Mitt Romney and comments regarding US govt debt and treasury auctions SIAP

Would like to get everybody's thoughts on this. It is something I have been saying for quite a while and looks like it may soon come to pass. This from the article with the third paragraph being the most important:

By now everyone has heard the infamous Mitt Romney speech discussing the "47%" if primarily in the context of how this impacts his political chances, and how it is possible that a president "of the people" can really be a president "of the 53%." Alas, there has been very little discussion of the actual underlying facts behind this statement, which ironically underestimates the sad reality of America's transition to a welfare state. Recall Art Cashin's math from a month ago that when one adds the 107 million Americans already receiving some form of means-tested government welfare, to the 46 million seniors collecting Medicare and 22 million government employees at the federal, state and local level, and "suddenly, over 165 million people, a clear majority of the 308 million Americans counted by the U.S. Census Bureau in 2010, are at least partially dependents of the state."

Yes, Romney demonstrated potentially terminal lack of tact and contextual comprehension with his statement, and most certainly did alienate a substantial chunk of voters (most of whom would not have voted for him in the first place) but the math is there. The same math that inevitably fails when one attempts to reconcile how the $100+ trillion in underfunded US welfare liabilities will someday be funded. Yet the above is for political pundits to debate, if not resolve. Because there is no resolution. What we did want to bring attention to, is something else that Mitt Romney said, which has received no prominence in the mainstream media from either side. The import of the Romney statement is critical as it reveals just what the endgame may well looks like.

In response to an audience question:

Romney: [The] former head of Goldman Sachs, John Whitehead, was also the former head of the New York Federal Reserve. And I met with him, and he said as soon as the Fed stops buying all the debt that we're issuing—which they've been doing, the Fed's buying like three-quarters of the debt that America issues. He said, once that's over, he said we're going to have a failed Treasury auction, interest rates are going to have to go up. We're living in this borrowed fantasy world, where the government keeps on borrowing money. You know, we borrow this extra trillion a year, we wonder who's loaning us the trillion? The Chinese aren't loaning us anymore. The Russians aren't loaning it to us anymore. So who's giving us the trillion? And the answer is we're just making it up. The Federal Reserve is just taking it and saying, "Here, we're giving it." It's just made up money, and this does not augur well for our economic future. You know, some of these things are complex enough it's not easy for people to understand, but your point of saying, bankruptcy usually concentrates the mind.

 

Wow. Nobody?

I understand this is not a real important issue in comparison to homosexual and zimmerman threads but I figured at least somebody would have a comment.

IMHO this is the most important issue this country is facing.

 

The answer is Japan as to who will lend us our own printed up, counterfeit worthless currency. It's been all smoke and mirrors for a while now anyway. The house of cards is already falling.

 

I bet it is the FED. Just waiting on the next treasury auction to see how it goes.

 

Americans, and westerners in general, are very strongly conditioned to support a centralized monetary and banking system; most of them cannot even conceive of an alternative to our present system, so there is no way for them to actually comment on the topic of this thread without looking like a buffoon, though that does not stop some...

Until people are educated about money and banking, and how it is used as a weapon against them by a government-corporate complex, they will continue to fixate on irrelevancies like gay marriage and whatnot.

 

It is frustrating though. I am trying to keep it simple for people who do not understand business/finance or monetary policy and how global markets work.

Somebody has to wake people up. It is right in front of them and they pass right over it in favor of R versus D politics like it is a team sport. It is nothing more than a distraction from what american citizens should be focusing on. Our monetary system/policy affects them directly every day. I think because it is not discussed on Fox or MSNBC is the main reason. I bet if hannity or maddow started to discuss it fairly and honestly that more people would start to wake up. Of course that is not going to happen so I am hoping to get anybody's attention who will listen in hopes that it starts to be talked about more.

 

People are stupid??? I would agree.

 

It is frustrating though. I am trying to keep it simple for people who do not understand business/finance or monetary policy and how global markets work.

Somebody has to wake people up. It is right in front of them and they pass right over it in favor of R versus D politics like it is a team sport. It is nothing more than a distraction from what american citizens should be focusing on. Our monetary system/policy affects them directly every day. I think because it is not discussed on Fox or MSNBC is the main reason. I bet if hannity or maddow started to discuss it fairly and honestly that more people would start to wake up. Of course that is not going to happen so I am hoping to get anybody's attention who will listen in hopes that it starts to be talked about more.

 

At least he understands one of the problems.

But the guy's a war-mongering freak, he wants to go after everyone, he wants more troops and more defense budget, and he's willing to cut the poor and the elderly to get it.

Even if he does understand how to rescue an organization from bankruptcy, the rest of what he brings to the table is sufficiently dangerous to be raising eyebrows at the very least.

 

I think the current 18-35 age group will make it an important issue in the coming decades.

 

Totally agree. The reason I brought up his quote/answer to the question was to maybe get some of his supporters on board to get a discussion going on this topic. I think it is the most important topic of the election and I wish more people were talking about it instead of the other distraction irrelevant topics currently being discussed.

 

The housing bubble will look like a walk in the park to the coming debt bubble bursting. Why? Because it is worldwide. Countries have been trying to live well beyond their means for quite some time and it has to come to an end eventually. Like the ill conceived Stimulus package that was designed to get us through a normal recession, this is far from a normal recession and a hint of things to come and pumping more debt is foolish when debt is the problem. Either we approach bankruptcy or inflation from Fed quantitative easing. The easing was just another stopgap measure hoping that the economy turns around and starts expanding normally. Either way when the time comes for either, it will not be a party.