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There’s a ‘Chilling’ Economic Report Making the Rounds Among Top Execs — And Wait Until You See What It Says About Gov’t Programs

Dec. 25, 2012 10:48am Jonathon M. Seidl

“This Chilling Economic Report Is Getting Passed Around By CEOs.”

That’s the headline greeting readers on the site Business Insider Christmas morning. The report from the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) is titled, “Ending the Era of Ponzi Finance: Ten Steps Developed Economies Must Take.”

“The biggest [Ponzi scheme] … is still ongoing: the Ponzi scheme of the developed economies,” the report says near the beginning. “It is not simply that the developed world has borrowed significantly from future wealth to fund today’s consumption, leading to huge burdens for the next generation. It has also reduced the potential for future economic growth, making it more difficult for the next generation to deal with this legacy.”

That’s heavy. And it only gets heavier from there. So we’ve decided to distill it down to the best takeaways from the report and the write-up on Business Insider since BCG requires you to sign up to read it (it’s free, but still we thought some of you might not want to). Think of it as a little dose of salt to go with your Christmas dinner (sometimes salt is good, sometimes it’s bad — and from our reading of the suggestions the report offers, there’s both cases):

1. “The West was not going to find its way to the right economic path with a little tweaking at the edges, the CEO said. What is needed is a wholesale overhaul of the economic system to tackle record levels of public and private debt.” — from Business Insider

2. A summary of the report’s findings:

Mr Stelter and his colleagues do offer some solutions. First, there has to be an acknowledgement that some debts will never be repaid and should be restructured. Holders of the debt, be they countries or companies, should be allowed to default, whatever the short-term pain of such a process.

In social policy, retirement ages will have to increase. People will have to work harder, for longer and should be encouraged to do so by changes in benefit levels that do little – at their present level – to reward work at the margin.

The size of the state should be radically reduced and immigration encouraged. Competition in labour markets through supply-side reforms should be pursued.

Where governments can proactively act – by backing modern infrastructure – they should. High-growth economies are built on modern railways, airports, roads and energy supplies. Allowing potholes to develop in your local roads is a symptom of a wider malaise and cash-rich corporates should be pushed, through tax incentives, to invest their money in developed as well as emerging economies. Energy efficiency – to save money, not the planet – should be promoted.

– from Business Insider

3. And now some specifics, such as what the report says will need to be done with taxes on the wealthy (emphasis added):

The critical starting point is to accept the fact that many of today’s debts will never be repaid and to embrace debt restructuring and defaults. Current policies, designed to avoid that outcome, only postpone the ultimate resolution of the crisis and will result in even bigger losses down the road. Better to move quickly and act now, despite the likelihood of considerable near-term pain.

All stakeholders will have to contribute to the necessary cleanup. Creditors and holders of financial assets will have to accept losses. Taxpayers will have to accept higher taxes—with a special burden on the wealthy, because unless politicians begin to address the unequal distribution of income and wealth, they will not have the credibility to implement other painful measures needed to get the developed world back on track. As difficult as that will be, especially for those who have been prudent and saved for retirement, the sooner the developed economies bite the bullet, the sooner everyone will be able to repair their personal balance sheets before they retire. Otherwise, we risk experiencing a lost decade—or more—in which the fundamental underlying problems are not resolved and the value of current savings continually erodes.

– from the BCG report

4. However, it also suggest raising the retirement age (backlash against which has been severe in Europe) while also suggesting more “managed” healthcare (emphasis added):

• Raise the retirement age. As unpopular as this measure will be, it is the most important lever to reduce future costs. In an era of shrinking workforces, the math simply doesn’t work. The sooner the public knows what to expect, the sooner it will be able to plan for this scenario. Seen in this light, recent political initiatives toward earlier retirement, as we are currently witnessing in France, are extremely counterproductive.

• Reduce social-insurance payments. Even with a higher retirement age, it will be necessary, at least in some developed countries, to also reduce future payouts. Again, the sooner the public has a clear picture of what the changes will be and when, the sooner it can begin to prepare for them.

• Manage health care systems for greater efficiency. In many countries, especially the U.S., health care is the primary driver of increased government spending. But higher spending on health care is not necessarily a sign of better health outcomes. Although the U.S. spends 17.6 percent of GDP on health care, U.S. life expectancy is between 1.7 and 3 years less than it is in the U.K. (which spends only 9.6 percent of GDP on health care) and in France and Germany (which spend 11.6 percent). The health care systems of the developed countries—and not just the U.S.—offer huge potential for more efficiency with no loss in effectiveness. (See “Health Reform Should Focus on Outcomes, Not Costs,” BCG article, October 2012.)

– from the BCG report

5. But wait, there’s another set of conservative-style suggestions (emphasis added):

• Increase the efficiency of the social-welfare system. The administrative costs of welfare systems is an area ripe for rationalization. One change to consider is replacing traditional means testing, which can very quickly become highly bureaucratic and resource intensive, with a guaranteed minimum income. An idea supported in the past by liberals such as Martin Luther King Jr. and John Kenneth Galbraith, but also by conservatives such as Friedrich Hayek, Richard Nixon, and Milton Friedman, a guaranteed minimum income has the advantage of eliminating most procedures for means testing and freeing up resources traditionally used in the allocation and distribution of money.

• Free up the public-sector workforce. It is also important to reduce the number of public employees as a percentage of the overall population. In a period when labor will become increasingly scarce, it is critical that as many people as possible actually generate GDP (rather than merely consuming and redistributing it). This is not to say that public-service employees do not contribute to the overall welfare of society. But in a world of scarcity, the tradeoffs become more visible. And government inefficiencies are significant, especially in European countries.

• Implement structural reforms. Besides reforming social-welfare and retirement systems, it is important to maximize the economic potential of the economy. Therefore efforts to increase competition, by abolishing rules that block new entrants, and to increase the flexibility of labor markets need to be implemented fast. According to a study by the IMF, the growth potential of economies in Western Europe could be increased by 4.5 percent over five years through the adoption of such measures.

– from the BCG report

6. Here are the rest of the suggestions:

• Develop smart immigration policy

• Invest in education

• Reinvest in the asset base

• Increase raw-material efficiency

• Cooperate on a global basis

• Launch the next Kondratiev wave

– from the BCG report

7. “There needs to be a radical rethink of the way the West organises itself. Many of the ideas of Mr Stelter and his team are the right ones, although the tax burden being what it is in the UK, many would find it hard to stomach the thought of more tax rises that the BCG report recommends. At some point the relationship between taxed income and willingness to innovate turns negative.

“I would suggest the UK is very near that point.”

– from Business Insider

So there you have it. Having read that, you are now up to speed on the “chilling” report circulating among financial top brass. But if you want to dive more into it, we suggest reading the full report. There are other nuggets in there, and it will also help the numbering (I thought there were only supposed to be 10 suggestions?)make sense.

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Comments (261)

AllLost
Posted on December 25, 2012 at 1:31pm
Well I have one grandchild. I did the best I could to help my children understand economics, and laws governing societal production. In the end I failed. The parents of my grandchild voted for Obama and the Democrats twice. My children chose their future.

Now, it is not just Obama and the Democrats. Constitutional Conservatives have voted for the liberal, progressive GOP multiple times trying to slow the push to Socialism and fill the courts with Constitution Protecting Judges. We failed and have a GOP little different than the DNC.

We have failed. We laugh at the history of the fine French Army that fell so quickly in WWII and yet we have fallen as well.

My advice to my grandchild….1. Learn to grow crops 2. Learn to can goods 3. Learn a trade that will be of use when the information age falls back to the low industrial age. 4. Ignore history because no one else gives a damn and will repeat the obvious mistakes over and over again. 5. Avoid family and children. 6. Be light on your feet with an ability to travel quickly. 7. Avoid all military life and dodge the draft once implemented. 8. Buy weapons and know how to use them.

Then he should help rebuild from the ashes.

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- ChiefGeorge
  Posted on December 25, 2012 at 6:48pm
  Do you really believe that you will be allowed to do such things and what appears to be a life off the grid to rise once again in triumph? Your dreaming although its a nice dream thats all it is. The world is headed rapidly to the One World Government and that New World Order will ask your allegiance to it, then demand it. Those not with the program will be sought out. You won’t be left alone to your own devices. That garden you talk about will take resources and protection to maintain it. Well I have friends and neighbors, family to be guards over it and the products of labor, this will not be allowed for you will have hoards at your back whom have been programmed what you are doing is offensive and not fair.
  
  The only people who will be able to pull this off while WW3 is underway OBTW, will be individual and very small groups of people living in the most remote portions of the wilderness or whats left of it. By staying low, not drawing any attention and being constantly vigilant will they EVEN have a remote CHANCE of surviving. Bunkers? Please, government already knows who has bunkers and how much stuff you’ve ordered for it and how many guns you have.
  
  Their will be a house cleaning like no nation has ever witnessed in the course of civilization. Every state, every county will be purged and thoroughly vetted, who’s with them and whos against them.
  
  I think some do not fully grasp what is coming.
  
  America is going to be taken completely over!
  
  Report this comment
- DenverKitty
  Posted on December 26, 2012 at 3:39pm
  All: I could not have stated our “present” and “future” any better. You have just earned “Comment of the Day!” Gratz!!
  
  Report this comment
- Servant Of YHVH
  Posted on December 26, 2012 at 3:45pm
  One thing that I noticed. While indirectly hinting at it, they need to state unequivocally the absolute need to end ALL unions!
  
  Report this comment
- wisconsinlcm
  Posted on December 26, 2012 at 7:40pm
  I think you and chief g. both have made great points and I think your both right. but one thing chief you make it sound like there is no hope what’s so ever I Beg to disagree, yes our goverment has been planning for along time all you had to do is look around yourself the past five years or so and you could see what was going on.I think we still have a chance to change things its not going to be easy and its going to coast us dearly. So I have to agree with allost you have to try and servive.
  
  Report this comment
- Mikev5
  Posted on December 27, 2012 at 8:42am
  Im with ChiefGeorge
  
  With the outcome of our election I see this as the natural course that’s coming our way the group mentality if you are not working as one of the group you are a menace to society and must be punished or to make it short we are now in the beginnings of full blown Communism were everyone narks on everyone to the point no one trust anyone and nothing gets done but finger pointing. God I still can’t believe we voted this monster back in office it just shows how dumb our youth have become.
  
  Report this comment
- recoveringeden
  Posted on December 27, 2012 at 9:30am
  We can prep, we can hide, we can fight, we can die, we can assimilate. We can, we can, but in the end the bible will be dead on accurate. The world will be blasted by unseen natural disasters and that will demand action by our wise leaders. The world has been dumbed down enough and catered to enough to demand that they do something to bring their life styles back. Screw the constitution. Lets become one government, oh, and that God thing? Screw that too. Lets all take marks for our new leader and wage war against this being that we used to call God. We can all have our theories on how it will be soon but if you want to know for sure try reading a bible.
  
  Report this comment
- IUDICIUM
  Posted on December 27, 2012 at 10:20am
  Agreed!…………the one thing most do not think about is that a war between haves/havenots will also be one with our own gov, after all they ideologically support the havenots or ‘useful idiots’.
  
  My own advice to all family members in addition to starting with an evac plan everyone knows:
  1)you must have & learn how to use fire.arms – start buying amo & never stop. (all off record if possible)
  2)buy storable food now! but you will need the former to keep it…also several bags of small essentials that are almost portable(medical, knives, camping eq, matches, mre, backpacks, hiking shoes, socks/underwear, etc)
  3)find a remote community or town you like & become familiar with the people/buy a lot & spend time there if you can (this will be your fallback life if/when it happens/tents 1st & cabin later)
  4)get a pocket copy of the constitution to have with you, that’s what all others will be leaning to & using, it isn’t that complicated but most do not know it, obviously. (groups & territories will reorganize)
  5)keep a cool head & abundance of caution…realize at that point Everyone needs to protect themselves & fam 1st so use aggression only when lives threatened, but then…..be deadly.
  
  -and in that order!
  
  Much of this can be done in the normal course of life & if all remains calm & civil then you have also set yourself up with a wonderful little family camping life……..trust yourself, this is a Great thing for family life & especially with kids!
  
  Report this comment
- wildwood
  Posted on December 27, 2012 at 1:47pm
  tHE LIBERAL ECUCATION SYSTEM HAS BRAINWASHED OUR CHILDREN . TEACHING THEM THAT GOVERNMENT IS THE ANSWER , THE LIBERALS WILL CRADLE YOU FROM BIRTH TO DEATH!!
  
  Report this comment
CommenterInChief
Posted on December 25, 2012 at 1:21pm
The debt is simply a huge issue that will eventually have to be addressed.

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- turkey13
  Posted on December 25, 2012 at 2:58pm
  To many touchy good feely programs. We messed up when we did away with everyone paying in something to the government. Talk about a PONZI scheme, our tax system was set up for all to pay and new if you make less than $40,000 – you pay nothing. These lower income earners will squak the most if there is no SSI for them and in about 15 years, when there won’t be any money to pay out.
  
  Report this comment
- SCREW-WINDOWS
  Posted on December 25, 2012 at 7:36pm
  Dude smoke a bowl or a blunt and “forgetta bout it” all is well in Obamaville.
  
  Report this comment
- TAXEVERYONE
  Posted on December 25, 2012 at 11:07pm
  Sounds like typical Euro Socialistic babble.
  Point 5 is the only one that started to make some sense.
  
  Report this comment
- Dr Vel
  Posted on December 26, 2012 at 12:53am
  Addressing it by making old people who paid taxes on their work all their lives work even longer is unfair when the majority goes to the young strong healthy on welfare who simply will not work period. When my mom at 64 (she worked and paid taxes from her late teens on) had a heart attack and could no longer work I used to take her in her wheelchair to the DES so she could fight them to get something to live on. What she received barely covered her bills and food. It did not pay enough to cover an extra 400/month she spent on medical items not fully covered. Every time we went the room was full of about a hundred mostly hispanic women and men in their 20′s with about a dozen older people. This was only one of many locations in the Phoenix area. Do the math. I would listen to their endless insults towards anyone white in line as they did not know I understood enough spanish to know what they were saying and to whom it was directed. These young people were perfectly able to work and represented better than 95 percent of the taxes being wasted on the takers and users in society. Of course they had to supplement their income by robbing peoples homes who were working to support these leeches to afford their drug money. I finally had had enough of the loss after 30 years and moved 1200 miles away. 9 times in my last year there I had breakins and every single time on the video it was hispanic people doing it. Police could do nothing. Time to end this insanity.
  
  Report this comment
- Becks_Art_Obama_In_PeePee
  Posted on December 26, 2012 at 4:14am
  “This Chilling Economic Report Is Getting Passed Around By CEOs – Kamal Ahmed, The Telegraph”
  
  I think, with that author’s name, we should be a little skeptical of his article’s solutions … which read like a marxist Obama’s Progressives(communists) wish-list for crumbling America’s Republic into a communist dictatorship.
  
  The real solution is to UN-DO 100 YEARS OF PROGRESSIVES INCREMENTAL COMMUNISM … and fast!
  
  That means Federal government is completely stripped of most of it’s “power” to interfere with America and retains only those powers to defend against foreign invaders.
  
  That means State governments are completely stripped of most of their “power” to interfere with Americans and retains only those powers that are Constitutional.
  
  And, like with any other criminal enterprise, the first order of business is for the recovery of the stolen property (how many trillions of dollars are we talking about?) and the arrest and prosecution and punishment of the criminals (“representatives” carrying out their crimes “under color of law”).
  
  Report this comment
- TieDyeTim
  Posted on December 26, 2012 at 7:11am
  Most of that actually makes good economic sense regardless of the name of the author or the CEO. They should never have called social security that, it isn’t nor was it meant to be the end all be all retirement program. If the politicians would speak plainly, thinking might shift. Pay in all your life for little return isn’t fair? Life isn’t fair, the reality is reform is needed and won’t go far enough. I’m a terrible example of prudence but I did it to myself, if I live to be 65 and can’t work and have to hunt for food I will. Raise the retirement age to 85 and teach your children to save from day 1. Rip the band aid off quickly not slowly and more painfully and force change, the overall social desperation will be less than $20 loaves of bread from a $300 trillion debt which will happen if we keep borrowing to fund these things. Don’t get me started on welfare…
  
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- old white guy
  Posted on December 26, 2012 at 8:15am
  the articles smack of an increase of socialism and more government control. it is impossible to increase control without increasing the cost and size of government. as someone who worked and saved for his retirement i sure as heck do not want my hard earned money flushed to bail out the corrupt government that has put people into a debt that can never be repaid. go bankrupt and get on with it, start over.
  
  Report this comment
- Proverbs17-12NLT
  Posted on December 26, 2012 at 9:19am
  Does it scare anyone that Obama is spending 3 weeks in Hawaii a nice safe place far away from the mainland if we were to be planned Nuked.
  
  Report this comment
- Independent4233
  Posted on December 26, 2012 at 9:24am
  CommenterInChief
  “The debt is simply a huge issue that will eventually have to be addressed.”
  
  Actually that says it in a nutshell.
  
  Most everything in the report is common knowledge by now. The authors, however, are not taking into account that the greatest danger isn’t the “future generations” that will have to bear the brunt of this situation in a “lost decade” as Japan is trying to work through right now, it is the imminent threat of financial collapse that is presnt constantly, due mostly to the increasing Debt to GDP of the entire Western world, inflation and the falling value of the dollar, any of which could trigger an economic catastrophe.
  
  So long as there exists a desire for unchecked spending and perpetual quantatative easing by the fed, the remedies they suggest in order to straighten things out can never ciome about….even if they were the answer to the problems.
  
  The world economies right this minute are being propped up by injections of printed money into their systems. That’s not sustainable. The only way to truly right Debt/GDP is with a strong
  manufacturing base. The longer the wait to correct the basic problems the greater will be the disaster that will occur when austerity is going to be required.
  
  Warnings coming from top notch economists forecasting collapse, are being ignored by those on the left, just ike the sub-prime collapse that started it all. Because of it we will again see catastrophe once more on an epic scale.
  
  Report this comment
- upeopleneedtogetalife
  Posted on December 26, 2012 at 10:10am
  More 3rd immigrants is certainly not the answer!
  
  http://youtu.be/iV3e1e1jMFE
  
  Report this comment
- sligresda
  Posted on December 26, 2012 at 10:22am
  @ turkey….WHO are these people making under 40 grand per year that are not paying taxes?! WHO ARE THEY? I make 31 a year and im paying about 8% in federal, 3% in state, 1% local, 4.2% (soon to be back at 6.2%, for SS that i will NEVER get, and 1.45% for medicare. this does not include sales tax, personal property tax, real estate taxes, fuel & motor vehicle taxes and fees, utility taxes and fees that i pay. these are just what i thought up off the top of my head. SO PLEASE tell me how i can be one of those people who make under 40 grand a year who do not have to pay these federal taxes, as they are the ones who are taxing me the most!
  
  Report this comment
- lordjosh
  Posted on December 26, 2012 at 10:55am
  (Blaze, your format sucks!)
  
  There is no debt, it’s all debt. We do not deal with money. We use “promises to pay”. This is about inflation. We are slaves who are used to draw the promissory notes(Dollar bills) out of the system. For instance, when someone files bankruptcy and can’t pay that interest, that money that was suppose to be drawn from the supply, isn’t. This article is to help set us up for less available notes(money). If people can’t pay the interest then they’ll squeeze the supply. It’s a completly rigged game and we are just variables that the elite manipulate to kee the hamster wheel goingb while they they horde the reall wealth and assets.
  
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- Silvertruth
  Posted on December 26, 2012 at 11:04am
  Actually, this ‘report’ is a bit biased toward a common school of thought that is becoming more popular these days: ‘Hit the debt reset button’ and forgive all debts owned and ‘move forward’. Call it the ‘Fight Club’ solution.
  
  The problem with this thinking is that it punishes nations, and by association; people in those nations that played by the rules and now are left holding the bag because they dared to lend money to other nations and people that are tired of being ‘down and in debt’. It’s a childish and immature approach to the solution that will ultimately lead to the death of capitalism. If you can’t trust someone to pay something back, you might as well go back to a barter system because all modern money is based on a debt trust system. Don’t believe it? Look at any bill in your wallet and read it: “This note is legal tender for all debts public and private”. That is what lets that piece of paper act as ‘money’. Subvert that trust and ‘money’ is worthless.
  
  While this ‘CEO Report’ has some good ideas, the idea that we must forgive debt is ludicrious. Debtors need to pay their debt. Creditors may be wise to drop interest requirements and just get their money back, but debtors must pay back the principal.
  
  We need to develop a ‘second path’ that companies and countries can join, one with higher ethical and moral obligations, but a more streamlined and less regulated path. For that you get more transparency. A new operating frame
  
  Report this comment
- Evileye
  Posted on December 26, 2012 at 11:14am
  The Government cannot even slow the growth of spending (5 or 6 Billion per day in the red)
  Let alone address the 16 plus trillion and counting.
  We can never repay this Debt. Paying the interest on it in time will become insurmountable
  We as a Nation and for several generation will see the eventual collapse of the United State As we know it.
  Read about Germany During the 1920S
  During the Wiemar Republic Collapse It took 4,200,000,000,000.Mark to buy one us Dollar.
  
  Report this comment
- @leftfighter
  Posted on December 26, 2012 at 12:10pm
  So basically what this is saying is the following:
  
  The system put into place in many nations of the West by the old Progressives (specifically by FDR & LBJ, chiefly in the U.S.) has led us into a hole that we cannot get out of, but we should embrace the old policies of today’s Progressives, specifically, higher taxes on the rich, ensuring that they will not be able to create jobs for the future.
  
  The downside to this is, of course, when the jobs don’t come, the Prolitariat will rise up against the Bougroise because their needs aren’t being met, and the evil rich aren’t giving enough back… nevermind that they’re already paying an inordinate amount of the burden as it is.
  
  So Progressivism has failed and now instead of heading back into the other direction, they’re advocating policies further to the Left but rebranding it as a Moderate position.
  
  Hello, Joe Overton. Is your Window open?
  
  Report this comment
- James
  Posted on December 26, 2012 at 2:23pm
  My understanding was we the US caused the Russians to spend them selves into oblivion. That is how we supposedly one the cold war. But now I wonder who really out spent who?
  
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- smv803
  Posted on December 26, 2012 at 2:35pm
  @proverb…..if that were to happen in the next three weeks, you can rest assured he and his family won’t make it either. This is not a threat, but a probability.
  
  Report this comment
- milez5
  Posted on December 27, 2012 at 1:46am
  Well there are a couple of things with which I take issue. They say that immigration needs to be increased. If one accepts that, at the very least one should ask, “what kind of immigration?” Right now most immigrants to this country are unskilled, non-English speakers. If indeed we need more immigrants–and it kind of makes you wonder why when we can not provide jobs or afford social services for the people we have—we should at least be able to choose which immigrants we want. We know that there is empirical evidence regarding how well different groups, and their progeny do in our country. Also, any new taxes need to be used to pay down the debt with some kind of iron clad enforcement mechanism.
  
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- teacherbil
  Posted on December 28, 2012 at 2:11am
  @Turkey13, the 16th amendment was written to tax only the wealthiest in America, and only very little. Over time it came to encompass the middle class because politicians understood that is (was) where the real wealth is (was).
  
  http://taxfoundation.org/article/us-federal-individual-income-tax-rates-history-1913-2011-nominal-and-inflation-adjusted-brackets
  
  (Scroll all the way to the bottom of the chart to the year 1913 to see how small the rates were and who they were applied to.)
  
  Report this comment
bcanddc
Posted on December 25, 2012 at 1:15pm
Let me start by saying I’m no fan of Obama. Having said that, I don’t believe that ANYBODY can turn this ship around. You either pull the band aid off fast or do it slow. Right now we’re doing it slow because nobody wants to be responsible for the tremendous and immediate pain that the other option will cause.

Instead we keep putting it off and make no mistake, we will eventually have to go through this and life as we know it in America will change for at least 50 years. There will be riots, there will be strife and perhaps even a civil war. The civil war will be fought between the makers and the takers. The makers have reached the end of their ropes for the most part. Here in California, next year, top earners will be taxed at a rate of 52% between Fed and State income tax. MORE THAN HALF OF WHAT YOU MAKE WILL BE CONFISCATED BY THE GOVERNMENT. That doesn’t even count Medicare, SSI, Disability and whatever else. Then you add in sales taxes, vehicle license fees, permit fees and on and on. We’re done, that’s enough, no more! The government is going to have to do with less, that’s the bottom line.

Doing with less means less entitlements which will trigger the takers to lash out at the makers. Throw in a little class warfare rhetoric from the Obama admin and the union bosses and you have a powder keg waiting to explode.

All I can say is, buckle up folks, it’s going to be a hard and long ride!!

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- Acena
  Posted on December 25, 2012 at 1:28pm
  Illinois isn’t far behind CA but Illinois corporate and real estate taxes have driven out small businesses and most mfg,leaving behind entire towns unemployed .
  
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- Mil-Dot
  Posted on December 25, 2012 at 1:38pm
  Man, I couldn’t have said it any better.
  
  Report this comment
- TrueColours
  Posted on December 25, 2012 at 2:47pm
  This debt is phony debt created by the globalists to create a monumental “problem” intended to get us to BEG them to “solve” at which time they (the globalists) will slowly nudge us in the direction of redistribution of our wealth, resources and eventually sovereignty to a new world government. WE don’t owe any of this fake debt so these “solutions” are just an attempt to condition us for the long road of slavery they always intended. Do not accept this. . .resist it! They have put a loaded “gun” of social chaos to our collective heads divide and conquer. Top/down, bottom/up and inside/out!!!
  
  Report this comment
- ChiefGeorge
  Posted on December 25, 2012 at 3:09pm
  I can easily agree with this scenario and its one that BHO is hoping for. He can consolidate more power via the takers. We are moving towards the absolute largest wealth confiscation this country has ever seen. NDAA will play a part in this, civil war…regionally, transfer of wealth overseas will cease and this wil cause even more chaos in the third world which has been subsidized for generations by the developed weathy nations.
  
  We’ve allowed our government to be all things to all people, not only here in the US but abroad as well. This is by plan, this is the path to the One World Government by the new World Order folks at the very top. War on a mass scale is inevitable to clear massive debts the US owes.
  
  Business in the US is no longer calling the shots, efforts against conforming to the government by just rolling over and paying uncle sam aka Barry Sotero will not succeed in changing his behaviour, instead it will blow back into their faces.
  
  What happens next is anybodys guess. It could lead to those trying to protect their last remaining wealth to pull the plug on the whole scheme and get out too fast which will cause the government to step in and say if you leave the system now, your going to pay penalties like never before.
  
  They’ve learned from watching what is happening in the EU. BHO is not going to let you off that easy.
  
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- yougottabekidding
  Posted on December 25, 2012 at 3:45pm
  Acena
  
  Ahh what are you worried about?
  The fed will give them your share!
  It’s all good
  
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- chicago76
  Posted on December 25, 2012 at 10:23pm
  Their ideas are skewed. They want immigration. That is bulls**t. So, now we realize that these guys are full of it. Why should I believe anything thereafter. We have immigration and it have ballooned the size of the welfare state. These guys are morons who are looking after their own asses and investments. They care nothing about the rest of us. You have it correct. There ain’t nothin stoppin this train except a big crash, the same with Europe. Anyone who says otherwise is just bulls**ttin you. The government knows it and everyone who is not a zombie knows it.
  
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- CINCH
  Posted on December 25, 2012 at 10:44pm
  Read somewhere that 73% of all people hired in 2010-11 were government jobs – not private sector jobs. How in the world did Obama think we could pay their salaries?
  
  Also, take it from one who lives with it……alternative energy is not less expensive. I have been “off the grid” for 15 years, using solar and back-up generator. In the winter, gas for the generator runs $200 Plus a month. On top of that you have to replace your storage batteries every four years on average and you have to replace your generator every six to seven years on average. I could sure use more solar panels, but they are so expensive I cannot afford them on my Social Security since I turned 70. Electricity rates in this neck of the woods only run $100 to $120 per month; however, it would cost $10,000 to $13,000 to bring in electricity. There are a lot of things that even the smartest “economists” do not know about. They need to take these ideas “to the street” before writing these articles. I agree something needs to change, but I am not sure how to go about it other than canceling some of our debt as suggested and getting rid of some of the government workers we are paying to do nothing.
  
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- ConservativeFirst
  Posted on December 26, 2012 at 12:24am
  Unfortunately, they aren’t even pulling the bandaid off slowly. Someone in government would have to pass some spending reform / spending cuts in order for that to be the case. Right now, it appears that the government is mostly sticking their heads in the sand and hoping that the whole thing goes away. All the while, they criticize the “tea party conservatives” for speaking the truth and for trying to actually move in the direction of buying the bandaids…..
  
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- EJ1979
  Posted on December 26, 2012 at 7:40am
  So what your saying is that we should just quit our jobs now and start collecting? lol! just kiddin.
  
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- just the facts
  Posted on December 26, 2012 at 8:51am
  @ CHIEFGEORGE
  
  “They’ve learned from watching what is happening in the EU. BHO is not going to let you off that easy”
  
  True. But blame will always go on the leader, or in this case, a so called leader. I don’t think he will be able to hide. Only a communist block country would accept him. Wait …..he will survive.
  
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- independentvoteril
  Posted on December 26, 2012 at 8:59am
  Since I live in IL I have to agree .. however the untold fact is how many TAXPAYERS are also leaving..anyone who works out of state but has their residence in IL are moving to the state they are employed in.. others who are retired but still pay taxes are packing up and getting out A.S.A.P. however if they counted how many are still COLLECTING their retirement pensions from IL while living elsewhere you would see a steady flow of cash OUT of the state.. with no taxes from their pension incomes being kept in the state.. couple that with the fact they keep raising taxes and people have decided to leave the state to do their shopping IL will be BEHIND CA shortly and they won’t have anyone left here who earns enough of an income to pay INTO the states coffers only those taking OUT..
  
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- Silvertruth
  Posted on December 26, 2012 at 12:58pm
  There is a silver lining in this and we’d all be wise to start planning for it.
  
  It is unlikely that we will have the courage to follow the moral path and make the sacrifices (over some term, let’s say 20 years) to ‘right the ship’ as you put it. That would also take 3 administrations with the moral courage to implement it and see it through.
  
  So plan for the collapse, nobody says that the left will have full control over it and if they are in charge when it happens, they will actually have LESS control over what comes out of it.
  
  Start making plans and financial capabilities for when the collapse comes and keep your kids ready for it as well:
  1. Purchase durable goods/commidities. If you are rich, gold is great, if you’re like the rest of us, Silver and other lesser goods are just fine.
  2. Develop your tradeable skills. If money is dead, you are what you do, what you bring to the table. Make certain you can do something you can barter with.
  3. Join together with others that can plan like this. A community that is prepared will wether the storm.
  4. Abandon banks in favor of credit unions. Banks are responsible to the Fed, CU’s are responsible to their customers. If money starts failing, CU’s will likely be able to switch to a more local, stable, currency quicker and with less loss than a bank. They might be able to act as a common trading hub as well if it switches to bartering.
  
  Plan, plan and plan. Be ready for the collapse.
  
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- Basharr
  Posted on December 30, 2012 at 1:13pm
  Look to Oakland Ca to get a glimpse of the future of California. I have been saying for close to 4 years now that we Americans are going to be presented with a choice what side are we going to be on? The reality this state and nation are facing is not pretty…
  
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Chuck Stein
Posted on December 25, 2012 at 1:08pm
“The size of the state should be radically reduced and immigration encouraged.” Problem is that welfare benefits keep increasing along with immigration (even though stats show outflow of illegals recently, a whole lot more stay on than otherwise would because of welfare). The folks pushing for freer immigration have a philosophical point that is enticing — but such policies cannot work with a generous welfare state.

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- Jedrin
  Posted on December 25, 2012 at 1:14pm
  You are assuming more of the immagrans are getting now. We can use the higher educated with a solid work ethic.
  
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Blacktooth
Posted on December 25, 2012 at 12:53pm
“It is not simply that the developed world has borrowed significantly from future wealth to fund today’s consumption, leading to huge burdens for the next generation. It has also reduced the potential for future economic growth, making it more difficult for the next generation to deal with this legacy.” – taken from the opening paragraph of this story.

That says it all.

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denkat56
Posted on December 25, 2012 at 12:49pm
You know my religion has been telling us get and stay out of debt, and have a 2 year supply of food. I wonder what they know that we should’ve been listening to. This religion has been preaching abstinence from drugs, alcoholic beverages, premarital sex you know the routine. Only thing is that what they’ve said has been proven to be correct, and all you can do is criticize and makes plays and laugh at them. Oh by the way don’t read their book that’s how they get you. Never mind the truth, just listen to other people’s remarks that know nothing, ie. Obama, pelosi, even the jerk harry Reid. You know the truth will set you free if you choose to use it. I wonder how long that will take, maybe four more years o f oboma and his agenda.
L

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- ChiefGeorge
  Posted on December 25, 2012 at 3:15pm
  I for one left my normalcy bias in the sand hole a few years ago. I’ve tried to encourage others to do so as well over the past several years but they continued on. Now I’m a few years down the road in preparing to bridge a gap in time that will be hard maybe even disasterous for this country called America or is it really now called Amerika? I digress!
  
  We have to be smarter than just hoarders because that is eventually going to be demonized and targeted for dismantling and raids.
  
  I’m not saying what I’m doing but just think outside the box. No man is an island is very true.
  
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FullMoon
Posted on December 25, 2012 at 12:47pm
The government wants more and more to spend, meanwhile we have a large part of the population using various benefits with more and more people signing up each day due to the continued bad economy. I don’t believe either party has the will to do what needs to be done, the house of cards will have to collapse to have hope for real reforms. The way Washington works is broken.

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- Lt_Scrounge
  Posted on December 25, 2012 at 1:42pm
  It’s called the Cloward/Piven strategy and its intention is to collapse the capitalist economy leading to a “workers’ revolt” and the implementation of a communist system. It works like this. They stand up in the legislature and in front of the press and claim that the government has to insure that people who aren’t providing for themselves are provided for. They then expand those benefits from minimal assistance to a full blown livelihood as they continue to demand that the benefits be increased and expanded to include housing, food stamps and cash assistance. Once the benefits reach a level where the recipient is receiving more than they would receive from working as a non skilled laborer, they then recruit every non skilled laborer to quit their jobs and sign up for the benefits. This then causes the GDP to fall while the burden on the taxpayers rises. The ONLY way to correct the system is to simply eliminate any welfare that doesn’t include a work component. Have the people living in the housing projects paint the walls, shovel the sidewalks and learn maintenance skills. They’ll be less likely to trash the places if they’re the ones having to clean up the mess. Have the welfare check recipients spend at least 20 – 30 hours a week picking up trash along the roads and cleaning graffiti. No work, no check. They’ll eventually develop a work ethic, or they’ll evolve themselves out of the gene pool. (aka starve to death)
  
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- Mil-Dot
  Posted on December 25, 2012 at 1:49pm
  Full,
  The reason that none of the politicians have the will to do anything is because they don’t like the feel of a hemp rope around their necks. They know that if they lift a finger to be responsible they will be demonized and they will lose re-election.They will forfeit their cushy lifestyle and 178k/year salaries(joke). They are not going to do that. This country is going to light up. Just a matter of time.
  
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- Elaine P
  Posted on December 25, 2012 at 7:46pm
  The taxes that are coming on US citizens will be given to the United Nations to implement their Agenda 21 plan, which is the same as the green movement. The UN has said they need 76 Trillion to implement their entire plan. OB is sending them Billions now. We all will be broke and penniless. It is all being done deliberate by the elitist who are hell bent on their One World Government.
  
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- chicago76
  Posted on December 25, 2012 at 10:24pm
  Ok, the workers need to take over. Right now the zombies are in charge.
  
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- bigdaddyt46
  Posted on December 26, 2012 at 5:03am
  @LT
  you are right on the money. i would also add to that, stop making it more profitable by popping out more babies. you get $1000 a month(rent/housing, food stamps, energy asst. ect) with 1 child, if you have 2 children you get $1000, you have 3 children you get $1000, and so on. this will reduce the “need” to have more kids on the tax payers dime, as well as descuraging(sp) generational welfare. in Wi for example before our welfare reform you had 6th and 7th generations on the dole.
  
  you have to make welfare so unattractive that no one wants to be on it freeing up millions of $$ in the process, as well as reducing the burden of all this women pumping out children taxing our economy.
  chris rock has it right:
  
  http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=e1b_1174976300
  
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cloudsofwar
Posted on December 25, 2012 at 12:41pm
obama wants the collaspe to happen now not later. the collaspe will result in more power for him and the rest of the fed gov. the state will run all (communism).it’s coming unless a way is found to stop him. he will spend and borrow even more in 2013 and no one in congress will try and stop him.

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- lynnissmart
  Posted on December 25, 2012 at 1:40pm
  You are right! Pos wants to revamp into more Dictatorship!
  
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lefty5005
Posted on December 25, 2012 at 12:34pm
“There will be Blood.” I am not speaking of Daniel Day Lewis either. Some type of catastrophic event and I am not talking about an earthquake or tsunami will change the United States either for the better or worse but it will not stay the same. If in fact this event should occur you can bet on two things:
The politicians will be no where around to get what is coming to them.
Someone that is wealthy, not all, is going to lose a lot of money and most will lose all.

Some house cleaning will happen and I am not totally sure, based on the current administration who will go out with the trash. I know who should but that is for another day. Who is to be disenfranchised as an American citizen. The middle class, wealthy, intelligent and providers of tax revenue and able to do skilled and professional labor or illegal immigrant, ghetto and barrio and trailor park dwellers who do all the basic skill work if they work at all. The country cannot support current entitlements at the present level for much longer. Greece is a walk in the park compared to what a similar uprising would evolve into in the US. Imagine all of a sudden 10 million people don’t get their foodstamps or welfare checks, WIC, Section 8 housing checks or insurance payouts from a fraudulent claim on a accident. In Greece you have Greeks, in America you have every race, group and nation represented and they all want their piece of the pie. Many do not want to assimilate into American culture.

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- ChiefGeorge
  Posted on December 25, 2012 at 3:23pm
  We definitely live in the spirit of the times you describe as in who Americans have allowed themselves to become and forsook what their own grandparents espoused in hardwork, honor, integrity and a healthy fear of the Lord almighty.
  
  There will be nothing restraining them…just like we witnessed after Sandy blew into town. Home to hom invasions and looting. What will be their excuse this time around?
  
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666Sucks
Posted on December 25, 2012 at 12:08pm
More communist propaganda and the Blaze goes right along with it, and I quote: “…because unless politicians begin to address the unequal distribution of income and wealth…” I can go a
Ong with declaring bankruptcy as a nation, zi don’t feel bad that China and the leaf tests here in America made loans impossible to repay.

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- lefty5005
  Posted on December 25, 2012 at 12:43pm
  “Unequal distribution of income and wealth.” So I assume you think Joe who graduated from high school, became a journeyman electrician, then a master electrician and is gainfully employed should make more than Sue who has a psychology degree from the University of Toledo. Oh, I’m sorry he already does in America. Vocational skills are at a premium, not liberal arts degrees. You think Sam who lives in the local trailor park, who is married to Winette Sally and they have 3 chillren and he left school in the 10 grade, Winette was pregnant with their first when she was in the 10th grade so they got married. Sam changes tires at the local Firestone and he should make as much as Tyrone who graduated from MIT with a degree in mechanical engineering with an emphasis on aeronautics. I tell you, I will agree CEO’s make too much money, athletes too and government employees. The biggest problem is ignorance because you would have to be ignorant to get pregnant at 15, leave school, get married and get on the govt dole for the rest of your life not unless you live in America where you can make 3k a month from all the entitlements. This is a problem.
  The job market dictates salaries and wages but if you keep giving a possum a pork chop he will never learn to find his own pork chops.
  
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- Jedrin
  Posted on December 25, 2012 at 1:11pm
  The Government is the source of unequal distribution of wealth. Large corporations and Soros /Buffett regulate and tax the competition out of existence. Every tax runes small and individual business and supports large business, larger the business the more able it is to absorb the burden until the competition is gone and then they have the market. There is a mathematical formula for revolution and that is when the difference between the average and the wealthy gets too wide it will happen. Proven throughout history the average becomes the poorest and largest group and the wealthy become a small group with excess power over the average.
  
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- Wisdom7
  Posted on December 25, 2012 at 9:05pm
  @Lefty
  
  “So I assume you think Joe who graduated from high school, became a journeyman electrician, then a master electrician and is gainfully employed should make more than Sue who has a psychology degree from the University of Toledo.”
  
  What kind of arrogant question is this? It takes 5 years of apprenticeship training and schooling just to become a journeyman electrician. And another couple of years after that to become a master electrician. One can also acquire a degree in electrical engineering. You can’t just magically “become” a journeyman licensed electrician after high school. I assume you think that Joe’s efforts were less than that of Sue? Pathetic.
  
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sbenard
Posted on December 25, 2012 at 12:03pm
Even this report only scratches at the surface of the magnitude of the debt.

By the end of this decade, the INTEREST on the debt will be $1 trillion/year, about HALF of all income tax revenue. And that’s assuming that the Fed can continue to artificially suppress interest rates FOREVER. Eventually, the bond market will rebel and refuse to buy our debt, and when that happens, it’s GAME OVER!
If we were to eliminate the deficit this year, it would require a DOUBLING of the income tax — on EVERYONE, not just the rich.
The only escape is for everyone to become totally self-reliant, without any dependency on the government.

Bottom line:
Calamity is certainty! Plan and prepare accordingly!

Experts I trust and whose writings I consult say that this crisis will occur in 1-2 YEARS, not 1-2 decades! Crisis this way comes! We’re going to be swallowed by a black hole of debt! Plan on it!

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- alinmatt
  Posted on December 25, 2012 at 12:15pm
  @sbenard, I hear ya on that. It’s no longer a matter of if, but when.
  
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- Blacktooth
  Posted on December 25, 2012 at 12:48pm
  sbenard,
  
  I think you may be right on this, it is later than we think. We need to get ourselves un-attached from the government’s. Or as the scriptures tell us, to be “no part of the world” – John 17:16
  
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watashbuddyfriend
Posted on December 25, 2012 at 11:45am
I am not sure this Blog has been worth my time to give it a casual viewing?

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- BehindBlueEyes
  Posted on December 25, 2012 at 12:08pm
  Don’t let door hit you in the azz on your way out.
  
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- Hobbs57
  Posted on December 25, 2012 at 12:18pm
  I agree brother !! Much of this is focused on the world economy, with the world looking to see just what they can slice out of what’s left of the American Pie. Quite honestly, we are in such a desperate way, we should start slices off our fat of the world. I know it is more profitable and easier to control the people with global central bodies of power, but this is the most destructive to individual freedoms. Unfortunately, this is like the times before Lincoln, and the times during and just after the great depression, where the intellectual elites of the world are being listened to, with their opinions being weighed heavily do to the downward turn of the economic conditions. Historically, the underlying problem that is never noticed nor addressed, is it is those intellects idea’s that contributed to the conditions in the first place. Well, that and the seemingly, the power moves by the heavy weight financiers. Which just made me wonder , what is the connection or correlation to the two. But I digress, the world, and America for this matter,never learn what happens when it is knowledge that prevails instead of wisdom. I am afraid with the way our technology has advanced to such levels with massive amounts of knowledge are a finger stroke away, that we have gone to far over the “cliff” of reality. Hollywood and modern societies have always promoted the idea’s of living life through projections of reality, living in tomorrow,always escaping the now. This is what results !
  
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BehindBlueEyes
Posted on December 25, 2012 at 11:42am
Welcome to the Obama-Nation where everything you learned and thought of as common sense is out the window.

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bitterclinger
Posted on December 25, 2012 at 11:34am
This isn’t the first time Business Insider has embraced the commie view. “Encourage immigration.” Give me a break. Funding illegals is one of the biggest sacred cows of this counry’s warped psyche! Obama voters are going to have to correct their cranio-rectal inversions and realize that there’s no such thing as a free lunch. Get up off your a$$ and start working!

Until the country realizes that G-d is the answer to all our problems, we’re not going to get a commonsense leader to turn around the mess we’re in.

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- Acena
  Posted on December 25, 2012 at 1:24pm
  Immigration is a huge black hole of spending and the destruction of America.
  
  From the 8 lbs of waste left around the border by each illegal to 96% of illegal drugs coming across the border to the billions spent on their medical care- including diseases they have been re-introduced to the US, 64% are collecting entitlements, work for cash so no taxes are paid,4,000 Americans murdered by illegals annually ,over 200,000 rapes and child molestations by illegals yearly ,they are 5% of the prison population and are responsible for 28% of fatal car accidents by unlicensed and drunk drivers.
  
  We’ve had 7 amnesties that have legalized tens of millions that are uneducated economic fodder and have 12-20 million currently feeding off our system. They are like a parasitic disease.
  
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Detroit paperboy
Posted on December 25, 2012 at 11:31am
I have a friend who started working a government job at 21 years old, he just retired with lifetime benefits and pension for LIFE……… He is 43……………..that’s what is bankrupting us.

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- Mil-Dot
  Posted on December 25, 2012 at 2:05pm
  That is sickening. Totally unjust.
  
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- dosdelgados
  Posted on December 25, 2012 at 3:37pm
  Military.
  
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OUTLAW_WEALTH
Posted on December 25, 2012 at 11:29am
Our government is the biggest drain on the economy we have ever had.

We could be a prosperous nation again if we canned the central planners.

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lel2007
Posted on December 25, 2012 at 11:28am
“Barack knows that we are going to have to make sacrifices; we are going to have to change our conversation; we’re going to have to change our traditions, our history; we’re going to have to move into a different place as a nation.” ~ Michelle obama

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- americansfightingforcommonsense
  Posted on December 25, 2012 at 12:30pm
  yep… Moving to those vacant Chinese cities and our country will be theirs. We have already sold ourselves to China. We just have not figured it out yet!
  
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love the kids
Posted on December 25, 2012 at 11:26am
It almost seems like this report was written by Obama. We need to address taxing the rich??? Do we borrow and print money to help the rich???, no we do that to help the poor. I would like to see a reporter ask Obummer or any Democratic lawmaker how long the tax increase on them will run the Govt., then tell them that it is simple math. Also, the idiot Boehner, when he caves, (or goes along with the Progressives like you know that he will), to add in that any health care waivers be deemed “Null and Void”, after all, they were only issued to big corps. and Unions, the ones with the highest paying jobs. And why do people automatically think that another dollar spent will mean better education. The money gets spent on feeding the kids dinner and teaching them about accepting gay folks.

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Crucial411
Posted on December 25, 2012 at 11:24am
Really? These CEOs can write all the economic B.S. they want but with a government planning the intentional destruction of the nation what good are any sound economic solutions going to do? Is government going to listen? NO There-fore all this is B.S. to them. May they choke on their laughter reading these reports all the while scheming the nations demise, These CEOS need to wake up and realize that they indeed do have an enemy in their government! Their businesses are on the chopping block intentionally, and very soon they will be government owned and run! Mr. STUPID CEO, YOU will be without your company and without YOUR job as will everyone else! Don’t think so? WAIT for it!

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- Crucial411
  Posted on December 25, 2012 at 11:29am
  America is running on STUPID!
  
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- BubbleheadDan
  Posted on December 26, 2012 at 8:45am
  Thread winner. http://www.canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/52005
  
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diverdan
Posted on December 25, 2012 at 11:23am
Let’s get more concise. Elected officials have spent recklessly for pet projects and to buy votes. Government has expanded beyond any reasonable necessity. A large portion of the population believe they are entitled to a wide variety of “things” and that it is the government’s (meaning the rest of the population) to provide it. To finance all of the above, the government has used money that should have been set aside for the promised programs (social security etc) and spent it. If any of this was done in the private sector, people would go to jail. In government, they get reelected or promoted.

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progressiveslayer
Posted on December 25, 2012 at 11:16am
From the article: because unless politicians begin to address the unequal distribution of income and wealth, they will not have the credibility to implement other painful measures needed to get the developed world back on track.

The CEO who made that comment sounds like a socialist to me,I thought the free market should determine your income not some arbitrary figure cooked up by some bureaucrat in a government building.If a pro baseball player signs a contract for 100 million then that’s what his value is to the owner of the club, it’s that simple. Only when government gets involved in making sure everyone is ‘equal’ and ensuring ‘equal’ outcomes do we run into problems. Allow the free market to work by getting government off the backs of businesses,restructure the tax code and change the course of this collectivist government to the constitutional republic that it was intended to be from our founders and we might have a chance of getting out of this mess. MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL !!

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- Trail_Jumper
  Posted on December 25, 2012 at 1:10pm
  Nice……
  
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- Walkabout
  Posted on December 25, 2012 at 1:19pm
  Peter Drucker suggested a pay scale of 60 to 1. The CEO would make roughly 60 times what the lowest paid worker would. I would suggest that welfare payments be less than what the lowest paid worker gets or there is no reason for some people to wan to work. Ben Franklin said that people could not be made to comfortable in poverty. They had to be chased out. That is a paraphrase.
  
  Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream practiced that pay scale up & until they “SOLD OUT”
  
  Regardless of the pay scale if you acquire more income via interest saving, dividends etc it should not be anyone’s business. Some people eat out more & spend more of their income. 40 years later in their adult life they will be making less than someone who is a saver on average. Do we force consumption by taking away “excess savings”? The socialists like obama & others would say yes. that is wrong.
  
  In communism at least as taught in China in the 70s & 80s They did not teach each according to his means & each according to his needs. They taught that some jobs would pay more & rightfully so.
  
  So where to draw the line. Well government should not do it. Let the market draw it. Board of directors are elected by shareholders. Shareholders can be anyone. shareholders could even be union members. Don’t tell an unionists that. They will give you a sour face & an angry retort. But over 20 years if they had spent money buying stock instead the Democrat party, they could elect a # of directors in many
  
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- Improvise.Adapt.Overcome
  Posted on December 25, 2012 at 3:30pm
  progressiveslayer
  100% agree. I think the baseball player analogy should go a step further, along with actors and singers. They all should live and die by this sword since many, not all, know better than us. If they are going to try to give us the what for, then I’m a firm believer in leadership by example.
  
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whatthecrazy
Posted on December 25, 2012 at 11:06am
Well thats comforting, it’s all about preparing us for poverty and third world liesure,great drinks for everybody and keep um coming………………..Merry Christmas

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- Wisdom7
  Posted on December 25, 2012 at 9:22pm
  “…it’s all about preparing us for poverty and third world liesure..”
  
  It reads to me like welcome to serfdom.
  
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freeberty
Posted on December 25, 2012 at 11:05am
Hopefully, during this holiday season this will give all the people receiving a government check, government pension check, social security/medicare check, a chance to tell their children and grandchildren why they decided to become parasites and steal whatever hope of a future that the coming generations should of had a chance to fulfill.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

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- hatchetjob
  Posted on December 25, 2012 at 3:29pm
  Great comment FREEBERTY, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
  
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- dcgirl
  Posted on December 26, 2012 at 11:08am
  Those that receive a social security check (not SSI) are not parasites. They have paid into the system and they should receive their money back.
  
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RollyBones
Posted on December 25, 2012 at 11:01am
No further immigration till those already here have the jobs they need to support themselves and the taxes needed to repay the humongous debt already in place! The last thing we need is for new jobless coming here to compete with those already without some form of income provided by themselves! In other words a job! Companies would like nothing more than to drive down the wages of Americans to make larger profit! i am NOT advocating unions here. I am saying that the standard of living here has to raise itself slowly not be lowered any more than it already is!

Rolly

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- Watchingtheweasels
  Posted on December 25, 2012 at 11:18am
  Good catch Rollybones. Notice how they slipped that “The size of the state should be radically reduced and immigration encouraged. Competition in labour markets through supply-side reforms should be pursued.” Now pursuing such a policy in an era of record unemployment will do nothing to repair national balance sheets as it will increase the number of people on the dole. It will however depress wages, allowing corporations to increase profit margins and the value of executive stock options.
  
  I see what you did there.
  
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Snowleopard {gallery of cat folks}
Posted on December 25, 2012 at 10:55am
And many who read this will wonder, why is the MSM of the left and their guru’s not bothering to tell people? Hard times are coming.

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- randy
  Posted on December 25, 2012 at 11:02am
  They sure are snow….
  
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- DadRocked
  Posted on December 25, 2012 at 2:00pm
  SNOW aka KNOW…
  
  Happy HOLY DAYS to you…
  Hard Times are a coming and we will need to lean on each other…
  
  GOS Bless Us…
  
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- ChiefGeorge
  Posted on December 25, 2012 at 3:33pm
  Yep! They know how to speak to their own! We have to understand the codes being passed as well.
  
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