjRRBeDTqw

 

Visualizing the National Debt

Image by cobalt123 via Flickr

The attached video offer a very nice, less-than-2-minutes-long, explanation of the national debt and the government’s current attempts to reduce it.

Although this video focuses on President Obama’s earlier promise to “somehow” cut the budget by a “massive” $100 million, the Republican Party’s current “effort” to cut the budget by $56 billion is just as pathetic.  In the context of this video, the President’s $100 million is represented by a mere quarter of a penny.  In the context of this video, the Republicans’ proposed $56 billion cut would be represented by about 140 pennies–which, as you’ll see, is also a triviality given the dimension of the problem.

Implication:  While politicians grandstand about trying to fix the national debt, that debt will not be significantly reduced by our politicians until we are in the midst of a real economic catastrophe.

video  00:01:38

http://wimp.com/budgetcuts/

 

The Nature of Money: Greater Fools & FRNs

Image by Will Montague via Flickr

In 1998, everyone knew that the stock market was hugely overvalued. Nevertheless, people continued to purchase more stocks.  These purchases were justified in part by the theory of “greater fools”.

Under the greater fool theory, I can afford to foolishly pay $100 for a stock that’s only worth $50, so long as I can find an even “greater fool” who’ll pay me $150 for the same $50 stock.  My “greater fool” can safely pay me $150 (for the $50 stock) so long as he can find an even greater fool who’ll pay him $200, etc.

 

Gerald Celente: Government is Bankrupting USA

Cover via Amazon

Gerald Celente is founder and director of The Trends Research Institute, author of Trends 2000 and Trend Tracking (Warner Books), and publisher of The Trends Journal. He has forecast trends with remarkable accuracy since 1980.  In the following video, Celente opines about the Obama budget and its effect on America.

video

00:07:30

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZ-YyCvZ874&feature=player_embedded

Here’s another Celente video from December 2010 where he offers his “Top Predictions for 2011″:

00:06:36

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-gTv0NrLxGo&feature=relmfu

He predicts rising gold prices, increasing government oppression, and financial instability and “world wide cyber-crime”.