Making sense March 22, 2017
Posted by hslu in Debt and deficit, Taxes, Trump, US Government.Tags: federal budget, John Stossel
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I enjoy reading John Stossel’s comments and watching his TV shows.
The U.S. national debt limit March 19, 2017
Posted by hslu in Debt and deficit, Economics, Taxes, US Government.Tags: Debt limit
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March 16, 2017 is an important date for U.S. federal government because it can no longer borrow from the public as it has been in the past to fund its operations.
The American national debt will be frozen at its current level: about $20.1 trillion because the mandatory debt level has been reached.
But, that doesn’t mean America is out of cash to pay its bills: principal and interest on the debt, social security benefits, Medicare and Medicaid payments, salary to government workers and soldiers and payments to government contractors for F-35 stealth fighter jets, new Ford class aircraft carrier, M-4 assault rifles and M1 A3 Abrams tanks.
However, there will be no infrastructure projects. No Trump border wall. no tax cuts for American citizens and no tax relief for American corporates until the debt limit is raised by the Congress.
As of now, the Treasury Dept has to use extraordinary measures to keep the federal government from shutting down until about October or November 2017. By then, Congress has to raise the debt limit or the U.S. government will be in bankruptcy.
Assuming the debt limit is lifted in time, when will this borrowing end?
Maybe America can use the threat of bankruptcy to re-negotiate with its creditors. Several optionsare available such as forcing creditors to take 60% haircut on all outstanding loans, change the term of existing loans to 100 years and modify interest rates on all loans to negative.
Alternatively, American federal government, maybe all Americans should consider this option too, should cut up every credit card it uses and start living within its means.
Is this likely in the next two decades? Not a chance unless pink pig flies.
Borrow till you drop January 9, 2017
Posted by hslu in China, Debt and deficit, Economics, Global Affair, Military, Putin, Russia, Taxes, US Government.Tags: the Fed, U.S. Navy
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As if the U.S. isn’t spending enough on defense, Navy wants to build 355 more ships in the next 30 years. The initiative is the result of Trump’s denand to re-build American’s arm forces to counter the threats from China and Russia.
Since Navy revealed its wish list, Army, Air Force and Marines will send in their’s too. Then there is Coast Guard and Special Ops. Every department wants a piece of the big pie.
America defense spending already accounts for ~45% of the total defense spending by every nation in the world.
But, where will the money come from; Medicare, Medicaid, ObamaCare, education or food stamps? Will the Freedom Caucus go along with this kind of reckless spending? Will Democrats play dead and let Trump have his way? No way.
U.S.national debt is already a whopping $20 trillion right before Obama’s moving vans clear 了the White House gate. With Trump in the WH, it is likely that U.S. annual deficit will explode to the upside and forcing America borrowing 0even more from its foreign credictors. But, will they? If they reduce their purchases, market interest rate of the weekly Treasury auctions will rise.
With the U.S. economy and labor market reportly poised to improve after spending the past 8 years in the out house, the Fed will be forced to raise the overnight lending rates. It will push all lending rates higher which will increase the interest payment on American’s national debt.
In a rising rate environment, what the Fed should have done is to sell the short term Treasury notes and replace them with long term Bonds to lock in low rates before they go up. But, that’s not what the Fed is doing. As a result, interest payment on U.S. national debt will be out of control in a few years.
Empire comes and empire goes. The first sign of trouble usually shows up in too much debt. The empire of America is still sailing at pretty high speed but the load it carries gets heavier and heavier and the hole under the boat gets bigger and bigger.
Do you get the picture now?
Very well said, Obama November 16, 2016
Posted by hslu in Election, jobs, Military, Muslim, Obamacare, Politics, Taxes, Trump.Tags: 2016 elections, Obama, Trump
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Trump have to learn quickly once in the office. There will be no honey moon for him either.
Source: Reuters. Obama on Trump’s new job.
Trump probably will break many of his campaign promises because he’ll have no choice but to wake up to the reality:
Trump promised to:
Bring jobs back to America,
Strengthen military,
Brand China a currency manipulator,
Make “fair trade” instead of “free trade,”
Build a wsll and have Mexico pay for it,
Deport 11 million illegal Immigrants,
Repeal Obamacare,
Have Korea and Japan pay for their own defenses,
Get rid of NAFTA,
Stop TPP,
Save Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security without cutting benefits,
Surveil mosques in the United States,
Prosecute Hillary Clinton,
。。。。。。
We’ll be counting.
I told you so October 26, 2016
Posted by hslu in Congress, Economics, Health Insurance, math, Obama, Obamacare, Politics, Taxes, US Government.Tags: Obama, ObamaCare, taxed
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Are you surprised to see this headline from Fox News?
Not me.
Because I told you so many years ago.
Monthly premium for Obanacare has to go up because Obama, Reid, Pelosi and all Democrats in the Congresd lied about Obamacare’s math when they forced the expensive program onto American’s tax payers.
Tax subsidies to subscribers will go up too. No matter what kind of program people choose under the plan, tax payers end up paying for the majority of the cost; north of 60% easy.
Unfortunately, the ill-conceived and, for Democrats, ultimately the de facto single-payer health insurance program for all Americans, will not be abandoned by the Congress. It will continue to draw money from other federal programs unless Republicans have a 60+% majority in the Senate and has the control of the House and White House.
Not likely to happen.
Attentions, all Middle Class citizens of the USA, open up your wallets wide and keep them open.
Obama is coming for you money.
The ‘World Order’ is no more July 29, 2016
Posted by hslu in China, Cold War, Debt and deficit, Economics, Energy, Global Affair, Islam, Liberal Media, Middle East, Military, Muslim, Oil, Putin, Taxes, US Government.Tags: World Order
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DC think tank(s.) The White House. The Department of Defense. The Department of State. The CIA. The FBI. The HSA. The Federal Reserve and its regional banks. The Wall Street. The liberal media. And, last but not the least, the Hollywood.
These are the major players in the United States which have established ‘The World Order‘ as we have known for the past 70 years.
Their sidekicks are IMF, The World Bank. The Asian Development Bank. Saudi Arabia. The EU. And the United Nation.
For a while, about 4 years, give or tske a few months, the American independent shale frackers tried to wrestle the control of crude oil market away from the major Middle East oil producers and Russia. They had their moments. But, they failed miserablly.
The ‘World Order’ that every countries in the world have suffered for so long is no more. The ‘World Order’ which has carefully cultivated by the U.S. has begun to crumble from its root: the enormous U.S. national debt, the ever increasing personal debt, the hatred towards America from some people in the world, the safety of its people, the wealth gap, the great revession and the slow death of its industrial and manufacture sectors. The booming sectors, such as high tech, are great for some and for the GDP. But they only benefit a few. And many of them come from foreign countries.
Slowly, America is losing its long term allies. Egypt, Saudi, Turkey and many South American countries come to mind. Even England moved against the U.S. olicy in some areas of the world afair. American foreign policies are not producing what it were indended to achieve. ‘Nations Building’ efforts have become sink holes of American tax money with disastrous outcomes. The American military machine has wasted trillion of tax money with nothing to show for, except 10 aircraft carriers saling around the world for the sack of projecting the mighty American power to its enemies. Terror attacks have wrecked havoc to the stability of Americans’ daily lives. . The discremination against blacks and Muslims are threatening to tear the society from the inside out. Entitlement and welfare benefits have become a financial burden to people who pay into the federal income tax system.
America is, nonetheless, picking up new fights first against Russia and then China; dubbed the ‘New Cold War’ (by me) which forces these two nations to become economical and military allies against a common enemy, namely the U.S.
Now this (South China Sea arbitration) came along on July 12, 2016 but it didn’t produce the desired outcome for Phillippines. It made Phillippines realized that it has been played by the American foreign policy machine all along.
Source: 多維新聞網頁
America’s decline has begun. The ‘World Order’ established by America and its benefits, such as U.S. dollar being the world’s reserve currency, are slowly fading away.
No one knows the outcome and no one knows the timing of existing ‘World Order’s’ demise.
Many people are watching. I am too.
No wonder they want to come April 16, 2016
Posted by hslu in Congress, jobs, Small Business, Taxes.Tags: illegal immigrant, SBA
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Cheap tuition to State colleges. Financial aids. Free food for their kids. Plenty of cash paying jobs without paying taxes.
Now this:
No wonder, wall or no wall, they come to the U.S. by the hundreds everyday.
What’s not to like about all this free stuff thanks to America tax dollars from you and I.
Social Security – Make sure you get what you are entitled to or else July 13, 2015
Posted by hslu in Debt and deficit, Economics, Taxes.Tags: social security benefit, US National Debt
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The U. S. government is broke. The U.S. national debt is $18.3 trillion, about 105% of American’s GDP as of this moment on July 12, 2015. Economists have been saying that each American owes something like $57,000 the moment he or she is born but this figure is meaningless because only people with income is potentially subjected to federal income tax.
According to the latest IRS tax return data, 136.1 million taxpayers reported adjusted gross income of $9.04 trillion and paid $1.1 trillion in federal income taxes in 2012. As a result, each tax payer owes $134,502 whether we like it or not.
So, will America become Greece someday? Will the national debt be paid off one day?
The answers are yes and no: America will be Greece some time in the future and the national debt will not be paid off; ever.
But, don’t tell this to the politicians because they are working on this very issue as we speak.
Are you kidding me? Where are they going to get the money from? Tax the rich again?
Well, they have better ideas: our social security benefits.
Yes, they are trying to work on social security benefit reform; better known as social security benefit cut.
Take a look of this:
Consider you’re forewarned here.
The bottom line is this: take what you are entitled to and do it fast. It may take them a few years to get this into law but both Republicans and Democrats are working on it.
What is sad about this is American tax payers are doomed and they have no idea of what’s coming.
648億新臺幣 June 26, 2015
Posted by hslu in Politics, Taiwan, Taxes.Tags: 苗栗, 劉政鴻, 台灣
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這是台灣苗栗縣一個當了八年縣長下台後欠下來的債務。
他是誰呢？
國民黨的劉政鴻。
苗栗縣的入口有多少人呢？大概有56.6萬人。
648億新臺幣除以56.6萬人=每人負擔 $114,500新臺幣。
我以為只有美國的加州欠錢欠的凶，誰知道台灣也有無能的政府亂搞一通。
不知道這些錢誰來還？
不知道劉政鴻有沒有貪污？
不知道苗栗縣的人民有沒有什麼辦法懲罰這種無能的官吏？
台灣的民主跟美國的民主一樣：選出來的官吏只知道花人民的稅錢，而為的是自己的政治前途和下一次的選票。這些官員拿人民的血汗錢，給人民做這個，做那個，給人民這個好處，給那個好處。等他下了台，欠了一屁股的債，拍拍屁股下台一鞠躬。剩下來的爛攤子是別人的事。
這種民主實在不是人民的福氣。
Lawful or not, more hands for handouts December 2, 2014
Posted by hslu in Congress, Debt and deficit, Economics, jobs, Obama, Politics, Social Issues, Taxes.Tags: green card, illegal immigrants, social welfare
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I don’t know whether Obama’s action on ‘deferred deportation’ to keep illegal immigrants in the US is legal or not, one thing is clear though: more hands for government handouts on all levels of governments: federal, state and local.
Government spendings on social security benefits, disability benefits, food stamps, healthcare subsidies, Medicare and Medicaid benefits, free lunches at schools, free school breakfast, SSI, CHIP, housing assistance, WIC, CSFP and 70 more programs will increase.
Once these immigrants become ligit under the directive, they can legally get jobs in areas previously prohibitive to them. After they become green card holders, they’ll apply for more family members to come to the US which will further strain the welfare system.
Democrat Party will gain that many voters while Republican Party, no matter what it says and does, will be that much more difficult to overcome Democrats Party’s majority.
Well, the lawyers will fight it out in court on the legitimacy of Obama’s action. It will take years and by the time we hear anything, the family members of these immigrants will be getting their checks from the government already.
The politicians work for their parties. They don’t work for the people. They see tax money and have no regards on the deficits or rising national debt.
That’s American’s democracy at its best and us tax-paying loyal servants are the poir suckers in the game of control.
