It doesn't matter who you vote for in November

It doesn't matter who you vote for in November

I wrote the below in response to an email about the national debt, and decided to post it on my blog. While there, I checked my stats. Just before I gave up aggregating the news a few week ago, I was getting about 4k page views a week. I was startled to see today that in the last week I had 7k page views, including over 1k from France. I assume that my post, below, "22 Reason Principled Conservative Can Never Vote for Donald Trump" is making the rounds. But if you look at the fiscal situation of the country, it probably makes no difference who you vote for. And this is the issue that will destroy the Republic, though the Jihadists, China and illegal immigration will heavily contribute to our fiscal woes. Who uses what bathroom, though emotional, will make no difference long run.

The acknowledged Federal Debt, now I think north of $19T, is the small part of the fiscal problem. The big part is the unfunded liability, money the government has promised to spend for things like Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, SS Disability, and now Obamacare, that it does not have in the bank. This is not considered debt because, though promised, it is not owed by contract and the government can legally default on these items, creating chaos and social upheaval. (The Social Security Trust Fund is not cash, but special government bonds, which cannot be sold on the open market. The government borrowed the cash.) Social Security, now as always, is paid out from the FICA taxes taken in. When the income doesn't cover the outgo, the money to redeem the bonds must come from the general fund. When SS started, and folks didn't live as long; 38 workers supported one retiree. Now, with increased longevity and the expansion of benefits, 2.5 workers support one retiree. The average retiree now gets back much more than he or she paid in. You can graph the day not far in the future when it will be one worker supporting one retiree. I have seen estimates of the unfunded liability that run from $87T to $240T, depending on who counts, what is counted and how far out you project. Add to that the debt and unfunded liability of the states and cities, and there are not enough trees to print that much money. It is difficult for me to see how a fiscal and economic collapse, followed by social and political collapse, can be avoided. When governments can't meet their obligations, they always turn to printing fiat money, destroying the value of savings and retirement funds through hyper-inflation. Which is why I recently bought a billion dollars in Zimbabwe currency for about $8 bucks on eBay. And why it doesn't matter at all which corrupt, big-government, NY liberal you vote for in November. And why electing a true fiscal conservative could have only slowed the drive towards the cliff, not reversed it. I suggest everyone read this article, "The West and the Tyranny of Public Debt"

http://www.newsweek.com/2010/12/27/the-west-and-the-tyranny-of-public-debt.html

I addressed this problem in my short book a few years back: The Coming Collapse of the American Republic: And what you can do to prevent it. http://www.amazon.com/Coming-Collapse-American-Republic-prevent/dp/1461122538/ref=sr_1_5?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1304815980&sr=1-5

All royalties go to a charity to help wounded veterans. For a free PDF of this 80-page book you can read on your computer, write me at: tartanmarine(at)gmail.com. Forget gold--invest in canned goods and ammo. ~Bob Hall