[Mondi]

If I had a penny for every time someone has blamed the national debt on the war I would definitely have enough money for grad school right now. That is not to say that the war is not taking its tool on the economy but it is not the largest expense we have at the time. Here are some other “explanations” for the growing U.S. debt:

1. The Bush era tax cuts. Wow, way to shoot the country on the foot. Sure, nobody likes to pay taxes, but only when the alternative is not a $13 trillion of national debt, a downgrade on the U.S Treasury bonds, and a paralyzed political system unable to make coherent decisions because there is too much riding on it. But there is too much riding on it because we shot ourselves on the foot by allowing Bush to lower taxes on the good ole wealthy folks while the rest of us are… - you can see where I’m going with this.

2. The 2008 crisis and subprime crisis. Here, I would include the crash of the stock market and all the catastrophic consequences that this had for the economy, the burst of the real state bubble, and the bail out packages distributed in an attempt to keep the market place alive, among others. I am sure you, too, can think of other negative financial outcomes that came out of the ’08 subprime crisis.

3. The recession that followed the 2008 crisis. Mostly unemployment checks and stimulus packages. Unemployment has gone from close to 3% to 9.2% in the last ten years.

4. The consequences and aftermath of 9/11. Here is where I would include the war and the occupation in Afghanistan. Along with any changes in the various national security departments. And all the unknown byproducts of the Patriots Act.

5. Worth mentioning are also the unfunded obligations held by the U. S. government (such as social security, medicare…) that can’t be sustain by the new demographics distinguished by the decline in birth rates.

Here is the original post: http://mondi.us/post/9365597371

If anybody knows of other money pits or has any thoughts on the issues please share them with me.