According to Standard & Poor's, France has a better chance of remaining solvent than the U.S. Has it really come to this? Here's what Standard & Poor's has to say about this.
"Because the U.S. has, relative to its [triple a] peers, what we consider to be very large budget deficits and rising government indebtedness and the path to addressing these is not clear to us, we have revised our outlook on the long-term rating to negative from stable."
When you think of the U.S.'s rampant - loathsome, rather - government spending over this last business cycle, coupled with promise after promise of even more spending in the future, is it really such a shocker? History is rife with examples of the government enacting deleterious, if not disastrous, policies following economic crises (Hoover, Roosevelt, we're looking at you). The "Great Recession," as the last few years have been coined, is no exception. Former White House Chief of Staff, Rahm Emanuel, said it best: "Never let a serious crisis go to waste." With an average of about 1.6 trillion dollars added to the government debt on a yearly basis since President Obama took office, our politicians certainly took full advantage of our economic crises to excuse their spending. Debt as a percentage of GDP has risen to 25 percent. And what did we get for it? Continued high unemployment and a 2000 page healthcare bill that promises to continue this spending binge for decades to come.
Numerous op-ed pieces have been published lambasting the credit agency's credibility after their misdiagnosis of certain companies that played a prominent role in the credit meltdown of late. But the sheer fact that Standard & Poor's would put it out there that the U.S. is in danger, especially following what is reported to be pretty direct pressure from the big man himself, speaks volumes. It indicates that not only is government too big, but it's likely to be precariously off kilter from what is even sustainable, much less ideal.
In any event, let's hope the silver lining out of all this is that Congress and the Administration begin to really feel the pressure to rein in the spending. Maybe small government, or small-ER government, is on the horizon. We are, after all, a nation founded on the principles of individualism and small government. We are not tax and spend France and we don't need government middle-manning our generosity and good intentions.
"Because the U.S. has, relative to its [triple a] peers, what we consider to be very large budget deficits and rising government indebtedness and the path to addressing these is not clear to us, we have revised our outlook on the long-term rating to negative from stable."
When you think of the U.S.'s rampant - loathsome, rather - government spending over this last business cycle, coupled with promise after promise of even more spending in the future, is it really such a shocker? History is rife with examples of the government enacting deleterious, if not disastrous, policies following economic crises (Hoover, Roosevelt, we're looking at you). The "Great Recession," as the last few years have been coined, is no exception. Former White House Chief of Staff, Rahm Emanuel, said it best: "Never let a serious crisis go to waste." With an average of about 1.6 trillion dollars added to the government debt on a yearly basis since President Obama took office, our politicians certainly took full advantage of our economic crises to excuse their spending. Debt as a percentage of GDP has risen to 25 percent. And what did we get for it? Continued high unemployment and a 2000 page healthcare bill that promises to continue this spending binge for decades to come.
Numerous op-ed pieces have been published lambasting the credit agency's credibility after their misdiagnosis of certain companies that played a prominent role in the credit meltdown of late. But the sheer fact that Standard & Poor's would put it out there that the U.S. is in danger, especially following what is reported to be pretty direct pressure from the big man himself, speaks volumes. It indicates that not only is government too big, but it's likely to be precariously off kilter from what is even sustainable, much less ideal.
In any event, let's hope the silver lining out of all this is that Congress and the Administration begin to really feel the pressure to rein in the spending. Maybe small government, or small-ER government, is on the horizon. We are, after all, a nation founded on the principles of individualism and small government. We are not tax and spend France and we don't need government middle-manning our generosity and good intentions.
0 komentar:
Post a Comment