Now that America is on the verge of economic collapse...

[theonedru]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_debt_limit or
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20110516/pl_nm/us_usa_debt

Congresses ideas to help with the debt

raise the debt limit (yes make the problem worse, whoever thought of this should be horsewhipped)

dip into federal pension funds to pay the country's bills

default on payments to investors in government bonds and or raise taxes

All horrid ideas that will only either make the situation worse or mask it but essentially fix nothing.

The good old retards in DC still think the ways that got them into this mess can get them out of it.... Well America the govt has done it finally and has hit it credit limit. And none of this is dems or reps fault as they are all guilty. Question now being; Since the govt has proved its inability to properly govern what can we as a people do? A few suggestions

No more crazy retirement plans for politicians, they can suffer like the rest of us.

No more crazy paychecks, people in DC make way to much money, its time they take a huge pay cut.

Get militant about welfare fraud and government waste.

Get rid of all NASA funding, we can worry about whats outside America when we fix whats inside first.

less importing and more buying and producing from within.

Cut back on all non essential government agencies and departments. make them accountable for every penny spent, if they cant account for a missing penny then horsewhip them ( im not joking on this ).

How badly do they have to mess up everything before people get their heads out of their rear ends and get in touch with reality?

WAKE UP PEOPLE OPEN YOUR EYES AND DO SOMETHING BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE INSTEAD OF BEING USELESS COWARDS UNABLE TO EVEN SPEAK UP FOR THE SAKE OF YOUR CHILDREN.....

[gatorboymike]

Party like it's 1929!

[mrveggieman]

Sad but true. If anyone of us worked in cooperate america and mismanaged funds the gov't did/does we would be in the federal pen for the rest of our lives, but congress can do it cause they can. That's not right.

[pghin08]

Those are all short-term fixes though. How about this for a fix:

Get rid of prisoners who are incarcerated for non-violent crimes. Here are some numbers:

-As of 2009, there are over 2.3 million people in prison in the US
-Prison population has QUADRUPLED since 1980 (War on Drugs), while violent crimes have continued to drop since the early 1990s.
-The US has the highest incarceration rate per capita (In fact, while the US accounts for about 5% of the world's population, it accounts for 25% of all inmates)
-1/2 of all state prisoners were convicted of non-violent crimes

So what to do with the money we save from this? INVEST IN EDUCATION. Again, I'm going to throw some more numbers out there:

-As of 2009, nearly 87% of American adults are high school graduates. However, in a study done by the BLS (Bureau of Labor Statistics) in 2003, 68% of prison inmates did not have a high school degree. That means that the vast MAJORITY (68%) of US inmates comes from the vast MINORITY of the population (13%).

-It costs on average $35-40K to keep an inmate in prison for a year. Contrast that with the fact that it only costs about $10K to educate a child for a year. So for what it costs to keep someone in jail for a year, you can educate a kid for nearly four years.


Where does this bring us out in the end? The numbers support the fact that those who are educated typically do not commit felonies. So instead of investing more money in prisons, invest more money in education, and turn kids that may someday become prisoners into *gasp* TAXPAYERS! Turn those who receive taxpayer funding into those who contribute.

Easy.

[theonedru]

those are all short-term fixes though. How about this for a fix:

Get rid of prisoners who are incarcerated for non-violent crimes. Here are some numbers:

-as of 2009, there are over 2.3 million people in prison in the us
-prison population has quadrupled since 1980 (war on drugs), while violent crimes have continued to drop since the early 1990s.
-the us has the highest incarceration rate per capita (in fact, while the us accounts for about 5% of the world's population, it accounts for 25% of all inmates)
-1/2 of all state prisoners were convicted of non-violent crimes

so what to do with the money we save from this? Invest in education. Again, i'm going to throw some more numbers out there:

-as of 2009, nearly 87% of american adults are high school graduates. However, in a study done by the bls (bureau of labor statistics) in 2003, 68% of prison inmates did not have a high school degree. That means that the vast majority (68%) of us inmates comes from the vast minority of the population (13%).

-it costs on average $35-40k to keep an inmate in prison for a year. Contrast that with the fact that it only costs about $10k to educate a child for a year. So for what it costs to keep someone in jail for a year, you can educate a kid for nearly four years.


Where does this bring us out in the end? The numbers support the fact that those who are educated typically do not commit felonies. So instead of investing more money in prisons, invest more money in education, and turn kids that may someday become prisoners into *gasp* taxpayers! Turn those who receive taxpayer funding into those who contribute.

Easy.

+1

[Star_Cards]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_debt_limit or
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20110516/pl_nm/us_usa_debt

Congresses ideas to help with the debt

raise the debt limit (yes make the problem worse, whoever thought of this should be horsewhipped)

dip into federal pension funds to pay the country's bills

default on payments to investors in government bonds and or raise taxes

All horrid ideas that will only either make the situation worse or mask it but essentially fix nothing.

The good old retards in DC still think the ways that got them into this mess can get them out of it.... Well America the govt has done it finally and has hit it credit limit. And none of this is dems or reps fault as they are all guilty. Question now being; Since the govt has proved its inability to properly govern what can we as a people do? A few suggestions

No more crazy retirement plans for politicians, they can suffer like the rest of us.

No more crazy paychecks, people in DC make way to much money, its time they take a huge pay cut.

Get militant about welfare fraud and government waste.

Get rid of all NASA funding, we can worry about whats outside America when we fix whats inside first.

less importing and more buying and producing from within.

Cut back on all non essential government agencies and departments. make them accountable for every penny spent, if they cant account for a missing penny then horsewhip them ( im not joking on this ).

How badly do they have to mess up everything before people get their heads out of their rear ends and get in touch with reality?

WAKE UP PEOPLE OPEN YOUR EYES AND DO SOMETHING BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE INSTEAD OF BEING USELESS COWARDS UNABLE TO EVEN SPEAK UP FOR THE SAKE OF YOUR CHILDREN.....

I can get behind most if not all of your suggestions. The problem is with the first two the people making the salaries are also in charge of setting them. Most of the others would potentially cost politicians votes and that's there business, not balancing the budget.

To me it's simple that you cut spending, but when the system in charge of cutting spending uses spending to stay in power it's tough to see how that will ever change.

[theonedru]

I can get behind most if not all of your suggestions. The problem is with the first two the people making the salaries are also in charge of setting them. Most of the others would potentially cost politicians votes and that's there business, not balancing the budget.

To me it's simple that you cut spending, but when the system in charge of cutting spending uses spending to stay in power it's tough to see how that will ever change.

The power has to come back to the people, people tend to forget they are there to work for us not to control us as they have been doing. If we dont step up now and intervene then when? Not when its too late like usual... The govt needs a viable watch dog to over see things that are for the people by the people not by the govt for the govt.....

[Star_Cards]

They do work for the people, but the same people get voted back in. Even if you get someone that seems to be above the normal washington practices they tend to fall to the pressure of the system.

[duane1969]

I don't see where you got that it is Congress' idea to dip into Fed pension funds. The article clearly says that the Treasury Dept. is already doing it.

The Treasury Department said it was dipping into federal pension funds to pay the country's bills, one of several emergency measures that should stave off a default until early August.

It also appears that Congress' answer is not to raise the debt limit...

Republican leaders in the House have said they won't raise the debt limit unless the Obama administration first agrees to big spending cuts or to steps to lower the debt over the long run.

House Speaker John Boehner repeated the pledge in a statement Monday. The statement did not address Geithner's warning about what would happen if the limit were not raised.

"Americans understand we simply can't keep spending money we don't have," Boehner said. "There will be no debt limit increase without serious budget reforms and significant spending cuts."

[sanfran22]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_debt_limit or
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20110516/pl_nm/us_usa_debt

Congresses ideas to help with the debt


No more crazy paychecks, people in DC make way to much money, its time they take a huge pay cut.
-Only issue I'd have is they will store more money in thier freezers if we cut pay.


Get militant about welfare fraud and government waste.
-agreed

Get rid of all NASA funding, we can worry about whats outside America when we fix whats inside first.
-I think NASA does alot more then space travel

less importing and more buying and producing from within.
- I believe I read that we are still the worlds #1 exporter. So we obvoiously produce alot from within. It's a common misconception from what I've read.

Cut back on all non essential government agencies and departments. make them accountable for every penny spent, if they cant account for a missing penny then horsewhip them ( im not joking on this ).
-Yep

How badly do they have to mess up everything before people get their heads out of their rear ends and get in touch with reality?
Apparently, pretty badly.

WAKE UP PEOPLE OPEN YOUR EYES AND DO SOMETHING BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE INSTEAD OF BEING USELESS COWARDS UNABLE TO EVEN SPEAK UP FOR THE SAKE OF YOUR CHILDREN.....

So here's my question. Would you vote for Obama in a couple years seeing what he is doing? Can it get much worse?