So our “modest proposals” are certainly designed “for the children”, and they might be “for the troops” if there’s a military band involved in some way.

Yep, we have eliminated smallpox and Rinderpest, so it is time to work on polio and banksters. 😈

As a trained engineer… one of the first rules is: Never take unnecessary risks! 😉

And people say irony is dead! 😆 😆

Kryten, you sound like you think I was talking about putting food and oxygen on those shuttles. Most of them have been mothballed, it would be dangerous to real people to weigh them down more than absolutely necessary with extra stuff, like food and oxygen. The extra weight might affect the slingshot orbit needed to get them to Mars, and they would be caught by the Sun’s gravity well, which would be terrible. 😈

I wouldn’t say that was vindictive at all m8! Sane and rational… yes. Now me… I’d do the same, sans shuttles! I’d stick ’em in a shell and use a big rail gun! They may be of some use in millennia to come seeding mars with their component organic molecules. 😈 That’s vindictive! 😉 😀 I’d also add all the fundi and wingnut loonies, bobble-heads… well, the list would be a long one I’m afraid! 😈 😆

If the Fed wanted to get things moving they could start charging banks for leaving their money in the Fed, rather than paying them interest.

The debt looks bad because the GDP is reflecting the recession, and people keep talking about the debt as a percent of GDP. Get the economy moving and the debt will automatically drop.

Let the Bush tax cuts expire and the debt will drop even more.

Push through a decent sized stimulus package to repair the infrastructure and there will be more improvement.

This is all Keynesian, is well known, has proven to work. As long as the powers-that-be continue to worship at the alters of Ayn Rand and Ronald Reagan, we will be stuck in this mess.

I would also like to see every chief executive of a major bank, accompanied by their boards put on a mission to Mars using the Space Shuttle fleet, but then I get vindictive.

The Empire Strikes Back: China Warns About Currency War, Blames Dollar

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The last but the most important point is that in the long run the considerable depreciation of the dollar will help America to transfer its debts to others. If we say the international financial crisis nationalized the private debts, then in the post-crisis era, the United State sees an urgent need to internationalize its debts.

A great amount of bad debts of American financial institutions have been converted to government debt through government aid measures. In 2009, America’s fiscal deficit stood at 1.42 trillion dollars, 3.1 times the 2008 level. The deficit ratio surged from 3.2 percent in 2008 to 10 percent to a new high since World War II. The debt of the federal government increased to 6.7 trillion dollars, representing 47.2 percent of its GDP. In 2010, the fiscal deficit is expected to be around 1.32 trillion dollars. How America retains economic growth while reducing the deficit is a big problem for the country.

Historic experiences show debt-to-GDP ratio is not directly linked with economic growth and inflation (even devaluation) in most countries. But the United States is an exception because the dollar serves as the world currency. For instance, the ratio decreased from 121.2 percent in 1946 to 31.7 percent in 1974. Of that number, inflation accounted 52.6 percentage points, economic growth contributed nearly 56 percentage points and federal surplus contributed negative 21.51 percentage points. Even if the United States denies its motives to transfer their debts, it will unavoidably happen in reality.
…
Who would have guessed those Chineses know exactly what the Fed is doing…

One source of the uncertainty about the US debt since 2002 is this:
Is the U.S. Economy Teetering On the Brink of Collapse?

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If the purpose of the Iraq war was to get cheap oil, it has been an enormous failure.

If the purpose of the Iraq war was to give control of Iraqi oil to American oil companies, this has also failed. In October 2008 Iraq signed a 22 year agreement with China National Petroleum Company involving “$55 billion, or 87% of Iraq’s total revenue”.

“In politics, nothing happens by accident. If it happens, you can bet it was planned that way.”
– Franklin Delano Roosevelt

“Our problem-ridden world has been guided by … hooligans.”
– Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, August 2004.

Who is REALLY responsible for the U.S. National Debt?

1. The American oil companies for many decades have avoided paying income taxes on profits from importing oil. They do this by means of illegal transfer pricing, aided by corrupt officials in the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). This helps explain why about 50% of the world’s wealth is now concentrated in tax havens and low tax jurisdictions.

A clean-up of the IRS followed by a proper accounting of oil profits, plus appropriate penalties for late payment of taxes and fines for tax evasion should yield enough money to balance the national budget and pay off most of the national debt.

2. An objective inquiry into vote fraud and corruption in American politics would reveal that most members of congress and the president represent a wealthy elite, not the American people. Therefore, it can be argued that the national debt is the responsibility of this wealthy elite.

Alan Greenspan was a student of the Great Depression. Therefore, he knew how to prevent a depression and how to cause one. Since the ongoing economic collapse was created on his watch (1987 – 2006), we can only assume that it was done intentionally. The question is “why”? Who are the puppet masters and what are their intentions?

If somebody wanted to weaken the United States, the policies in place starting 1980 have accomplished that goal.

LOL 😉 Ahem. Doncha love conspiracies? 😉

– Badtux the not-cretinist Penguin