[Rhodes22-list] Economics

[Slim]

I'm no economist (Duh!) I'm a musician and most musicians only have to be
able to count up to four, then start over.  But even an idiot like me can
smell a big rat.  Our national deficit is  ____________fill in the blank--it
changes daily.  And our debt is almost 8 TRILLION!  If I have this straight,
the "deficit" is just for the current fiscal year and the "debt" is the
accumulated total.

As an individual, I know I can just throw down the plastic and spend more
than I have, but at some point there will have to be a day of reckoning.
Sure, I can borrow from one card to pay another, robbing Peter to pay Paul,
but how long can that go on?  Apparently Bush seems to think, forever.

Now, China is holding the paper on most of our debt.  China is paying for
the war in Iraq and China will pay for NOLA reconstruction.  US taxpayers
will bleed too but there's no way there's enough money in the general fund
to even remotely come close to funding what our government has committed us
to spending.  So thanks to China we continue to float, but for how long?

China wants Taiwan.  Japan wants Taiwan, or at least the South China sea.
If it comes to blows, we'll side with Japan.  Economically speaking, what
then?  Personally, I'd love to go work in China but I'd hate to be there
when this goes down.  Can't you just see me sitting there in a Chinese
prison playing the harmonica?

Isn't anybody else doing the math here?  The polls show Bush's approval
rating at an all-time low of what--38% or something?  It seems to me that
figure is way too high!  How can 38% of our population be so hoodwinked into
thinking that Bush is taking us in the right direction when even a stupid
musician like myself can clearly see the irresponsibility and out and out
insanity of spending money you don't have!  Especially when you're relying
on a country that we're not really allied with and could go to war with at
any moment.

And the Democrats--the lousy Democrats--sit around ringing their hands
wondering how to win the next election.  All it should take is just one damn
candidate to do the math and stand up and tell the truth.  Do we need Ross
Perot to show us a few more pie charts before we get it?  We're about to
hear a giant sucking sound coming from China.

Slim