National Debt Clock Runs Out of Digits

We should all be dissapointed that we’ve allowed our government to run up a 10 trillion dollar debt. That’s roughly $33k for each US citizen.

Boy, Jerry can’t afford that. On closer thought, neither can I…

I’ll just say “I told you so” in advance. Here’s another opinion.

That said, maybe I can move onto something else less controversial… like politics!

I’m slowing coming to accept that politics is really a popularity contest. Democracy (at least in the US) is an extension of playground rules - say whatever you want, make as many promises as you can, because when the popularity vote happens the winner will get his/her day in the sun. It doesn’t matter how far you stretch the truth, or how much you sell your soul to get those votes - the only potential accountability is that you won’t win the contest again.

Today, I faxed the House Republicans who originally voted NO, urging them to stand their ground. Sadly, the Senate bill includes pathetic amounts of pork targeted specifically at those representatives….

I’ve also begun faxing the Blue Dog Coalition. Mish lined up the fax numbers in a nice easy format for my faxing program, but coincidentally I discovered the Blue Dogs yesterday before his post (how about them apples?)

I hope that Congress will put this awful Paulson bill behind them and focus on creating a better plan. By this time, there have been many alternatives created and there are many other models to follow.

I’d like to get back to regular blogging about Jerry, my lack of discipline, … but until we have a reasonable way forward, I’ve got to stay diligent!

More faxes going out tonight. A thank you note to the 228 house members who voted against the bill and more opposition to the 205 who didn’t, along with the Senate.

Here’s a great article that just reinforces the stupidity and immorality of the current bill. You can read the full text here.

The Treasury plan also does not explicitly include an HOLC-style program to reduce across the board the debt burden of the distressed household sector; without such a component the debt overhang of the household sector will continue to depress consumption spending and will exacerbate the current economic recession. Thus, the Treasury plan is a disgrace: a bailout of reckless bankers, lenders and investors that provides little direct debt relief to borrowers and financially stressed households and that will come at a very high cost to the US taxpayer. And the plan does nothing to resolve the severe stress in money markets and interbank markets that are now close to a systemic meltdown. It is pathetic that Congress did not consult any of the many professional economists that have presented - many on the RGE Monitor Finance blog forum - alternative plans that were more fair and efficient and less costly ways to resolve this crisis. This is again a case of privatizing the gains and socializing the losses; a bailout and socialism for the rich, the well-connected and Wall Street. And it is a scandal that even Congressional Democrats have fallen for this Treasury scam that does little to resolve the debt burden of millions of distressed home owners.