| | Home
The Daily Dose/April 22, 2011
By Gaylon Kent
The Writer's Shack
Notes from around the Human Experience...
DRY, TECHNICAL MATTER: You know, honestly, we'd rather write about something else than this nation's national debt. It's rather boring, even for us, and you know how we love our dry, technical matter here at the Writer's Shack.
But, as we've discussed here before, our national debt threatens to destroy this country, making our government incapable of delivering on its primary obligation, that of preserving the liberty of its citizens.
So it has our interest.
Dry, Technical Matter: We've been reading a report issued by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) last year on the long term budget outlook. Titled "The Long Term Budget Outlook", most of it consists of a variety of projections that go out to 2035.
Really Dry, Technical Matter: If you dig deep enough, however, you'll find projections extending out till 2080.
Please Pass The Dry, Technical Matter:Between the editorial staff and the Bottom Ten pollsters, we're just a bunch of laymen here at the Writer's Shack, but even we find the numbers interesting.
And You Wonder Why You Don't Get Invited To More Parties: Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is the final market value of all goods and services produced in a country in a given time.
The Good Old Days: Some may remember when the term Gross National Product (GNP) was used instead of GDP. They're similar, but not the same, the difference being that GDP is the value of goods and services produced in a country's boundries, while the GNP refers to goods and services produced by a country's citizens, regardless of the country it was produced in.
Look! Dry, Technical Matter: In 2010 the United States' GDP was $14.65 trillion. It is the largest of any country on the planet.
Speaking Of The Planet/Dry Technical Matter: This planet had a Gross World Product (GWP) of $62.9 trillion in 2010, about $10,500 per inhabitant.
Back On Message: The report presents projections for two scenarios. The first scenario presumes few changes to current laws, including tax breaks from 2001 and 2003 not being extended, meaning revenues will increase, eventually becoming about 23 percent of the GDP.
In the second scenario, which more or less is what the CBO thinks will actually happen, such as expected changes to current laws, revenues will flatten out at about 16 percent of GDP in 2015, and more or less staying the same through 2035.
Meanwhile: Spending on mandatory health programs will increase from five percent of our GDP to ten percent by 2035.
Let Me Guess...Dry, Technical Matter? Interestingly, almost, is that Social Security spending will only increase one percent, from five to six percent of GDP, during that time.
Now, this may not seem like a lot, but consider this: during the past 40 years all other government spending, except interest payments, has averaged only 18 percent of GDP.
Whew, Dry, Technical Matter: And when you consider that revenues, as a historical average, are usually about 19 percent of our GDP, having 16 percent of our GDP spent on mandatory health programs, is an awful lot.
Light At The End Of The Tunnel: The good news is these government figures put us well on track to meet another government prediction, that of all of our revenues being used to pay for mandatory health programs and Social Security sometime in the next 30-40 years, with borrowed money required to pay for everything else, like national defense and every other government program, not to mention interest on our debt.
Sigh, If Dry, Technical Matter Is Inevitable…: The report also addresses the timing of a wholesale attack on our national debt:
Making such changes while economic activity and employment remain well below their potential levels would probably slow the economic recovery. However, the sooner that long term changes to spending and revenues are agreed on, and the sooner they are carried out once the economic weakness ends, the smaller will be the damage to the economy from growing federal debt...
Some Dry, Technical Matter Never Changes: Although it is written in the format you'd expect from a report by the CBO, it isn't rocket science and the solutions the CBO suggests are not a bulletin.
The report states - and this is not the upset of the year - that the government will "need to let revenues increase", (increase taxes); 2) decrease spending (decrease spending); or, 3) "adopt some combination of those two approaches" (do both).
Oh Yeah: One thing the CBO report does not address is the fact the citizens of this country take in an average of nearly 4,000 calories a day.
Get Your Official Writer's Shack Policy Right Here: The best health insurance policy is a healthy body. A lot of these problems would take care of themselves if two-thirds of us weren't fat.
YE OLDE BALL GAME: The National League debuts on this date in 1876, with the Boston Red Caps defeating the Philadelphia Athletics 6-5.
The K's Have It: Tom Seaver strikes out 19 batters, including the last ten, in a 2-1 victory over the San Diego Padres on this date in 1970. The 19 strikeouts ties the major league record established by Steve Carlton the previous September, a mark Roger Clemens would break when he struck out 20 batters in 1986. The ten consecutive strikeouts set a new major league record that still stands.
Heil Forgery! The West German magazine Stern announces the discovery of diaries they claim were written by Adolph Hitler. In reality they had been written by one Konrad Kujau, a rather stout, affable looking man who had prior experience forging everything from lunch vouchers to paintings to documents establishing the originality of assorted war artifacts.
Thought For The Day: I work harder than anyone who has ever lived. I am not well and worn out with this stupendous labor, and yet I am patient to achieve the desired end. - Michelangelo, Letter to brother, while painting Sistine Chapel.
Answer To The Last Trivia Question: Between Fenway Park and Tiger Stadium, Fenway has had the most no-hitters, 12. Tiger Stadium had ten.
Today's Stumper: The Boston Red Caps became the Beaneaters in 1883 and the Braves in 1912. What were they known as between before becoming the Braves? - Answer next time!
Comments? Recipes? Complaints? Email the Writer's Shack here!
Home |
| |
