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US Gross debt is currently around 16.4 trillion, its GDP in a given year is around 14.6 trillion, and its operating budget is around 2.5 trillion with a 1 trill
by ericd 15y ago
US Gross debt is currently around 16.4 trillion, its GDP in a given year is around 14.6 trillion, and its operating budget is around 2.5 trillion with a 1 trillion deficit. It seems within its capabilities to repay its debts, though it has opened up the throttle a good amount in the past couple years, and there seems to be no political will to raise taxes right now.
- fennecfoxen 15y agoBy "operating budget" I assume you mean revenues. For reference, the US spent $2.73 trillion in 2007 and $2.9 trillion in 2008. It plans on spending $3.8 trillion in 2012 and about the same in 2013. When you say "opened up the throttle a good amount" that amount is in the vicinity of ~35%. (These numbers are not adjusted for inflation. Sorry.)
- ericd 15y agoRight, that's the revenue they have to play with, and yep, that's what I meant by opening up the throttle :-)
- deleted 15y ago[deleted]
- stretchwithme 15y ago"The political expression of altruism is collectivism or statism, which holds that man’s life and work belong to the state—to society, to the group, the gang, the race, the nation—and that the state may dispose of him in any way it pleases for the sake of whatever it deems to be its own tribal, collective good." Ayn Rand
- ericd 15y agoI don't see how that applies here? That communism doesn't work well or is inherently unfair doesn't generalize into the idea that the less communistic a society is, the better. In general, I think Rand is overly reductionistic and shouldn't constitute a significant portion of anyone's worldview.