Saturday, June 19, 2010

The bailouts roll on...

The pressure is building in the media for a federal bailout of the states, and Barry has started making noise about it, too.

Hey, that's what we need! More imaginary money to keep paying for stuff we can't afford!

It's time to start taking a hard look at the necessities of what a government must provide as opposed to things it's nice to have. What's more important? The major crimes squad or the media center in the children's library? The downtown viaduct or the domed stadium?

(Of course, personally, I'm in favor of selling it all off and starting from scratch, but I'm all wookie-suiter like that. Still, we're going to have to start moving in the Making Serious Cuts direction, or we're going to start looking like the Eurozone, and I'll bet folks in Jersey can throw a riot every bit as good as Athenians.)

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

"Increased government spending improves the economy. So, if the economy worsens, we must not have spent enough." The day will come when the smallest denomination is the $10,000 coin.
At some point, you have to ask: Is it incompetence or maliciousness?
When I put on my tinfoil hat, I think Barry is trying to bankrupt the country to make the communization easier.

Tam said...

Is that what Bush was doing, too?

(A real conspiranoiac would answer "Of course!" ;) )

Unknown said...

Let's not pretend that a democracy is capable of austerity. Greece isn't going to abide by their cuts, and they've got a sugardaddy to appease. We won't have a sugardaddy.

Austerity in America is inflation. The private sector will swoon from the blood loss, and we'll have a command economy in 2 years.

Brian J. said...

Being in gov means never having to make priorities. It's all absolutely of the highest importance.

Divemedic said...

Read this post, and you will see that out of control spending has been going on for at least the last 6 presidents

Divemedic said...

OOps, link didn't work.

http://street-pharmacy.blogspot.com/2009/02/trillion-dollars.html

Earl said...

Not that I don't know the end of Capitalism, Democracy, the American Republic and Western Civilization are dead or dying quicker than the participants can analyze -- but what are you paying attention to TIME for?
Aren't they still against Handguns, and isn't that alone proof that they aren't to be trusted? Or was that the point - not to be trusted.

Unknown said...

Since "they" took over Congress and gave us the FY 2007 budget, you'll note the quantum leap in deficit spending--which has been even more dramatically increased this year. The House Appropriations Committee must approve what a president can only suggest.

So, yeah, a $10,000 paper note is likely--since "they" won't be able to buy the raw materials for coinage. :-)

Get your tactical wheelbarrow all set up to carry your pay to the grocery for the little dab of food it will buy.

Got gold?

Art

Montie said...

Here's a fun fact. has anyone noticed that the Dems in the Senate and the House have yet to come up with a budget? they really don't want us to see what they have planned, as far as spending goes, until after Nov.

Bubblehead Les. said...

TANSTAAFL, TANSTAAFL,TANSTAAFL, I tell you 3 times!

Joe in PNG said...

Let's spread the Federal blame a bit too, because the voters deserve a share.

I mean, it's the voters who say "Throw all the bums out... except mine."

The voters who want spending cuts... except for the stuff that may benefit them.

And it is often the voter who approves the little things- the new stadium, or the $.05 tax for the new Media center, or the ballot measure to reduce class sizes.

And they have been doing it for decades. So it is only natural for the politicians to think that more pork, more bailouts, more raids on the Federal piggy bank will work. It's worked so far.

Sure, on occasion there may be a fad for reducing the size of the .gov. But it tends to swiftly fade away. If the voters were serious about cuts, they would be constant about urging cuts. They would turn down the pork. But that don't happen.

Unknown said...

Supposedly it originated in 1797 with some preacher: "Democracy is a wonderful system, until the people discover that they can vote themselves largesse from the public coffers."

Okay, fine, but the politicians are so eager to buy votes that they lose sight of the limits to spending for that purpose.

Pardon my cynicism: "Hey, groovy; buy votes, but stay within budget when doing that!"

Anonymous said...

Art: "Got gold?"

Having some gold as a hedge against God only knows what is a good idea. But as for fungibility for those groceries, etc., not so much.

Gold is $1200+ for a coin the size of a silver dollar or a bar the size of two postage stamps. Best to use for larger transactions: land, and other um, necessities.

But speaking of a silver dollar, if you have a post-plan that includes hard money, that's where your store of day-to-day spending money should be. But not silver dollars themselves (which generally command a premium above silver value), but dollars in other silver coins; dimes, quarters and half-dollars. A ton of this is getting cashed in due to increased silver prices, and it is available right now for about $13-$14 per dollar of face value. That would be 25 grams of 90% silver which, with pure spot silver prices above $19 ozt., is...$13-$14 per dollar; you get all of the silver you pay for.

Plus, these coins are recognized for what they are everywhere in the world. And it would do my heart good to know that WWII era Mercury dime is doing what it was meant to do; buying me that ten-cent $1.50 drink or whatever.

FWIW, I buy and sell about 10K per week of gold and silver from customers as a function of my son's vintage and custom jewelry shop. With the runup in metals, a lot of what I buy, including these coins, goes to my refinery after we cherrypick for the showcase. But I don't "speculate"; I buy based on the market and sell the same way, at a margin of 10-15%. You can find plenty of smart folks who will tell you gold will soon be $2000 and silver $50. Could be. Or it could be $5. That has happened before in 1980 and I was there. I saw a lot of money lost and some people ruined. So like I said, I don't speculate.

But having a couple hundred bucks in face value of solid silver American history, including Mercs and Liberty halves dating to the teens? Fun and smart, too.

Flea Bay has a ton of these right now for about what I can get from my refiner, buying by the roll gets you the best price; don't let some coin shop sell you at a premium.

AT
wv: cando...that was the attitude about the time these coins were circulating; maybe there's a correlation?

Ian Argent said...

Reading the first paragraph of that story reminded me - that's my governor! Odd that in almost 20 years of living in this state I can say I'm proud of the guy in the Governor's mansion. The handwaving freakoutery on the part of the public "servant" class has been epic; you should hear some of the ads run by the unions. (Which have apparently not worked - there was one recently that exhorted listeners to call the governor's office and whine that the budget cuts would mean doom, gloom and boom for the police and fire services!!1!! The Guv claims not to have gotten any calls...) The "death threat/joke" email referenced is just the cherry on the top of a whopping hatred/fear sundae from the usual suspects.

Unfortunately, the timing is very bad to put him on a presidential ticket - NJ election cycle lags a year behind the national one. Which hasn't stopped some optimists.