• Art Baker

    Even funnier is that the world’s largest bank (Citibank) had to bail itself out by borrowing money from Dubai at 3x the going interest rate.

  • Art Baker

    Even funnier is that the world’s largest bank (Citibank) had to bail itself out by borrowing money from Dubai at 3x the going interest rate.

  • http://thethoughtsofroger.blogspot.com/ Roger Ritthaler

    It shouldn’t “embarass” us. It should SCARE us because the money we use will lose more of its relative value against goods & services.

  • http://thethoughtsofroger.blogspot.com/ Roger Ritthaler

    It shouldn’t “embarass” us. It should SCARE us because the money we use will lose more of its relative value against goods & services.

  • jack

    It’s bad enough in an of itself that the money for the war is borrowed, it’s worse that there even is a war. The worst thing though is that George Bush has been able to scare enough people to vote for him because it has allowed him to put their hands, and ours, on the bag and he’s going to leave us holding it while he is down in Crawford, clearing brush. Because that’s just about the only thing that really interests him.

    That day in September was not a good one for America, but compared to the damage that George Bush and his government has inflicted on the United States and the world for decades to come, it’s nothing more than a pothole in the road to history.

  • jack

    It’s bad enough in an of itself that the money for the war is borrowed, it’s worse that there even is a war. The worst thing though is that George Bush has been able to scare enough people to vote for him because it has allowed him to put their hands, and ours, on the bag and he’s going to leave us holding it while he is down in Crawford, clearing brush. Because that’s just about the only thing that really interests him.

    That day in September was not a good one for America, but compared to the damage that George Bush and his government has inflicted on the United States and the world for decades to come, it’s nothing more than a pothole in the road to history.

  • Not to mention

    Don’t forget Bush’s tax cuts aren’t actually tax cuts, they are just deferred with interest (National Debt). Americans are tragically ignorant about matters of economics and finance. Far too many have bought into the failed supply side argument for the last 25+ years.

    It doesn’t work, read a book people.

  • Not to mention

    Don’t forget Bush’s tax cuts aren’t actually tax cuts, they are just deferred with interest (National Debt). Americans are tragically ignorant about matters of economics and finance. Far too many have bought into the failed supply side argument for the last 25+ years.

    It doesn’t work, read a book people.

  • IgniteMe

    Sorry I can’t give a link – but I read that the deficit is up to 9 Trillion leveraged out to 50 Trillion with interest… So effin’ sad. :(

  • IgniteMe

    Sorry I can’t give a link – but I read that the deficit is up to 9 Trillion leveraged out to 50 Trillion with interest… So effin’ sad. :(

  • james igoe

    It’s not that we’re borrowing to pay for the war, it is a wealth transfer, such that the US people/government/economy will ‘borrow’ money to pay oil companies, defense manufacturers, and security contractors. It is not a coincidence that the people in power are heavily involved in said same industries.

    War is about wealth acquisition and wealth transfer, as much as it is about economics and security.

  • james igoe

    It’s not that we’re borrowing to pay for the war, it is a wealth transfer, such that the US people/government/economy will ‘borrow’ money to pay oil companies, defense manufacturers, and security contractors. It is not a coincidence that the people in power are heavily involved in said same industries.

    War is about wealth acquisition and wealth transfer, as much as it is about economics and security.

  • DrJohn

    And the “foreign aid” that we yearly give to Israel and others is also borrowed.

  • DrJohn

    And the “foreign aid” that we yearly give to Israel and others is also borrowed.

  • http://www.epinions.com/user-brad Brad Engelmann

    While it is true that we are borrowing the money, the fact is we are simply printing it. Our money is not based on anything, other than a promise to repay it. Our money is not backed by anything. It is not tied to anything, like it once was with gold. So our money is only as good as our promise to repay it.

    This is true for any loans. People just don’t get this. So when we need more money we call China and say “we need to borrow some money, will you loan it to us?” China says “yes, we’ll loan you $100 billion dollars at 7%.” Do you think China sends us $100 billion? No. We create a note on our balance sheet that says we owe China another $100 billion and then guess what happens?

    We print the money we just borrowed.

    So while it may seem like we are borrowing all this money and technically we are, this can go on indefinitely. If you look at it this way, it is obvious the system is broken. But clearly, policy makers realize how much we pay in interest every year. Since this is all monopoly money essentially, whenever we run out we simply go out and borrow more, which is to say we essentially just create more money.

    I don’t know if that sounded complicated, but it’s really very simple.

    So if you’re worrying about this, don’t. When we run out of more money, we’ll just borrow more.

  • The Savage Coconut

    Every citizen of the United States should research the origin of the Federal Reserve and the IRS. The Federal Reserve is PRIVATE BANKS! It is NOT “run” by the government. The FED prints the money and then LOANS it to the US Government with INTEREST due for each dollar. These “banks” have been funding both sides of wars for almost a hundred years. They have minipulated public perception (ie. WWI, WWII, Vietnam, 9/11, stock market crash in the 1920′s) to make the US public believe that they MUST go to war to “defend freedom”. We are all being screwed by the greedy bankers. For starters, check out Alan Russo’s movie “America: Freedom to Fascism”. –TSC

  • http://www.epinions.com/user-brad Brad Engelmann

    While it is true that we are borrowing the money, the fact is we are simply printing it. Our money is not based on anything, other than a promise to repay it. Our money is not backed by anything. It is not tied to anything, like it once was with gold. So our money is only as good as our promise to repay it.

    This is true for any loans. People just don’t get this. So when we need more money we call China and say “we need to borrow some money, will you loan it to us?” China says “yes, we’ll loan you $100 billion dollars at 7%.” Do you think China sends us $100 billion? No. We create a note on our balance sheet that says we owe China another $100 billion and then guess what happens?

    We print the money we just borrowed.

    So while it may seem like we are borrowing all this money and technically we are, this can go on indefinitely. If you look at it this way, it is obvious the system is broken. But clearly, policy makers realize how much we pay in interest every year. Since this is all monopoly money essentially, whenever we run out we simply go out and borrow more, which is to say we essentially just create more money.

    I don’t know if that sounded complicated, but it’s really very simple.

    So if you’re worrying about this, don’t. When we run out of more money, we’ll just borrow more.

  • The Savage Coconut

    Every citizen of the United States should research the origin of the Federal Reserve and the IRS. The Federal Reserve is PRIVATE BANKS! It is NOT “run” by the government. The FED prints the money and then LOANS it to the US Government with INTEREST due for each dollar. These “banks” have been funding both sides of wars for almost a hundred years. They have minipulated public perception (ie. WWI, WWII, Vietnam, 9/11, stock market crash in the 1920′s) to make the US public believe that they MUST go to war to “defend freedom”. We are all being screwed by the greedy bankers. For starters, check out Alan Russo’s movie “America: Freedom to Fascism”. –TSC

  • Michael B

    It’s possible to profit from a stock by shorting it. For example, if you work for IBM and have invested a lot of time and energy into developing your career in IBM, it would be prudent to buy a derivatives contract that allows you to short IBM stock and recoup your losses if the company collapses.

    Since we live in America, it would be helpful if we could make the same hedge. What’s the best way to do this?

  • Michael B

    It’s possible to profit from a stock by shorting it. For example, if you work for IBM and have invested a lot of time and energy into developing your career in IBM, it would be prudent to buy a derivatives contract that allows you to short IBM stock and recoup your losses if the company collapses.

    Since we live in America, it would be helpful if we could make the same hedge. What’s the best way to do this?

  • Scott

    This video summarizes this catastrophic problem we are now just begging to understand. If we do not fix this problem now this country will DIE.

    I encourage all U.S. Citizens (this issue is no limited to the US) to view this video and pass it along to any one with half a brain.

    http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5232639329002339531

  • Scott

    This video summarizes this catastrophic problem we are now just begging to understand. If we do not fix this problem now this country will DIE.

    I encourage all U.S. Citizens (this issue is no limited to the US) to view this video and pass it along to any one with half a brain.

    http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5232639329002339531

  • dazian

    Its the Invetment authority Emirate of Abu Dhabi not DUBAI!!

  • dazian

    Its the Invetment authority Emirate of Abu Dhabi not DUBAI!!

  • xoc

    Why would you expect to have enough money to create such death and destruction on the other side of the planet? War is expensive, especially with your Blackwaters and Halliburtons milking it for all it is worth.

    The truly amazing thing is that the rest of the world has aided and abetted this disgusting, immoral crime by loaning their money and continuing to trade with the USA.

  • xoc

    Why would you expect to have enough money to create such death and destruction on the other side of the planet? War is expensive, especially with your Blackwaters and Halliburtons milking it for all it is worth.

    The truly amazing thing is that the rest of the world has aided and abetted this disgusting, immoral crime by loaning their money and continuing to trade with the USA.

  • Pingback: The American economy | kenswain.com

  • nikolai

    What’s really bad is that we are using a fiat money system so our currency isn’t worth a damn anyway (really, how can someone be worth 500 billion dollars???) AND we’re borrowing BILLIONS for the Iraq war? How are we EVER going to pay back legitimate currency with bogus currency? Answer: WE’RE NOT. Once the oil in Iraq is secured, (if ever) we will be using it here in America, so we won’t be able to pay China back with it. The elite are just looking ahead a few months at a time the way they have all along, to hell with the long-term financial picture as long as they get their end-of-the-month, end-of-the-quarter and end-of-the-year profits and bonuses. China will be mighty pissed-off when they finally figure out they won’t be getting their money back(let alone interest)then they will sell off all their American “assets” and we will all be FUC*ED. This could be China’s grand plan anyway, since China tradionally views the U.S. as the ENEMY.

    One more thing, on the fiat money system (where the banks bail them selves out by simply printing more money for themselves frequently with NO accountability, don’t believe me, google Federal Reserve System) the dollar has become worth less than a typical American might think. Remember the NY stockbroker a couple of years ago who retired and received 854 million? Outrageous you say, but really, the dollar is worth so little that probably 854 million was not out of line, at least not for his financial strata. Americans just don’t realize how bad it is yet, but they’re getting the big picture. There will soon be a defining economic event (ala black Monday) and everyone will try to pull their liquid assets. Of course, the banks DON’T HAVE those assets (as they are mired down in debt just like their credit card and mortgage borrowers) so there will be nationwide pandemonium and worldwide reprecussions. Then of course, the U.S. will start a major war with someone to try to get back on it’s feet financially.

  • nikolai

    What’s really bad is that we are using a fiat money system so our currency isn’t worth a damn anyway (really, how can someone be worth 500 billion dollars???) AND we’re borrowing BILLIONS for the Iraq war? How are we EVER going to pay back legitimate currency with bogus currency? Answer: WE’RE NOT. Once the oil in Iraq is secured, (if ever) we will be using it here in America, so we won’t be able to pay China back with it. The elite are just looking ahead a few months at a time the way they have all along, to hell with the long-term financial picture as long as they get their end-of-the-month, end-of-the-quarter and end-of-the-year profits and bonuses. China will be mighty pissed-off when they finally figure out they won’t be getting their money back(let alone interest)then they will sell off all their American “assets” and we will all be FUC*ED. This could be China’s grand plan anyway, since China tradionally views the U.S. as the ENEMY.

    One more thing, on the fiat money system (where the banks bail them selves out by simply printing more money for themselves frequently with NO accountability, don’t believe me, google Federal Reserve System) the dollar has become worth less than a typical American might think. Remember the NY stockbroker a couple of years ago who retired and received 854 million? Outrageous you say, but really, the dollar is worth so little that probably 854 million was not out of line, at least not for his financial strata. Americans just don’t realize how bad it is yet, but they’re getting the big picture. There will soon be a defining economic event (ala black Monday) and everyone will try to pull their liquid assets. Of course, the banks DON’T HAVE those assets (as they are mired down in debt just like their credit card and mortgage borrowers) so there will be nationwide pandemonium and worldwide reprecussions. Then of course, the U.S. will start a major war with someone to try to get back on it’s feet financially.

  • peace

    Thanks to the president we will soon borrow more money to pay for another war which we will probably lose and spend millions and millions more.

  • peace

    Thanks to the president we will soon borrow more money to pay for another war which we will probably lose and spend millions and millions more.

  • Al Alias

    The real kicker is not only must we borrow to pay for our war, but despite that fact, we loan out large amounts of that borrowed cash and actually just give away vast amounts of it to certain other nations. Yes, “give.” Even while the number of our own citizens living in poverty continues to grow. And, as if that weren't already just about as absurd as it could possibly be, many of the nations that we provide economic assistance to aren't necessarily even our “friends” in any sense of the word.


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