Interest

Average student loan debt in New Hampshire is more than $33,000, and the national total is now $1.5 trillion.   But it’s those same young college graduates who will bear the burden of our national debt, now $21 trillion, up from just $2.5 trillion in 1988.  The debt doubled to $5 … [read more]

Your Future

A few weeks ago the debt passed 21 TRILLION DOLLARS, but I was out to lunch with the rest of America.  Pollsters say that hardly anybody cares about the debt any more.  Deficits stimulate the economy, right?  Doesn’t that mean jobs? Ummm, that sort of “stimulus” is a dubious way to try … [read more]

It Wouldn’t Cost Anything At All

The United States spends as much government money on health care as do the socialized health care systems of Europe.  States and our federal government now spend nearly two trillion dollars a year on health care.  That’s more, as a % of GDP, than Canada and the U.K. spend on … [read more]

Fairness

The rising cost of health care is driving more and more citizens into Medicaid, the program for the poor. Medicaid, in turn, drives up the cost of health care by under-paying doctors. HealthAffairs.org says that it doesn’t even pay half of the discount price that your insurance company would pay. A survey of thousands of physicians, by CNN, reveals that Medicaid only covers 50% – 70% of their costs of providing care. … [read more]

Welfare for The Middle Class

“The U.S. program that pays elderly Americans’ hospital bills will exhaust reserves in 2028, two years sooner than last year’s estimate, trustees of the program said on Wednesday.”
— Reuters. … [read more]

The Rest of the Story

Miley Cyrus was scratched by a cat. A man tickled two girls on a playground slide, and he didn’t even know the girls.  TV newsrooms judged that these recent stories were more important than world crises, voter anxiety and rebellion, student debt, or the federal debt. … [read more]

An Irresistible Force

In the upper left corner of this page you’ll see a pretty little girl wearing a sign saying that she’s $38,375 in debt.  That number is now $57,764, if you’re willing to use the Enron accounting standards of the federal government, which don’t acknowledge that she’s carrying liability for Social Security promises that we can’t pay.  Medicare is actually much worse, but this year the Social Security Administration is sending out benefit statements—estimates of how much you’ll get per month when you retire—that say: … [read more]

Debt Is Rising All ‘Round The World

Populism sounds like such a friendly and democratic word.  Only the grumpiest blogger would complain about politicians doing things that make them popular ….  Unhappily, the word “populist” has come to mean a politician who promises cash, services, or benefits to voters.  He doesn’t offer to pay for these things with cash from his own pockets—that would be outrageous!—but instead offers to pay with borrowed money, or with cash taken from taxpayers. … [read more]

It’s The Economy, Stupid . . .

House Budget Chairman Tom Price just released his draft for the new federal budget (WSJ, Opinion: The GOP’s Budget Test, March 18, 2015).  It sets a blueprint for the federal budget in the coming fiscal year, and will reduce federal spending by $5.5 trillion over the coming decade.  If followed, it will put the federal budget at 18.2% of the U.S. economy by 2024. … [read more]