DescentBB

the 6 most indebted countries in the world

1. Ireland - Debt/GDP: 997%
The days of Ireland enjoying one of the fastest growing economies in Europe are over, at least for now. The story is all too familiar, as easy credit fueled a housing bubble that burst and damaged consumer confidence

sound familiar??

2. Netherlands - Debt/GDP: 467%
Much of the added burden was caused by significant government support for the country's banking sector. The increase in debt per capita is second only to that experienced in Ireland.

sound familiar???

3. United Kingdom - Debt/GDP: 409%
Like many other countries, Britain bought time during the financial crisis by implementing massive fiscal stimulus and forcing the public to fund losses in the private sector.

sound familiar??????

4. Switzerland - Debt/GDP: 273%
Deficits climbed as spending rose for unemployment benefits and tax revenues declined

sound familiar???????????

5. Portugal - Debt/GDP: 228%
Those events have been further propelled by unemployment above 10%, the worst in 40 years

sound familiar????????????????

http://ca.finance.yahoo.com/personal-fi ... es-and-why

Have a better idea? (Not saying I think deficit spending is a good idea, now...)

OHHHHHH I dont know, maybe they should try doing what my wife and I did when the Economy went south and I lost 22K last year.

STOP SPENDING,

We cut our Vacations, Entertainment/movies. Cable TV, dropped my Life insurance, Cell phones, stopped the newspaper, changed our Grocery buying habits. just to name a few things

What should we cut, as a country?

social programs and grants to start. We can start them back up when we have the money to spend. No more bail outs period!

null0010 wrote:What should we cut, as a country?

look it up for yourself. I'm not going to get into a splitting hairs debate with you. be fiscally responsible. cutting spending hurts. being fiscally responsible hurts

almost every person in this country has to be responsible with their spending. why dont the politicians. let me tell you why.

because Politicians spend our Tax dollars bribeing people to voting for them, so those same Politicians can remain in power and continue to bribe people with more of our tax dollars.

Cuda68 wrote:social programs and grants to start. We can start them back up when we have the money to spend. No more bail outs period!

what if you were on the other side? do you think if social programs were cut and you found yourself suddenly in need of them, would you still think it was a good idea?

cuda: (not cuda68), he's asking you what you would cut, if you were in charge. Looking it up himself does no good since it's not the answer to his question.

null0010 wrote:What should we cut, as a country?

Washington DC.

Make this November the beginning of their end.

I don't know if it'll make much difference now, Will. Damage is done. We're all in for a lot of hurt.

Entitlements spending is certainly one of the thorniest issues. I think the Ryan plan deserves some serious consideration.

http://econlog.econlib.org/archives/201 ... _on_9.html

... saving Medicare.

some interesting pro and con here (edit: and here).

I've always liked the idea of zero-based budgeting.

null0010 wrote:I've always liked the idea of zero-based budgeting.

Having worked in local government myself I can tell you that this idea would never work. There is too much stuff going on even at the local level for any entity to efficiently micromanage the budget like that. If everything had to be approved like that it would increase the workload to impossible levels for whoever was in charge of it, and it would grind everything to a halt pending budget approval.

How about we at least link the budget to the gross domestic product, and in a lagging fashion since government tax revenues come in lagging behind economic recovery. So anytime GDP goes down, say for more than a fiscal quarter, no increase in budget is allowed starting immediately and the budget must stay frozen for one year.
Then, if the following year GDP is still down below the level it was when it started it's last decline (or has fallen again), the budget must stay frozen again for another year.

You know, kind of like people do with their own budget. you start making less money so you start to cut spending and you don't increase spending until you are sure your income is steady again.

much tighter handling of congressional amendments would go along way...