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I started the debt clock some years ago and I still think it's a good reminder that the government shouldn't continue its spending spree. In the most recent update I added taxes with all figures projected forward to today based on 2008 Stats Canada numbers. Oh, and just to be clear, this clock measures the total of federal, provincial and municipal debt & tax.
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Debt, Government & Economic News
[More Stingy News: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | Send Us A Link]
| The Fed can create money, not confidence | ||
| "The key word here is "uncertainty." The Obama administration and Congress have dumped a huge load of highly dubious new legislation on Americans, much of it unread even by the legislators who voted for it. ObamaCare is an attempted federal takeover of a vast and complex industry. No one really knows how much chaos the financial sector "reform" act will generate. Hyperactive zealots in federal bureaucracies such as the Environmental Protection Agency have been unleashed to do silly things like attempt to reduce the planet's supply of carbon dioxide." [08/25/10], Government | ||
| War between the sexes | ||
| "On average, 65-year old men today will receive only 43.6% of the net benefits that women receive, and young men today can expect a net tax burden over their lifetimes that will be 3.4 times greater than for women." [08/25/10], Government | ||
| Complex adaptive systems | ||
| "As long as the Chinese keep giving us money and inflation remains low, I see nothing forcing US policy to change. This is not sustainable, however, and when the US turns into a Greece-like situation, it will be a very bad decade. When you try to micromanage a complex system, the most important virtue is humility." [08/25/10], Government | ||
| Strucs vs. Cycs | ||
| "So in the interest of peace between the camps - and of lowered unemployment - here's a plea to each. Strucs: You've got to be more specific about exactly how much of current unemployment you think is structural, and explain what those structures are, so that those who believe that government might be able to help fix it can at least offer some ideas. And Cycs: You can start by acknowledging what is different about unemployment in this recession and so-called recovery, and give us targeted policy proposals, instead of vague exhortations to pump up demand." [08/25/10], Economy | ||
| The rise of unemployment | ||
| "This disturbing graphic, by Latoya Eguwuekwe, charts the rise of unemployment across the U.S. from 2007 on." [08/23/10], Economy | ||
| Battle looms over public pensions | ||
| "There's a class war coming to the world of government pensions. The haves are retirees who were once state or municipal workers. Their seemingly guaranteed and ever-escalating monthly pension benefits are breaking budgets nationwide. The have-nots are taxpayers who don't have generous pensions. Their 401(k)s or individual retirement accounts have taken a real beating in recent years and are not guaranteed. And soon, many of those people will be paying higher taxes or getting fewer state services as their states put more money aside to cover those pension checks." [08/23/10], Government | ||
| Huge government benefit | ||
| "Not participating in Social Security is a huge benefit. The implicit return on 'premiums' paid by you and your employer is typically below zero. In other words, if you took your social security taxes and stuffed them in a mattress, you would get a better return." [08/23/10], Government | ||
| U.S. is bankrupt | ||
| "Let's get real. The U.S. is bankrupt. Neither spending more nor taxing less will help the country pay its bills. What it can and must do is radically simplify its tax, health-care, retirement and financial systems, each of which is a complete mess. But this is the good news. It means they can each be redesigned to achieve their legitimate purposes at much lower cost and, in the process, revitalize the economy." [08/12/10], Government | ||
| Why I'm not hiring | ||
| "A life in business is filled with uncertainties, but I can be quite sure that every time I hire someone my obligations to the government go up. From where I sit, the government's message is unmistakable: Creating a new job carries a punishing price." [08/09/10], Government | ||
| This ain't your granpa's debt | ||
| "The deficits of the next few decades are scheduled to balloon because of budget decisions -- Medicare and Social Security and tax levels -- that are decades in the making. The political process created this time bomb and the political process will have to defuse it." [07/26/10], Government | ||
| The technocracy boom | ||
| "When historians look back on the period between 2001 and 2011, they will be amazed that a nation that professed to hate bureaucracy produced so much of it." [07/22/10], Government | ||
| Washington takes aim at Apple | ||
| "If you want to produce something in America, you'd better play the game. Contribute to politicians' campaigns, hire their friends, go hat in hand to a congressional hearing, and apologize for your success." [07/15/10], Government | ||
| Government for sale | ||
| "The article's subhed tells you all you need to know: 'Why Lobbying Is Washington's Best Bargain; Lobbyists say for just a few million, they can make clients billions'" [07/14/10], Government | ||
| What fresh hell is this? | ||
| "Somewhere along the way an enterprising employee of mine made coffee in our new (not yet legal) office for the early morning fishermen, but we soon found that to continue to provide coffee would require the installation of a triple cleanup sink, which in turn would add marginally to the load on the current septic system, which in turn would trigger a county requirement for us to build a new $2.5 million sewage treatment facility. Uh, never mind on that coffee." [07/09/10], Government | ||
| The true cost of pensions | ||
| "But the present value of future liabilities is around 1.1 trillion, even after the government slipped in a reduction in index-linking in the recent budget. That is around 80% of GDP, a figure that of course is on top of the national debt numbers normally calculated. if the British government were to pay interest on this liability each year, the bill would be larger than the cost of servicing the official debt." [07/07/10], Government | ||
| Illinois stops paying its bills | ||
| "For the last few years, California stood more or less unchallenged as a symbol of the fiscal collapse of states during the recession. Now Illinois has shouldered to the fore, as its dysfunctional political class refuses to pay the state's bills and refuses to take the painful steps - cuts and tax increases - to close a deficit of at least $12 billion, equal to nearly half the state's budget." [07/04/10], Government | ||
| The next crisis | ||
| "States really have no choice but to further cut spending and raise taxes. They also need to cut pension benefits. About half have made modest trims, but only for future workers. Reforming pensions is painfully slow, because pensions of existing workers are legally protected. There is, of course, no argument for canceling a pension already earned. But public employees benefit from a unique notion that, once they have worked a single day, their pension arrangement going forward can never be altered. No other Americans enjoy such protections. Private companies often negotiate (or force upon their workers) pension adjustments. But in the world of public employment, even discussion of cuts is taboo. Recently, states have begun to test the legal boundary." [07/04/10], Government |
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