Exactly what we've all been afraid of.

Oh please, Da Messiah should save us. Maybe Da Messiah should bow before the King of Saudi Arabia again or kiss Hu Jintao's ass.

Why are people so amazed that Boehner cries for our future?

Quote :

"American government debt from "stable" to "negative". S&P suggests that America's leaders might struggle to address the country's medium- and long-term fiscal challenges within two years, which development might lead to the loss of the government's AAA rating. "

http://www.economist.com/blogs/freeexchange/2011/04/american_government_debt_6?fsrc=scn/tw/te/bl/newsandnews

4/19/2011 12:03:29 AM

Maybe boehner should have cried a little harder 25 years ago when he and the rest of the politicians could have done something to prevent this inevitability

[Edited on April 19, 2011 at 12:13 AM. Reason : Long time in the making]

4/19/2011 12:12:57 AM

which certainly means we shouldn't do anything about it right now, right?

4/19/2011 12:13:47 AM

Stifling research and crippling the working class aren’t how you restore credibility.

4/19/2011 12:15:23 AM

^^ absolutely do something. But trying to assign blame in terms of todays politics is ridiculous

4/19/2011 12:20:02 AM

true. but whoever successfully blames the other guy ends up getting elected

4/19/2011 12:22:59 AM

Maybe america can get a low intro APR card and begin to build better credit.

4/19/2011 12:24:21 AM

American politicians spend my money worse than my baby mama spends my money

4/19/2011 12:25:52 AM

^^^ also true. But that's the same bullshit way of thinking that allowed politicians to get us all into this situation.

[Edited on April 19, 2011 at 12:26 AM. Reason : Let's not perpetuate it]

4/19/2011 12:26:08 AM

I love threads where the length of the sentences seem to all be the close to the same length

4/19/2011 12:26:32 AM

wat?

4/19/2011 12:27:20 AM

[Edited on April 19, 2011 at 12:27 AM. Reason : DAMMIT FRED ]

4/19/2011 12:27:32 AM

pwnt.

4/19/2011 12:28:38 AM

as our minority populations grow, our credit will get worse.

everyone knew this going in, deal with it, bitches.

4/19/2011 12:39:57 AM

Now all the BRIC countries wanna get mad because the Westernized money movements are choking their impoverished people with rising food prices.

[Edited on April 19, 2011 at 12:59 AM. Reason : ]

4/19/2011 12:48:33 AM

Quote :

"Let's not perpetuate it"

4/19/2011 1:01:14 AM

^^ why the edit?

4/19/2011 1:04:26 AM

Quote :

"Stifling research and crippling the working class aren’t how you restore credibility."

Sigh.

In 2009 47% of Americans paid zero income tax or received a net gain by filing. It's likely to be less for fiscal year 2010. Lose the OMG they're soaking the middle class (however the fuck you're defining that) mantra. The top 1% of earners paid 37% of the total taxes in 2009, the top 10% paid 70% of total federal taxes. The idea that the middle class is shouldering the burden and the wealthy get off paying nothing is simply untrue. Yes, our loophole ridden tax system allows for the super rich to high accountants to exploit the system and pay less percentage wise than someone a couple tax brackets down, but they're still paying for a huge percentage of all taxes collected.

Get your facts straight about who is paying for things and then we can talk. Our debt crisis is a function of excessive outlay, not a lack of money coming into the coffers. Start seriously examining cutting things that eat up the bulk of the budget; defense, entitlements, and social security.

The other growing concern should be the fact that we are at the tipping point, when 51% of the population can make the other 49% pay for everything we're going to be fucked. Where's the incentive for fiscal responsibility when you don't pay for anything?

4/19/2011 1:05:19 AM

everyone realizes S&P were a major force in causing the recession right?

4/19/2011 1:12:04 AM

Quote :

"as our minority populations grow, our credit will get worse."

Looks like we need another holocaust.

Raise your hand if you're with me!



These bitches go down for some hatred, how about you?

4/19/2011 1:16:24 AM

What's really cool about complex financial arguments is that everyone has an opinion even though it's completely quantifiable science.

But when a firm like S&P indicates that the outlook on American credit is being downgraded, I think it's pretty clear that our government's fiscal practices are beginning to come into question.

I would trade in the satisfaction of being right for having a country that's financially stable any day.

4/19/2011 1:51:04 AM

Shoulda listened to this guy:

4/19/2011 2:13:32 AM

why the fuck are all these political threads in chit chat

4/19/2011 2:14:21 AM

A) Chit Chat is The Soap Box #2
B) It's a metaphor for how abysmal and unnecessary politics have become
C) Users are unaware that there is a Soap Box section where they can opine and satisfy their political blue balls.

4/19/2011 2:17:24 AM

Quote :

"I would trade in the satisfaction of being right for having a country that's financially stable any day."

Well yeah, but then we would have even more smug satisfaction when we laughed at Greece.

4/19/2011 2:22:49 AM

haha

4/19/2011 2:32:46 AM

Quote :

"In 2009 47% of Americans paid zero income tax or received a net gain by filing "

I love when I see this one trotted out...as if 47% of Americans hadn't been paying FEDERAL taxes for decades or some shit. Get a damn clue.

Quote :

" But when a firm like S&P indicates that the outlook on American credit is being downgraded, I think it's pretty clear that our government's fiscal practices are beginning to come into question."

You mean the same firms who lied about the credit quality of MBSs and CDOs at worst or more generally just missed the entire housing bubble at best? This is a company we should give two shits about regarding their opinion?

[Edited on April 19, 2011 at 7:18 AM. Reason : .]

4/19/2011 7:16:32 AM

Quote :

"You mean the same firms who lied about the credit quality of MBSs and CDOs at worst or more generally just missed the entire housing bubble at best? This is a company we should give two shits about regarding their opinion? "

Haha, for reals. Thank you.

4/19/2011 8:29:54 AM

Quote :

"Exactly what we've all been afraid of."

speak for yourself

fuck S&P

4/19/2011 8:33:09 AM

Quote :

"You mean the same firms who lied about the credit quality of MBSs and CDOs at worst or more generally just missed the entire housing bubble at best? This is a company we should give two shits about regarding their opinion?"

heh.

4/19/2011 9:00:49 AM

I looked at the title of this thread and knew exactly who posted it.

4/19/2011 9:15:32 AM

Title is misleading. The federal gov'ment's credit rating hasn't been officially downgraded. S&P is just speculating.

4/19/2011 9:37:10 AM

depends on whether boneheaded republicans get their way and cause us to default lol

4/19/2011 9:46:51 AM

Quote :

"I love when I see this one trotted out...as if 47% of Americans hadn't been paying FEDERAL taxes for decades or some shit. Get a damn clue. "

Not that I expect anything different from you, but... they fucking haven't.

43% in 2006, in 2007 it was only 38%, it jumped to 49% in 2008. 47% in 2009, with fiscal year 2010 expected to be at or near 50%. From 1950 until 2002 it was never higher than 26%, with a low of 16% in 1968.

It's only very recently that it has spiked this high, primarily due to the expansion of child tax credits. In fact, the largest increase in those with zero or negative tax liability has been in the last decade, from 2001 on it has skyrocketed.

[Edited on April 19, 2011 at 11:17 AM. Reason : afsdasf]

4/19/2011 11:16:46 AM

Good article on Slate about how Congress could fix the deficit by literally doing nothing.

http://www.slate.com/id/2291054/

It's not exactly the best course of action to take, but it does show that everyone in Congress is a fucking idiot.

4/19/2011 11:33:06 AM

Quote :

"Not that I expect anything different from you, but... they fucking haven't. 43% in 2006, in 2007 it was only 38%, it jumped to 49% in 2008. 47% in 2009, with fiscal year 2010 expected to be at or near 50%. From 1950 until 2002 it was never higher than 26%, with a low of 16% in 1968. It's only very recently that it has spiked this high, primarily due to the expansion of child tax credits. In fact, the largest increase in those with zero or negative tax liability has been in the last decade, from 2001 on it has skyrocketed."

I'm no economist, but maybe it has something to do with this:

4/19/2011 11:52:18 AM

whoa, since when did chit chat become the new soap box?



Get this shit out of here!


oh and here's a picture of a kitten in a hat

4/19/2011 12:15:10 PM

Maybe it's because people know more about Jersey Shore than they do about politics that actually affect them and others are trying to educate them.

4/19/2011 12:50:37 PM

I don't need to be "educated" on politics by the likes of tww in chit chat. I come to chit chat to forget about such things for awhile.

4/19/2011 12:54:47 PM

4/19/2011 12:55:52 PM

I think being in chit chat is justified. This shit is becomming ever more relevant when it starts to directly affect you, through shit like gas prices and the government nearly shutting down due to incompetence which would have stopped payment to government employees

4/19/2011 12:57:06 PM

But... but... I have to rrrreeeeeeeeeeaddddddddddddd

4/19/2011 12:58:48 PM

4/19/2011 1:04:39 PM

You are the reason America sucks.

4/19/2011 1:05:23 PM

4/19/2011 1:08:22 PM

Quote :

"Quote : "You mean the same firms who lied about the credit quality of MBSs and CDOs at worst or more generally just missed the entire housing bubble at best? This is a company we should give two shits about regarding their opinion?"

Actually quite the contrary since the firms were bailed out by tax dollars, we as taxpayers should see ourselves as shareholders in the banks and care even more what they think since the Fed wasn't willing to let them die. Obviously the banks have been federalized, and S&P is now biting one of the hands that fed them because the major Wall Street firms are being bought by European countries.

Since this is chit-chat anyway, I think the ultimate answer to the windwill beard paradox that no argument can possibly be valid is that I am going to expatriate to the UK where the currency exchange actually does equate to something like 10 dollars / gal after you do the conversion of lbs / liters. And the petrol has lower octane too.

I am a conservative who is in favor of allowing the Bush-era tax cuts to expire while cutting back on social programs. Both sides of the aisle are wrong, and that is really our only option. I really hope that Americans wake up and recall any Congressman or Senator who votes to raise the debt ceiling: http://www.usdebtclock.org/
The deficit surpassed the entire GDP of the economy this year.

4/19/2011 2:31:53 PM

get a job.

4/19/2011 2:32:22 PM

Demand for treasuries increased after the S&P announcement?

4/19/2011 2:49:07 PM

thread title is a lie

4/19/2011 2:49:33 PM