Tax and Spend

In response to Stockman, Krugman says not to worry about government debt because it's debt we owe to ourselves. Sounds like he and Obama were channeling the same pack of lies that day. Try telling your bank not to worry about you not paying the debt you owe it because it's debt we owe to ourselves.

NASA plans to spend our money to lasso an asteroid and tow it back to earth orbit. You might think they would try something less ambitious, and dangerous, to test this concept, but apparently not.

"Of course, such a scheme does sound a little like the plot of a Hollywood disaster movie, in which an errant space mission could lose control of the asteroid and accidentally send it hurtling towards Earth. Such thoughts are high on the agenda of many scientists who have recently seen a dramatic meteor burn through the skies above Russia with enough force to shatter windows and injure hundreds of people. But scientists insist this mission is foolproof, because the asteroid being captured and brought home will be small enough to burn up in the atmosphere if it does end up on a collision course with Earth."

Government pseudo-experts call the plan foolproof. I'm skeptical. Like they every crash a spaceship or miss landing on Mars or anything. This sounds like another giant propaganda project for NASA.

Obama proposes cuts to Social Security along with higher taxes.

"Seeking an elusive middle ground, President Barack Obama is proposing a 2014 budget that embraces tax increases abhorred by Republicans as well as reductions, loathed by liberals, in the growth of Social Security and other benefit programs.
The plan, if ever enacted, could touch almost all Americans. The rich would see tax increases, the poor and the elderly would get smaller annual increases in their benefits, and middle income taxpayers would slip into higher tax brackets despite Obama's repeated vows not to add to the tax burden of the middle class. His proposed changes, once phased in, would mean a cut in Social Security benefits of nearly $1,000 a year for an average 85-year-old, smaller cuts for younger retirees."

This sounds like an unusually honest assessment from the AP.

"Counting reductions and higher taxes that Congress and Obama have approved since 2011, the 2014 budget would contribute to $4.3 trillion in total deficit reduction by 2023."

In other words, the debt will keep growing. Some cuts.

Have you ever wondered how Quiznos and Cold Stone Creamery stay in business? Corrupt defaults on federal loans.

"Some borrowers in the Small Business Administration’s largest federally guaranteed loan program defaulted so quickly they paid nothing on the loan, the investigation found. Operators of national franchises like Quiznos and Cold Stone Creamery collectively received millions of dollars in loans through the program despite extensive default histories by the franchises."

Imagine that.