Friday, January 17, 2014

BENADOR: AMERICA'S ASSISTED SUICIDE


“For evil to triumph,

all that is necessary
is for good men
to do nothing.”  
Edward Burke

By Eliana Benador

The amounts are simply staggering.  Back on 12 December 2013 numbers were at 17,224,121,XXX,XXX trillion. Today, 17 January 2014, those numbers have gone to 17,332,382,XXX,XXX trillion, that is 112 billion increase in a month. The National Debt clock’s mechanism is so accurate and runs at such speed that a naked eye can barely catch changes at the infinitesimal seconds at which it turns.

Comparatively, yesterday, the Australian government was put in the embarrassing situation to deal with a huge debt of...  500 billion, that is a whopping half a trillion.  Indeed, the Australian Treasurer is in charge of presenting every year, the Federal Budget to the Parliament.  And only two weeks ago, Treasurer Joe Hockey had indicated debt would peak between $440 billion and $460 billion.  

Mr Hockey accused the previous Labor government of leaving Australia ill-prepared for its budget and economic challenges.  “What have they left?” he said. “Endless deficits, debt that exceeds half a ­trillion dollars and . . . an ­economy with falling terms of trade, rising unemployment.”  

Why does that sound so familiar?   Trouble is, that there is no comparison possible between Australia’s half-a-trillion dollar debt and America’s over 17 trillion dollar debt.  

The rule is to have debt when there is income to pay for it.  

Fact is the 17 trillion place a $54,320 debt on each citizen, PLUS a $149,947.00 per taxpayer.  Which means that every baby born in America has all of that on his tiny shoulders, most of it, courtesy of the Obama Administration.

To analyze any national debt, one has to bear in mind the GDP, which is the Gross Domestic Product, and it is a defining factor on how the debt will be paid along the decades.  GDP is a measurement of all the goods and services a nation produces in a year.  It factors in, consumer spending, investment made by industry, excess of exports over imports and government spending.   

As American citizens at large need to understand the methodology of a debt and the way to recovery, we repeat here the economic formula, courtesy of Investopedia:

GDP = C + G + I + NX  where:

"C" is equal to all private consumption, or consumer spending, in a nation's economy
"G" is the sum of government spending
"I" is the sum of all the country's businesses spending on capital
"NX" is the nation's total net exports, calculated as total exports minus total imports. (NX = Exports - Imports)

Common knowledge shows that private consumption and/or consumer spending in America is at its lowest, while government spending is at its highest.  With no reservation, it is safe to say that the country’s businesses spending on capital is very low, if not at its lowest in many decades.  Reality is not either better when it concerns exports and imports, especially bearing in mind the outrageous outsourcing rate this government has facilitated and “encouraged”.

Betrayal does not only belong to Obama and his people.  Republicans, who are turning to be mostly RINOs, Republicans In Name Only, have just reached a discretionary spending deal with  Democrats for 2014 and 2015 that blows up the 2011 Budget Control Act.

Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) has blasted the budget deal arranged by Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) and Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA), which increases spending $63 billion in the short-term by undoing supposedly permanent sequester cuts, and will supposedly lower spending by $85 billion in the long term. Paul stated:

There is a recurring theme in Washington budget negotiations. It's I'll gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today. I think it's a huge mistake to trade sequester cuts now, for the promise of cuts later. The small sequester spending cuts were not nearly enough to address our deficit problem. Undoing tens of billions of this modest spending restraint is shameful and must be opposed. I cannot support a budget that raises taxes and never balances, nor can I support a deal that does nothing to reduce our nation's $17.3 trillion debt.

Ryan, among others, has defended the deal as the best Republicans can get right now.

The GOP’s only major spending accomplishment in years, the 2011 Act and related sequester have been bearing fruit and providing discretionary spending control the last two years.   However, Republican leaders are moving away from it, in return for revenue increases and some make believe tiny and fake spending trims.

For instance, their largest trim is a healthcare provider reduction supposed to take place... a decade from now.

In other words, “fiscally conservative” GOP have massively raised taxes and increased spending by 45 BILLION in 2013.  

Thus, America is being betrayed by the last bastion that could stand up for her.  Last January, Republicans increased taxes.  Then, during the shutdown they did a deplorable job, and now they have traded real cuts for 45 billion in additional spending.

In rallying with the establishment, Republicans are utterly undermining America, in their veiled will to strip the Tea Party of leverage.  

The bipartisan budget deal is a farce, as it includes higher spending and would neutralize any chance for another government shutdown prior to the midterm elections.

In other words, the government and what would or could be the opposition, i.e., the Republican party are joining together with the lethargic American population, so that, together, they can unplug America off its iron lung.

Together, they are facilitating America’s most tragic assisted suicide.  

God bless America

Copyright ©Eliana Benador

Eliana Benador is a global strategist, a political operative and a human rights activist. She has been the founder of Benador Associates. She has represented dissidents abroad from Iraq, Iran, the Copts and others. Her blog is Eliana's Choice. You may follow her on Twitter, join her fan page on Facebook and you may find her also on LinkedIn.
First published in the Right Side News on 12 December 2013

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