pokermind wrote:Hey Fly check my math,
Debt + unfunded mandates = $16 trillion US population rounded is about 400 million. So the Government signed our names to a debt of 16 x 10^12 / 4 x 10^8 = $40,000.00 owed by every man woman and child in the United States.
Any body out there got an extra $40,000.00 burning a hole in their pocket?
Poker
Yea, that surpasses what used to be the average net worth of Americans befor the implosion of the housing market caused the equity in their homes to evaporate.
What is really scary is the eagerness with which the Fed is pumping money into the stock market to keep it inflated. Since our banks chose to use the TARP money to invest in stocks rather than issue new mortgages, this helped the banks to repay TARP. It also benefits very much the very rich who have a much higher percentage of their wealth invested in stocks rather than homes or their own businesses.
I am astonished at how oblivious people are to the fact that the Obama economy and administration has so dramatically favored the very rich and big business over the middle class and small business. Just one industry fragment as an example is concrete pumping trucks. Prior to the mortgage collapse the dominant provider was Brundidge Bone but small, independent contractors had a majority of the market. When housing construction imploded, the concrete pumpers were in deep shit. The Feds allowed Brundidge Bone to defer payments to creditors indefinitely and continue to operate while forcing smaller concrete pumping companies that went into bankruptcy to liquidate. Given the high maintenance cost of a concrete pumping truck, this put the independents who had avoided bankruptcy at a severe disadvantage. They were still stuck with the $200 per hour maintenance cost on their pumps to remain in business while Brundidge Bone could use a truck until it broke, then park it and use another truck from it's huge fleet.
By the time housing really recovers rather than sputters, this one big company will have a near monopoly on the market.
How is that for screwing the little guy to benefit the rich?