adjusted GDP 1.1%

[Obsessed]

Just a observation here, but both of those posters with the failed math, are gators....

Just a observation on my part...

 

[IPleadInsanity]

The only way to explain a 1.1% growth is "you're not even trying". Nothing to debate.

 

[lawgator1]

You shouldn't trust that Made in China calculator from Dollar Tree. You missed by about 112%.

Buy American.

Ha ha, you're right. I've always been math challenged.

 

[Carl Pickens]

But we can function at a high level as a service based economy....... Yeah right..... Whatever

 

[jackaro]

The only way to explain a 1.1% growth is "you're not even trying". Nothing to debate.

I agree but would put the blame more on a historically inactive Congress than on the President.

 

[volinbham]

That's certainly it in a nutshell.

1. The baby boomers (including me) aren't dying fast enough.

2. The military is bloated, imo we can get more for less.

3. Taxes are too low.

We can do something about 2 and 3. 1 will have to take care of itself.

Medicare and SS are huge drains on the budget and were designed for an era when people died much younger.

If you want to raise taxes it should be in the FICA and Medicare portion area.

Alternatively, you take a portion of the FICA and use private accounts with say 2% of the 6.2% of FICA.

Then you raise the SS age and means test.

You could do the same with the Medicare portion - take a fraction and have private HSA's that are invested until someone hits Medicare age. That nest egg then becomes part of the HC monies the person can use.

Al Gore was right about one thing (the infamous lock box). It's nuts that we use FICA as a pension and the Medicare portion as insurance but don't invest the premiums.

Even if the government maintained the private accounts but put the money into highly conservative investments we'd be SOOO much better off financially.

 

[SpaceCoastVol]

I don't what is going on everywhere else, but the economy is fine here. Building is booming. No real estate inventory (Sellers market). It's all looking good.

That is because money is free right now. Wait until the fed has to raise rates.... or the economy fails under the weight of the debt.

 

[DancingOutlaw]

Ha ha, you're right. I've always been math challenged.

On a lawyer's calculator when you hit the times button it automatically figures 33% of the number you typed. That's the only math they know.

 

[SpaceCoastVol]

On a lawyer's calculator when you hit the times button it automatically figures 33% of the number you typed. That's the only math they know.

:lolabove::lolabove::lolabove:

 

[SergeantVol]

That's certainly it in a nutshell.

1. The baby boomers (including me) aren't dying fast enough.

2. The military is bloated, imo we can get more for less.

3. Taxes are too low.

We can do something about 2 and 3. 1 will have to take care of itself.

The military is bloated? Our active force hasn't been this small since WWII. Is our military budget bloated yes. The issue is R&D and the acquisition process. Contracting for the development of failed weapons systems and allowing them to run over budget.

 

[Vol737]

I'm saying that claims that Obama's been any more of a spendthrift than his Republican predecessors going back to the 1960s is just plain wrong.

Ideally, we would increase revenue by spurring economic growth. But we are going to have to face hard choices on social spending and on military spending, too.

In fiscal year 2015, the federal government spent $3.7 trillion.

24 percent was spent on social security.

25 percent was spent on Medicare, Medicaid, and related programs.

16 percent was spent on defense.

Only about 10 percent was spent on other safety net programs. When people talk about spending on things like food stamps, for example, they are just taking that way out of context. Food stamps are on the order of 2 percent of the budget.

So now, how do we reduce the debt? Look at what you can cut. There's just not much, unless you are willing to talk about ways to reduce social security and Medicare, and the military spending. That's just a fact.

Sooner or later, on the current trajectory, every program is going to take a haircut. Many of these programs will be at risk of collapsing under its own weight and when we are left with the only option of inflating away the debt, well....good luck to all.

 

[Biopsyman]

Obama get zero blame... Horrible growth and has been this way for years