Nuclear Israel will continue to occupy their perloined part of what used to be Trans-Jordon under ever mounting pressure until her protector, the US, can no longer afford to be Israel's backstop. Without the US, Israel is virtually friendless. World opinion is massively against her.
The debt fueled slow-motion collapse of the developed world, fueled by the outrageous excesses of the de-regulated US financial sector, are leading to a point in time when Israel will be isolated and alone. The US military advantage will quickly dissipate when economic hardtimes mean the US can no longer garrison the world. That time is near.
Israel will be very lucky to have a centennial celebration in 2048, IMO.
The advantage of spending is that we have no intention of repaying the borrowed money. We continue to borrow until the dollar collapses. That could happen suddenly as it did with the Soviet Union in 1989. Even if you have money in the bank, you would not be able to access it.
If we cut spending, we move directly into deflation. If we cut enough to balance the budget, empoyment would collapse, prices would fall and the lender class would be destroyed in short order. The borrower class would simply slowly starve.
We dug this hole and there is no way out without extreme economic distress. Neither the Republicans nor the Democrats have a good plan because there is none. We are about to find out how resourseful we are when faced with a level of hardship that we have never known.
Will we car-pool with our neighbors? Will we grow food in our gardens? Will we share houses with others to help pay the bills?
Or will we get angry and violent when we and our children are hungry?
Unless and until investments are seperated from banking, we will have banks taking risks with public guarantees/public money. Investment banks should be seperate from commercial banks and those investment banks then should be free to take any amount risk that their backers can afford to lose.
We don't need congressional hearings, we don't need the Volker rule, we need the two types of banking seperated.
The US State Department sends out the letter of acknowledgement of renunciation AFTER you have settled taxes on your entire net worth, not the day of renunciation. Until you you recieve that letter, you are still a US citizen.
Only the US and Mauritania require tax filing for all non-resident citizens. I know one divorced mother of two who works as a school secretary. She, like most non-resident US citizens, had not filed US taxes since marrying and leaving the states. She found herself owing more than $35,000 in penalties, thousands in preparation fees and yet, she owed no taxes. Millions of people like her no longer want the hassle and fear of dealing with the IRS when they have no tax liability.
Worst is the message that this policy sends to anyone considering US citizenship. One by one, the US is removing reasons well educated people might have to come to the USA.
Any American with assets over two million dollars who renounces his/her citizenship must pay capital gains taxes on all holdings based on the values on the day of renunciation. Even if you haven't sold assets, you must pay.
Also, any American who renounces American citizenship to avoid taxes will have the renunciation rejected as an invalid reason.
Citizenship renunciation is rising because the US has made living abroad difficult for ex-patriots. Around five million Americans live outside the US, many for most or all of their lives. Most are regular working middle class people going about their normal lives.
A few years back the US passed a law requiring tax filing for all citizens wordwide, even if they had no US tax liability. Filing can easily cost several thousand dollars and failure to file can result in a fine up to $100,000 and/or ten years in prison.
The US government was trying to stop fat cat tax cheats and in so doing they have disrupted the lives of millions of ordinary people. Many are now considering renunciation.
BTW, famous Tennessean, Sir John Templeton renounced his US citizenship back in the 1960s and was later knighted by Queen Elizabeth.
Could anything be sillier than saying that the federal government is the enemy of the economy? Where did the TFP find this thinker?
We have to ask ourselves why people hate us. It's not genetic so it must be in response to something. The US has colonized the world militarily and no one, no group likes a boot on their neck. Our model of military world governance will come to an end fairly soon because we are out of money and nearly out of credit. Better that we decide to change our model of military colonialism before it implodes, Soviet style.
What is not sustainable will end.
There does not seem to be hatred of countries that do not project power. Misdirection of power, military and economic, is at the root of human dischord, IMO.
The war on terror is self-perpetuating. The more we slaughter brown skinned people with blunt force while intervening in THEIR countries, the more terrorists we create.
How can a country so powerful, yet so scared, waste so much money creating enemies then spending untold borrowed millions to chase down and kill small operators. We look to be the greater fool.
The safeguards in the nuclear power industry insure that a major accident would be very rare, not that it won't happen, but very rarely happen. The problem with that is the severety of an incident could create an unsafe environment for an entire hemisphere.
Reactor number four at Fukishima is still critical and may still become a catastrophic event for the northern hemisphere.
Nothing has the destructive potential of nuclear and to believe that we are smart enough to NEVER have an earth altering nuclear accident is the height of arrogance.
Jerusalem asunder?
Nuclear Israel will continue to occupy their perloined part of what used to be Trans-Jordon under ever mounting pressure until her protector, the US, can no longer afford to be Israel's backstop. Without the US, Israel is virtually friendless. World opinion is massively against her.
The debt fueled slow-motion collapse of the developed world, fueled by the outrageous excesses of the de-regulated US financial sector, are leading to a point in time when Israel will be isolated and alone. The US military advantage will quickly dissipate when economic hardtimes mean the US can no longer garrison the world. That time is near.
Israel will be very lucky to have a centennial celebration in 2048, IMO.
Fill in the blank
The advantage of spending is that we have no intention of repaying the borrowed money. We continue to borrow until the dollar collapses. That could happen suddenly as it did with the Soviet Union in 1989. Even if you have money in the bank, you would not be able to access it.
If we cut spending, we move directly into deflation. If we cut enough to balance the budget, empoyment would collapse, prices would fall and the lender class would be destroyed in short order. The borrower class would simply slowly starve.
We dug this hole and there is no way out without extreme economic distress. Neither the Republicans nor the Democrats have a good plan because there is none. We are about to find out how resourseful we are when faced with a level of hardship that we have never known.
Will we car-pool with our neighbors? Will we grow food in our gardens? Will we share houses with others to help pay the bills?
Or will we get angry and violent when we and our children are hungry?
Greece is our preview.
Ready, fire, aim!
Unless and until investments are seperated from banking, we will have banks taking risks with public guarantees/public money. Investment banks should be seperate from commercial banks and those investment banks then should be free to take any amount risk that their backers can afford to lose.
We don't need congressional hearings, we don't need the Volker rule, we need the two types of banking seperated.
Enemy of the economy
Many US corporations off-shore their business headquarters to avoid taxes. Why don't we rage against that?
Enemy of the economy
L4l,
The US State Department sends out the letter of acknowledgement of renunciation AFTER you have settled taxes on your entire net worth, not the day of renunciation. Until you you recieve that letter, you are still a US citizen.
Only the US and Mauritania require tax filing for all non-resident citizens. I know one divorced mother of two who works as a school secretary. She, like most non-resident US citizens, had not filed US taxes since marrying and leaving the states. She found herself owing more than $35,000 in penalties, thousands in preparation fees and yet, she owed no taxes. Millions of people like her no longer want the hassle and fear of dealing with the IRS when they have no tax liability.
Worst is the message that this policy sends to anyone considering US citizenship. One by one, the US is removing reasons well educated people might have to come to the USA.
Enemy of the economy
Any American with assets over two million dollars who renounces his/her citizenship must pay capital gains taxes on all holdings based on the values on the day of renunciation. Even if you haven't sold assets, you must pay.
Also, any American who renounces American citizenship to avoid taxes will have the renunciation rejected as an invalid reason.
Citizenship renunciation is rising because the US has made living abroad difficult for ex-patriots. Around five million Americans live outside the US, many for most or all of their lives. Most are regular working middle class people going about their normal lives.
A few years back the US passed a law requiring tax filing for all citizens wordwide, even if they had no US tax liability. Filing can easily cost several thousand dollars and failure to file can result in a fine up to $100,000 and/or ten years in prison.
The US government was trying to stop fat cat tax cheats and in so doing they have disrupted the lives of millions of ordinary people. Many are now considering renunciation.
BTW, famous Tennessean, Sir John Templeton renounced his US citizenship back in the 1960s and was later knighted by Queen Elizabeth.
Could anything be sillier than saying that the federal government is the enemy of the economy? Where did the TFP find this thinker?
Incapable of governing
L4l,
We have to ask ourselves why people hate us. It's not genetic so it must be in response to something. The US has colonized the world militarily and no one, no group likes a boot on their neck. Our model of military world governance will come to an end fairly soon because we are out of money and nearly out of credit. Better that we decide to change our model of military colonialism before it implodes, Soviet style.
What is not sustainable will end.
There does not seem to be hatred of countries that do not project power. Misdirection of power, military and economic, is at the root of human dischord, IMO.
Incapable of governing
The war on terror is self-perpetuating. The more we slaughter brown skinned people with blunt force while intervening in THEIR countries, the more terrorists we create.
How can a country so powerful, yet so scared, waste so much money creating enemies then spending untold borrowed millions to chase down and kill small operators. We look to be the greater fool.
Emotion and nuclear power
The safeguards in the nuclear power industry insure that a major accident would be very rare, not that it won't happen, but very rarely happen. The problem with that is the severety of an incident could create an unsafe environment for an entire hemisphere.
Reactor number four at Fukishima is still critical and may still become a catastrophic event for the northern hemisphere.
Nothing has the destructive potential of nuclear and to believe that we are smart enough to NEVER have an earth altering nuclear accident is the height of arrogance.
Embrace the truth about marriage
Should the children of gay couples be raised out of wedlock or should their parents be allowed to marry?
That question is a real test of our values.