[ExI] Repudiating the national debt

[William Flynn Wallace]

I see default as coming eventually (15-ish yrs) but not by choice.  I also
see it as a soft default: Social Security pensioners will continue to get
raises, but a fraction of a percent a year, as real inflation is perhaps 10
times that raise.  Medicare will pretend to pay, Medicare doctors will
pretend to treat.  All Federal level subsidies of O-care will dwindle to
nothing, not by choice, but because the Fed cannot pay.  This will be bad.
We will not choose this path willingly.  This path was chosen for us, by
us, previously.



spike
And what are WE doing about it?  Kicking the can down the road once again,
as usual?

What SHOULD we be doing about it?  Trim the military?

bill w

On Tue, May 17, 2016 at 3:58 PM, spike <spike66 at att.net> wrote:

>
>
>
>
> From: extropy-chat [mailto:extropy-chat-bounces at lists.extropy.org] On
> Behalf Of Dan TheBookMan
>
> Sent: Tuesday, May 17, 2016 1:28 PM
>
> To: ExI chat list <extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org>
>
> Subject: Re: [ExI] Repudiating the national debt
>
>
>
> On Tue, May 17, 2016 at 12:57 PM, spike <mailto:spike66 at att.net> wrote:
>
> > From: extropy-chat [mailto:mailto:extropy-chat-bounces at lists.extropy.org]
> On Behalf Of Dan TheBookMan
>
> >
>
>
>
> >>… Ja, this already happened, on 12 Jan 2016: Iran seized two US Navy
> vessels and crews.
>
> >…That was in the context of those vessels traveling in Iranian waters
> uninvited, no?
>
>
>
> Invited?  We have no legitimate official diplomatic relations with Iran,
> the country which attacked our embassy.  We don’t know where those sailors
> were located when they were captured.  The sailors are not being allowed to
> testify.  I heard one skipper has been canned.
>
>
>
> >I never watch SOTU in real time…
>
>
>
> Nor do I, even later.  I read the transcripts.  The last one I could stand
> to endure in real time was Ronald Reagan.
>
>
>
> >…what would have happened had Iranian vessels had engine trouble and
> drifted into US waters…
>
>
>
> Engine trouble, hmmm.  Dan the BookMan, what kind of engines do you
> envision those Navy boats as having?  Hint:  Diesel fuel is much easier to
> transport and much more forgiving than gasoline.  Furthermore, any Diesel
> motor hit with a terrific EMP would not even notice: they have gravity fed
> fuel with a hand pump backup, standard aspiration with turbos, etc.  That
> engine has no need for electronics, and would survive any electrical pulse
> which would take out any gasoline engine.
>
>
>
> Were the boats lost?  Did their compasses point the wrong way?  Did the
> Iranians have GPS jammers?  And did the sailors have no alternate
> multi-frequency backup navigation while sailing hostile waters?  And did
> two vessels have engine trouble simultaneously?
>
>
>
> That engine-trouble flim-flam was a cover story and a contemptuous one at
> that, more transparent than the yoga routines, the internet video and that
> echo-chamber business.  Our own government is so dismissive of its citizens
> as to not even bother attempting a believable cover story.
>
>
>
>
>
> >…What do you think would be likely to happen if the US national debt were
> repudiated? What are likely good and bad outcomes? Do you think John's sort
> of meltdown scenario is likely?  Dan
>
>
>
> Defaulting on the national debt is a bad thing.  I am surprised at how
> many think we have any choice in the matter however.  A former presidential
> candidate pointed out that current government policy would eventually lead
> to default, but not by choice.  That candidate was H. Ross Perot, in 1992.
> In retrospect, his comments on government spending were right on the
> money.  Al Gore repeated some of it in 2000, but proposed a solution which
> likely would not have worked.  Now, we pretend to be surprised as we see
> the Federal government debt double in one administration, in peace time.
>
>
>
> What a shock!
>
>
>
> I see default as coming eventually (15-ish yrs) but not by choice.  I also
> see it as a soft default: Social Security pensioners will continue to get
> raises, but a fraction of a percent a year, as real inflation is perhaps 10
> times that raise.  Medicare will pretend to pay, Medicare doctors will
> pretend to treat.  All Federal level subsidies of O-care will dwindle to
> nothing, not by choice, but because the Fed cannot pay.  This will be bad.
> We will not choose this path willingly.  This path was chosen for us, by
> us, previously.
>
>
>
> spike
>
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>
>
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