The US Gov't would like to buy you a drink!

Well, kinda. A couple weeks back when the "$700B Wall Street Bailout" was making big headlines, there was much talk about added pork. So called "sweeteners". Sugar, to kill the bitter taste. Or maybe rather "Sugar Cane, in the case of a huge subsidy to the rum industry. At that time, the corporate rum manufacturers argued that the funds were not aimed directly at the rum industry, but rather to the economies of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.

Turns out, that's not really true. Also, it's not a new funding - it's been going on for years. Here's a good article on the topic.

McCain : 3 At Bats, Zero Hits

Well, the 2008 presidential debate season is finally over, and McCain got shut out on the "deficit" and "national debt" word count. Three debates, zero mention. News was a little better for Obama, last night he mentioned deficit three times, and national debt once.

Here's the breakdown for all three debates.

Debate 3:
Total words = 15,000

deficit
Schieffer - 3
McCain - 0
Obama - 2

debt
Schieffer - 0
McCain - 0
Obama - 1

Debate 2:
Total words = 16,000

deficit
Brokaw - 2
McCain - 0
Obama - 2

debt
Brokaw - 0
McCain - 0
Obama - 2


Debate 1:
Total words = 16,000

deficit
Leher - 0
McCain - 0
Obama - 1

debt
Leher - 0
McCain - 0
Obama - 0

Bottom line : 47,000 words were spoken in 3 debates and 13 of them were either deficit or national debt. Our country has 790 billion dollars worth of debt for each of those 13 words. Hmmm.....

On the bright side, there was actually a pretty decent discussion about debt, deficits, and spending in last nights 3rd and final debate. If you missed it, here's the transcript and here's the video:

National Debt Appears in 3rd Presidential Debate

Short note - national debt and annual deficits actually recieved a direct question in tonight's 3rd Presidential debate. I'll get more info up in another post, after the transcripts are published. Glad to see a little attention on this topic.

Your Annual Household Salary in 1.56 Seconds!

No, this is not a job offer. Or a get rich quick scheme. Unfortunately. It's the rate at which the United States Government is adding to it's national debt.

Let's crunch the numbers:

national debt as of 09/30/2008 : $10,024,724,896,912.40
national debt as of 09/30/2007 : $9,007,653,372,262.48
(take the difference)
debt change year over year : $1,017,071,524,649.92
(divide by 365)
change per day : $2,786,497,327.81
(divide by 24)
per hour : $116,104,055.33
(divide by 60)
per minute : $1,935,067.59
(divide by 60 again)
per second : $32,251.13
2007 median annual household income : $50,233.00
(divide by $32,251.13)
Time required for the national debt to rise by the average American's annual household income : 1.56 seconds

Data Sources:
national debt
household income

Update: National Debt Clock Fixed!

Well, kinda. They've added a makeshift "1" in front.

Nice.



I wonder if they made a "2" at the same time?

Last Night's Presidential Debate, and 0.0375 Percent

0.0375% : This is the percentage of words from last night's Presidential debate that were either "deficit" or "national debt". Out of 16,000 words, there was a grand total of 6.

Here's the breakdown.

Deficit
Brokaw - 2
McCain - 0
Obama - 2

National Debt
Brokaw - 0
McCain - 0
Obama - 2

Largest Annual Budget Deficit Ever

The bad news keeps comin'. The Congressional Budget Office has released their estimate for the fiscal year 2008 (which ended September 30th) budget, and we've set a new deficit record at $438B. This comes in at approximately $1410.00 for every man, woman, and child in the USA.

But this is just the estimate. The official numbers should be out in a couple weeks. Anyone willing to wager that it won't come in even higher?

2 Candidates, 2 Bad Tax Plans

Bad news, kids. The forecasts are out and both US Presidential Candidates have tax structure plans that offer a bright future in deficit spending.

Here's the bottom line:

Obama 10 Year Deficit Forecast : $3 Trillion
McCain 10 Year Deficit Forecast : $6 Trillion

I know which one of those looks better than the other, but they're both bad!

Obama's woes fall mainly to over ambitious spending, and McCain's root from hyper-expansion of Bush's corporate tax cuts. Between the two, obviously Obama's looks better due to it's smaller deficit. Plus I personally believe he's much more likely to stop exploding bombs, which is a serious albatross around our fiscal necks. But this is still like choosing between a triple root canal and hernia surgery. I'd prefer to pass on both!

One bright spot (kinda) near the end of the article:

"I think they're going to have to abandon their impulses -- McCain with greater tax cuts, Obama with more and greater spending," Dolan said. "But they're not going to campaign on that."

Now I know that there's only one truth about forecasts. They're always wrong. So maybe we'll get lucky, and this will just be a future example of incorrect doom and gloom. But the next President will inherit a mess, and it's going require hard decisions to clean it up.

Video : New York Debt Clock Runs Out Of Space!

Courtesy of CNN - New York's famous National Debt Clock needs an overhaul. It can no longer support the necessary number of digits.


On the plus side, when the clock is rennovated at least somebody will land a job.

The Saturday Morning Pork Roundup and a Messy Milestone

Wow, people are beginning to dig into the pages of the the $700B bailout bill that passed Friday, and it's not pretty. Here are a few examples... a $10M tax break for filmmakers in California, $2M to toy arrow manufacturers in Oregon (click here to read the toy company's side of the story), $128M for Nascar race tracks in Virginia and North Carolina, and $223M in tax breaks for fishermen that were affected by the Exxon-Valdez disaster. Maybe that one's a good cause, but shouldn't we have done something 19 years ago when it actually happened? I digress.

In all, the $700B spending bill that failed the House on Monday passed it on Friday due to the addition of a whopping $100B in tax breaks. So we're making up for our spending, by reducing income.

That'll work.

Now I'm all for low taxes. We pay too much. But you also can't run it up on the national credit card forever. As this fellow says the national debt is like a fat man in a small boat. Pretty soon it just takes a small wave to sink you.

To rub salt in our wound, this week also brought a major debt milestone as we passed the $10 Trillion mark. That number is worth adding the zeros, so here they are:

$10,000,000,000,000

I might need a new zero button on my keyboard after a few of those.

For more info on these two topics, here are a slew of good articles:

Some taxpayers sounding off over bailout pork
Disgust: Bailout Bill Was Delayed By Pork
The Banker's Trick: America Takes the Bait
Passing the pork

Click here to see how your local representative voted.

2 Years, 8 Months, 4 Days, 2 Hours, and 56 Minutes

If every single person in the USA worked a 40 hour week at minimum wage and donated their entire paycheck to the government, that's how long it would take to pay off our national debt.

Well, a little longer actually. To pay for the $828B worth of interest that would also pile up during that period!

A Trillion Dollars worth a pork and bombs

Wow, this is turning out to be one expensive week for the taxpayer. According to this article, the Senate quietly passed a $600B spending bill (how do you spend half a trillion dollars quietly?) which earmarked another $448 to the Pentagon. Add that to the $700B Wall Street bailout plan that will likely pass today, and the US has spent another 1.3 trillion dollars. This is more than 10% of our $11T annual gross domestic product. Ouch!

The article also has some pretty good info on the bailout bill pork.

The New Bailout Plan. That same great cost you love, but now even more expensilicious!

MicroScopicTopic!
Don't you just love that the Senate's solution to the House's expense problems with the Wall Street Bailout Plan? Hmmm, how do we reel in these fiscal concerns. ... Hey, I know, let's make is more expensive!

Sweeteners entice lawmakers back to bailout plan

Side note on the "sweeteners" marketing touch. Nice job!
Everyone loves candy.
(until they find out it tastes like pork)

The $700B Wall Street Bailout : Martingale Game?

Ok, still trying to get my head around this $700 Billion wall street bailout that the Senate passed last night, and sent back to the House. (helping to drive home the fact that we live in a backward world these days) Some say the bailout number is acutally much smaller, like $250B. Yes, small. Small, like a quarter trillion. Others claim that we're not bailing, but supporting. Buying loans tied to assets, so the risk is lower and we might even make a profit. Color me skeptical. Hope they're right. The taxpayer could use a good investment these days.

But here's an interesting take, by Jordan Ellenberg:
We're Down $700 Billion. Let's Go Double or Nothing!

Makes the case that the plan is a legistlative version of a martigale gambling strategy.

Congress Doubles Down!
(and so does the taxpayer)

The Deficit Hawk Blog is born

October 2, 2008.